The new year is upon us as billions across the globe symbolically turn the page on 2019 and welcome the new decade with fresh hope for greater things. While many will make a New Year’s resolution relating to their personal life or business goals, few will ask how their business’s website and web presence can grow with them in the new decade.
Don’t worry, we’ve got some ideas to get you thinking about your business in 2020 and beyond. Have anything to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below!
5. Time to get Engaged
This one cannot be overstated. Businesses that fail to see the importance of engaging with potential customers and clients online are setting themselves up to lose in the 2020’s. With social media providing people with new ways to find and engage with businesses, this aspect of any company’s digital marketing plan is becoming increasingly important.
One ubiquitous example of this (ask any Twitter user) is found in Wendy’s brazen Twitter activity.
While not every business can have a dedicated social media team full of comedians and trolls, Wendy’s exemplifies the notion that one witty post on social media can provide an absolutely insane amount of free marketing.
People are social animals. They enjoy engaging with businesses the way they enjoy engaging with people. Don’t lose customers to more engaging competitors in 2020!
4. Major Gains
One of the most common New Year’s resolutions has to be “going to the gym and finally getting in shape”. Suffice it to say, this is also probably one of those resolutions that most people leave undone. But, why?
Looking and feeling great is hard to do! This can be just as true about a company’s online assets as it is about an office worker’s flabby stomach. It takes a great deal of care and routine maintenance to ensure your business’s websites, social media accounts, and digital marketing are looking and operating at their best.
If you have left things on “autopilot” for a while, the new year is as good of a time as any to reevaluate how you would like your business’s web presence to look and perform, as opposed to how it actually does.
Just like at the gym, setting realistic expectations and setting aside time every week to identify and improve your weak points will pay dividends in the future.
3. Time for a make-over?
A website that runs well won’t do much for your business’s web presence if it still dresses in the trappings of 2010 in the year 2020.
Design trends naturally evolve and change, and it is certainly not necessary to remodel your website and company identity on an annual basis to keep up. However, if it has been a while since the last meaningful update to your website’s design and feel, or if the firm that built your website was sub-par or lacked an eye for design, there is a good chance that your company’s site could benefit from a makeover!
A design change can open the door to a new generation of clients for your business. While many major brands do incredibly well using classical designs, many more have opted for sleek, modern redesigns over the years.
Why? Especially when trying to appeal to millennials and younger generations, a sleek and modern look is imperative. If your business’s practices evolve with the times but its web presence stays stagnated in the early 2000’s, you will need to try that much harder to ensure potential customers know that the out-of-date web design is not a sign of obsolete business practices. Naturally, it is best not to keep customers guessing by ensuring that your web presence is as sleek and modern as your business’s products and services.
2. Try Something New
It’s only natural to become caught in certain patterns when contending with the daily grind and running a business.
People love making New Year’s resolutions because it means they are committing themselves to trying something new in the new year. Why shouldn’t this optimism extend to one’s business practices as well?
Just like a diet and workout regimen might improve one’s physical health, launching a company Instagram account or introducing an exciting new product or service can be equally beneficial for one’s business. However, if you are not actively looking for opportunities to improve or willing to try them, you will never see the positive benefits.
1. Think Long Term
Although it’s a new year, you and your business may be around well beyond 2020 or 2030, so it is best to consider the long-term goals and priorities you have for your business’s web presence today.
So much has changed just in the past decade, it can be downright daunting to make long-term plans for any facet of your business. However, in the age of the internet, for every new challenge that technology presents to your business, it presents five opportunities. Businesses that can capitalize on these will be the ones that are alive and thriving 10, 50, or 100 years from now.
Not sure where to turn? Help is everywhere, from online classes, professional groups on Facebook, large firms or plucky one-man consulting outfits. Choosing the solutions that are right for you and your business, for the short and long term, will prove to be a huge difference maker.
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