Personally speaking, I don’t believe in resolutions. What I do believe in is placing a value on something. If I place a value on something I will most likely commit to it because it’s, well, valuable to me.
I’m sure you think your business is valuable to you, right? Most of us small business owners, entrepreneurs, and creative minds value what we have created, designed, and built from the ground up, and in knowing you want to keep committing to your business, you have to keep improving upon it.
Everybody needs improvement. I can think of some pretty large companies that can use some major improvements, but I don’t want to start increasing my blood pressure medication right now.
With a new year starting, it’s a good time to think about what additional value you want to place on your business so you can commit, as well as improve upon what you already have in place.
Online Resolution Suggestions
Resolution #1: Commit to Content. Yeah, you’ve heard it once and we’ll say it again–content is king. It’s the Elvis Presley of your online presence. It’s the stuff that people read and share with others’. It’s the subject matter that is found by search engines and ranked. Let’s not forget that the virtual substance you write is shared socially, and ultimately helps develops your brand and business.
That’s something quite valuable and worthy of a commitment. Put a ring on it and commit to improving your content that’s on your website, blog, and all the social media outlets your business uses.
Resolution #2: Be Determined About SEO. This is where some of you may balk at the idea of SEO because a lot of business owners don’t know enough about it. They fear they’ll fail because they don’t have the expertise or time to discover how Search Engine Optimization can have any value. I’m here to tell you that it’s time to get serious and commit 2015 to improving SEO.
Imagine if your company website was showing up in front of the hundreds, thousands and even millions of potential prospects searching directly for what you offer?
Would this be valuable to your business? Of course it would! It could literally change the course of your business’ destiny.
In 2015 it’s time to get serious about SEO and making things happen. Get serious about educating yourself and what it takes to gain the favor of Google. This could mean that you do SEO yourself (if you have that kind of time), or hire a reputable and trustworthy agency that can not only educate you, but provide you with proven results with hard data that the SEO they’ve put into place is really enhancing your business.
Resolution #3: Build a Better Website. Your website is hideous and you know it. It’s broken in a lot of places, you aren’t getting the online revenue you had expected because you initially did the website yourself–just to get something online–because it was cheap and it was quick. Pages are broken, you don’t have a blog, and the site doesn’t cause anyone to convert their pause for your product or service into an actual sale.
Sucks to be you, because your cheap do-it-yourself website has not only cost you time, but plenty of revenue since most people do their shopping online these days. It’s time to change that in 2015.
If your website isn’t site conversion focused, doesn’t relay a compelling and interesting story about your company, has not been coded for search engines, and most importantly, is not mobile responsive using the latest coding technology like HTML5, or CSS3, you need a new website.
Period.
Resolution #4: Demand Better Data. So, let’s say you have a website. Let’s further state that you have Google analytics and even though you can’t quite understand it, you can look at the general numbers to see how your site is helping your business. The conundrum is that this data just scratches the surface. It’s not enough for you to build and improve your business.
You need to be able to interpret your analytics into actionable and quantifiable insights. More importantly, it shows you data on your competitors and this should be very valuable to you and worthy of committing to for 2015.
Cyber-Construction offers the analytics to you on a monthly basis. They help you break down the data so you can understand how your business needs to improve in order to draw in more revenue and customers.
What About Personal Resolutions?
Or rather, committing to something you value? Here’s a few I can think of immediately:
- Go paperless. Get rid of it. You won’t even need that damn shredder anymore. Save a tree. The world will thank you for it later.
- Have a digital clearance sale. It’s time to clean up your computer. Get an external hard drive and place your bazillion photos of cute little kittens on it. Get rid of folders from 1998. You don’t want people to nominate you for the next guest spot on Hoarders, do you?
- Clean out your inbox. Oh. My. God. I know what you’re thinking. This will be about 40 hours of my life I will NEVER get back. But, if you value organization and want to find stuff quicker than scrolling through your inbox and getting carpel tunnel, spend the time to do it.
- Protect yourself. I mean from a digital perspective. Use that external hard drive as a back up for your more important stuff and place a reminder on your calendar to back up every week.
So, get started on those resolutions. They are things you should value if you have a business, or want to start a business. If you value them, commit to them and all things positive will come from it.
