Small and medium-sized business (SMB) setbacks vary from that of a large enterprise. Most of the time, pain points come from delays in project development, underperforming websites, or a lack of sufficient data on a target audience. In a nutshell, a lack of human resources and a poorly designed marketing vision. At the enterprise level, these issues are relatively non-existent, as large in-house teams monitor website performance and market research.
When operating on a shoestring budget, small and medium-sized businesses must attempt to manage their IT requirements and digital marketing strategy with a small team. Inevitably it leads to the deployment of unsuccessful projects that, if left untouched, would wind up putting the company out of business.
Common Pitfalls of Small and Medium Sized Businesses
Poor Website Design and Infrastructure
One of the most common pain points for small and medium-sized businesses is a poorly designed website. Issues abound for the searcher and the back-end user alike. For the searcher, a messy site layout ruins user experience (UX) and limits the potential for conversion from a lead to a customer. For the back-end user, a poorly organized site is difficult to update and only made worse with each new addition. When customization and scalability are not possible on web hosting platform, it’s time for a change. These issues are compounded in e-Commerce, an industry in which competing for customers often boils down to how good a site looks, and how well it shows off products. As commerce bots and machine learning technology continue to automate marketing techniques, there is a real incentive for businesses to revamp their site with a target persona in mind.
Misuse of Google Analytics
Another common pitfall holding SMB’s back is the misuse of Google Analytics. While anyone can get Analytics tracking set-up on a homepage, it takes a certain degree of web analytic expertise to interpret the traffic it collects. Consumer data that is not segmented into a consumer profile is wasted data. For example, audience group segmentation is one of the most effective tools for isolating and sorting website visitors - and yet many entrepreneurs have not set-up audience targeting in their dashboard.
Lack of Software Expertise
The first two pain points indicate a more fundamental issue at the heart of many small and medium-sized business operations: a lack of software expertise. The effectiveness of a digital identity is determined by the level of software expertise at your disposal. Third-party hosting platforms like Wix, for example, come with many limitations from a web development perspective. Going with an open source CRM like Drupal is a far better option, though it does require training and specialization to make it hum. The problem is that many entrepreneurs put time and money into a limited website builder like Wix before realizing it is not the right platform for them in the long run. However, despite the upfront cost, migrating a site to a different domain host is always the better decision.
What entrepreneurs need is a team that understands projection and implementation strategy. A proper team should be made up of industry experts, web developers, and web design specialists with a keen eye for what is working, and what might not be working.
If you find your business caught in a downward spiral of unsuccessful projects, then Drupalgeeks is here to help. We are a team of skilled web developers and digital analysts dedicated to helping small and medium-sized businesses like yours manage pain points and grow sustainably.