My business supplies our email customers a free internet marketing eBook when they join our listing. 4. Supplying foreseeable rebates and also special offers.

1. Not enough testing of advertising sources

SO the latest successful advertising sources is not an overnight process. Every business is going to be different, so it is important to test many options with small test budgets. Many online businesses assume Google AdWords is the only game in town. They load up their entire budget, create some ads and click “Start!” It is possible to blow through a huge budget in a matter of hours if the campaign is not properly set up.

Take small steps and test several ad networks. Twitter, Facebook, the Yahoo/Bing network and AOL all have great traffic, but they aren’t all going to work the same for every business or offer. Start small, testing several advertising networks and split-test ad copy variations until you find what works best for your business. Once you identify the best advertising source begin to increase your spend.

2. Not providing online support to customers options

When a consumer lands on your website, they should be able to immediately identify multiple ways to get in touch with your business. This can include a phone number, physical business address, contact form, live chat or support ticket system. Take a look at these reasons why your business needs to provide top-notch customer service:

40 percent of people purchase from a competitive brand because of its reputation for great customer service
55 percent are willing to recommend a company due to outstanding service, more so than product or price
85 percent would pay up to 25 percent more to ensure a superior customer service experience
82 percent of people have stopped doing business with a company due to bad customer service
95 percent of customers have taken action as a result of a bad experience, with 79 percent of those telling others about their experience.

3. Not Carefully building a customer list

It is no secret that email marketing is one of the most effective marketing channels, so wouldn’t it be a smart idea to build a list of potential and current customers? This allows you to keep them up to date on new products and special offers, which turns them into repeat customers and future revenue.

Offer something of value in exchange for their email address – special discounts, new product alerts, free shipping, etc. My company offers our email subscribers a free online marketing eBook when they join our list.

4. Offering discounts whic are predictable  and special offers

Announcing sales too far in advance and having predictable discounts, such as “save 20 percent every Wednesday” will ruin your regular business. If you are predictable with offers your customers will hold out on ordering until your next special offer. They become accustomed to the discount and will stop buying at your regular price.

This crushes your bottom line and now you have to work harder to make up for the loss caused by predictable discounting. Discounts also have the tendency to make you look desperate and can ruin your brand.

5. Carrying too much inventory too soon

Many businesses assume that the customers will come knocking as soon as their website is launched, so order heavy inventory amounts. If the sales don’t come in as quickly as first thought you will be stuck holding onto inventory, which is just an added expense.

Having to constantly order more inventory in the beginning is a great problem to have. Sure, having to make multiple orders might cut into your margins slightly, but wouldn’t you rather that instead of having a warehouse full of product that isn’t selling and a pile of debt?