My personal list of top Business Internet mistakes

Every situation, site, and organization is different but here’s a short list of some common, real-world mistakes I regularly see.

Lack of focus and purpose. You have your website up and filled out your LinkedIn profile. But have you critically assessed what you really want to say and what it is you actually are saying?

Web properties outstrip time/skill level. Sure you want your name spread out all over the internet but do you realistically have the time and savvy to make that happen?

Rely on a non-business-oriented, tech person to make what are in essence business decisions. When it comes to the Business Internet, you have to make a business decision before you make a good technical decision. If you didn’t make that explicit business decision first then your tech guys did it for you – by default.
Letting friends, colleagues, or online articles tell you what is best. I hear this one quite a bit. It may be their advice, but it’s still your business. What other business decisions do you make this way?
Spending more time and energy on the web vs. the business. I see this often in sole proprietor and small businesses. If at some point you spend an hour, or two, or three, trying to force Facebook to do what you know it should do then you’re putting your business on hold and maybe losing clients.
Set it and forget it. It was so difficult and stressful putting up your web site and now you think that you don’t have to worry about it anymore. Business and the climate it’s conducted in changes and your public, online presence has to as well. Unmaintained web sites are fairly easy to spot.
Approach a business website like a business publication. Don’t get stuck into thinking that everything has to be complete and perfect like a printed annual report before you can launch a web site. The web is fluid. Develop a site in phases. Take each phase online when you’re comfortable with it, take a well deserved break, then start working on Phase Two. Also mistakes in content happen. Expect them, put a periodic review process in place to catch them, change them, move on, repeat.
Your web site could be critical to your business. Be sure to approach it with a business mentality.