What Every Business Owner Needs to Know

Owning a business is like navigating shark-infested waters on a raft with fish bait strapped to your side…Alright, maybe it’s not quite that intense, but it does require a great deal of caution and care while developing your company and its brand. There is so much that goes into knowing your company, its product, and your customers. And even once you’ve gotten all of that down-packed, you still must be able to keep up with the emerging socioeconomic trends of our society.  It might sound like a mouth full, but it’s really simple.

As a business owner, you must be able to recognize how people recognize brands (yours specifically)  and what they take from it when they do recognize it. As you might already know, technology is growing at a rapid rate. But what’s more surprising is the way and rate at which people are utilizing technology in their daily lives. Whereas once a person would pull out one of those big Yellowpages directories to find a certain business they needed, now they simply Google it and more than likely select the business with the most relevant website which matches their needs.

More and more, companies of all sizes and industries are realizing the importance of having a web presence. If not to sell their products to clients internationally, to at least keep their brand name on web surfers’ minds. That’s why one of the biggest mistakes a business owner can make is thinking that they don’t need a website, let alone a social media presence. A study performed by experian marketing services shows that out of all the time people spend on their cellular devices, 33% of it is visiting websites and checking social media. When it comes to both phones and tablets, studies show that the average person spends about two hours per day on each. When stacked up against television; which users spend an average of 168 watching, you can see how big of an influence it plays. Borell Associates report that small and medium-sized businesses spend $17,000 annually on web marketing services, and are spending $6,800 annually for online advertising (paid search, display ads).

Seems like big bucks right? Now does a couple hundred dollars sound like a lot to develop a web presence?