Happy New Year! As we all reflect on the excitement and accomplishments of 2014, we should be reminded to always look forward to the unknown that this new year has to offer us – an opportunity to better ourselves and others around us. While the concept of a “New Year’s Resolution” is quite common for most people, entrepreneurs are no exception.
Recently, 1&1 Internet spoke with a handful of successful business owners to see what challenges they were ready to tackle this year.
- “We strive to compete on the national level so we are going to put more energy/resources into our branding. This will be shown with increased efforts into social media, our website, and our PR efforts.” – James Meder, Fast Twitch
- “My resolution for 2015 is to start a monthly newsletter. My goal is to begin collecting new and old clients and customers emails so that I can interact and share my new items or sales on our products that are on my online store.” – Bella Mason, Joli & Company
- “For our existing business, we plan on driving potential client traffic to our core website through the use of social media. In addition, we will be building another website to support our new handyman business launch in 2015.” – Anthony Guerriero, The Remodeling Company
- “In 2015 we plan to aim high! When someone in our city breaks a tooth or has a toothache, I want them to think “Murry and Kuhn Dentistry” when it happens. We plan to focus on our brand awareness, both in our area and online to achieve this goal. We hope to double our social media likes/impressions and produce weekly blog entries on our website in addition to participating in local media marketing.”- Dr. Don Murry, Murry and Kuhn Dentistry
- “My resolutions for 2015 include broadening my social media activities, launching new client services and improving the team section of my website in order to increase familiarity with the consulting team.” – Stacy Blackman, Stacy Blackman Consulting
As just a few examples, these specific owners are most excited to focus efforts on online marketing to boost the business’s reputation, sales and visibility.
Taking into consideration the biggest business developments and developing strategies, below are additional ideas of how you can redefine your business approach in 2015.
- Be Responsive – In the past few years, the way in which consumers are visiting websites has shifted significantly away from PC’s to mobile devices. However, this presents a bit of a challenge for business owners to ensure a positive user experience due to the varied resolution and screen sizes of smartphones, tablets, desktops, etc. Responsive designs have proven to be one of the most valuable strategies to ensure optimal viewing no matter how the website is being accessed. By identifying the screen size and device being used, a site that is “responsive” will automatically configure the site accordingly so visitors do not need to zoom, pan, or scroll excessively.
- Expand Overseas – Do you have a dream to offer services outside of the US? The first step is to ensure that your website can accommodate the different currencies and languages you wish to expand into. Giving the option to change the default language to their native language can heavily influence consumers purchasing decision. Furthermore, offering services to location a far distance from your home data center can result in latency. Consider solutions like Content Delivery Networks which allows data centers across the world to eliminate these slow loading times no matter where the end user is located.
- Improve Organization – In order to operate a successful business, it is important to be organized. Many people are turning toward digital solutions to help accomplish this task and it often does not cost any more to execute. Web applications for websites allow business owners to streamline their online accounts into one, centralized location. For example, integrating reputable third party apps like Amazon, Ecwid, and FedEx Web apps to reduce the multiple logins and improve accessibility for both retailers and customers. Other integration can help with communication, social media, and management.
What other professional resolutions are you making this year?
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: What Resolutions Are You Making This Year?
More Digital & Social articles from Business 2 Community:
- 10 Social Media Marketing Trends to Watch Out for in 2015 (Infographic)
- 5 Essential Social Media Monitoring Tools for Beginners
- 4 LinkedIn Marketing Strategies To Return Better Conversions
- How To Combine Content Marketing, SEO and Social Media
- Press Releases Should be Part of Your SEO Strategy
