As 2017 comes to an end, it’s time to focus on 2018 and what you can do to make the most of the upcoming year. A lot of people will create personal resolutions for the new year, such as going to the gym more, traveling someplace, picking up a new hobby, and so forth. On the other hand, some small business owners will create resolutions for their businesses.
And then you have those who set both resolutions and goals. The two often get used interchangeably, however there is a difference. By definition, a goal is “the object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result” whereas a resolution is “a firm decision to do or not to do something.”
Setting small business goals are great because it gives you a long-term vision and also short-term motivation. Don’t you get excited when thinking about something you can achieve? Whether it’s a goal for next month, next year, or even 5 years from now? Forbes wrote a pretty good article about how goal setting will improve your focus. They mention that setting goals will:
- Trigger behavior
- Guide your focus
- Sustain momentum
- Align your focus
- Promote self-mastery
Setting small business resolutions are different because it’s more of a promise that you’re making to yourself; a promise to start doing something good or stop doing something bad. New Year’s resolutions are easier to set and also easier to break. Make sure you don’t break them.
While setting goals and resolutions are both great, in this article we’re going to focus on small business resolutions you can set for your business.
1. Make sure your website content is great
Having great content on your small business website is key to engaging visitors and convincing them as to why they should buy your product or service. You may want to consider improving your product descriptions (or creating them if you haven’t done so).
If you’re using stock images that clearly look setup or fake, you should definitely swap them out for images that look more natural. If you’re on a budget, Unsplash and Pexels offer amazing free images. Here’s a list of other royalty-free images for your website.
Lastly, look over the copy you currently have on each page. Could you improve it? Does it make sense to your demographic? Are there any spelling errors? Do you have strong call to action buttons? These are all things to consider.
2. Focus on getting backlinks
If you’re not familiar with backlinks, it’s an SEO term which is when one website is linked to another. Moz wrote this helpful article on backlinks if you’re interested in learning more. By having other websites hyperlink text or hyperlink an image to your site, your domain authority will increase, which is one of the best ways to increase your search ranking.
One common way to get backlinks is to guest blog post on another site. With guest blogging, it’s common to hyperlink the website naturally within the post, or to add the website at the bottom of the post. Many blogs have an “About the author” section below the post, which is where you can mention what your business does and you can include a link to your website.
3. Get focused on using social media
Using social media for business can be a challenge, especially if you’re B2B. Have you been putting off social media? Is so, you should get started as soon as possible. Figure out where your demographic is spending the most time and get on those social networks. Maybe it’s Facebook and Instagram, or maybe it’s Snapchat and Twitter.
Once you’ve figured out where your demographic is most active, learn as much as you can about using those networks for your business. To help you out, read our blog article on how to build brand awareness through social media.
4. Delegate more
It’s really hard to manage everything yourself. If you can afford to do so, have someone else manage something that you’re not the best at, or maybe something you don’t enjoy doing. This will allow you to spend more time focusing on what you’re best at. If you’re trying to manage your website all by yourself, you can hire us and we’ll gladly make things much easier for you. Delegation is important for a healthy work-life balance and ensures maximum efficiency.
5. Learn something new
This can apply with setting a personal New Year’s resolution too, as learning is important for personal and professional growth. By learning something new, you’ll be able to add to your skill set and make a part of your life more interesting. Do you have anything in mind you’d like to learn more about? Maybe it’s learning how to use social media more effectively or learning email marketing.
Do you have any New Year’s resolutions for your small business? If so, share them with us in the comment section below. Thanks for reading!
