Every business owner has a goal of growing their business and expanding their customer base. After all, you don’t just start a business for fun, you do it to make a living and earn money along the way.

Plenty of small businesses have difficulties starting out while others struggle to stay afloat. Only 50% of businesses survive past their fifth year and 70% shut their doors after a decade. Admittedly, businesses close for all sorts of reasons but those reasons notwithstanding, the numbers certainly stack up against many owners.

If you’ve found your business going backwards or simply plateauing, maybe some of these reasons can help you turn things around and be more than a statistic.

You Don’t Have a Website

Oh boy, where to begin? It’s hard to believe that in 2019, some businesses are staying away from the online world. In fact, the number may surprise you.

Almost 50% of small businesses say they don’t have a website, a number that sounds almost too high to believe. If you find yourself in that category, then it’s time to hop online and join the internet.

Having a website is not only a way to bring yourself into the 21st century, but it’s also a way to branch out and reach lots of potential consumers. People use Google for just about everything these days, meaning that you’re missing the chance to put yourself in thousands of wandering eyeballs just by neglecting the interwebs.

For your website, the easiest route is to simply make it the name of your business. Choosing your domain name is important, but shouldn’t stress you out. You’ll also want to add a solid description about your business so it appears on searches. Make sure and include your business description, location, and any other information you see relevant.

You’re Not on Social Media

Sensing a trend here? Social media is a way to reach out to plenty of consumers with little upfront costs. Creating a social media page is completely free and it helps people identify your business easily.

Even though many see social media as a necessary evil, there are billions of social media users spread around the world and millions scrolling through their feeds at any minute. It doesn’t take much to create your page and make sure you’re putting your business page in front of plenty of people.

You’re Making it Difficult for People

If there’s one thing the modern-day consumer likes, it’s for things and tasks to be as easy as possible. If something proves too arduous or complicated, people will simply move onto the next activity.

If you do have a website and you have an e-commerce store, wouldn’t it be great if the whole process was streamlined? If you could make shopping a one-click experience for customers?

What about setting appointments? Having people call in makes creates an unnecessary step for them and takes away time from your day. The process could be fully automated either online or through text messaging services.

Having simple, streamlined processes is a smart business practice that can be adopted today.

You’re Advertising in the Wrong Places

Traditional advertising is still an option for plenty of companies around the world, but it doesn’t always work for small businesses. Big corporations can afford to spend the money necessary for TV spots or ads in magazines and newspapers.

As a small business, you are trying to maximize every dollar and turning to traditional advertising isn’t the way to do so.

More and more businesses are developing long-term content strategies in order to reach out to potential consumers. That means reaching out through social media, influencers, content updates on websites and more.

Social media, for example, offers advertising options that are significantly cheaper than many of your traditional advertising tactics. You’re likely to reach more people while spending less money overall.

You’re Ignoring Customers

Customers are the foundation of your business. WIthout them, your business wouldn’t be able to go very far.

Customer relations and actions can provide plenty of useful information for the state of your current business and your future prospects.

Listening to customers can provide you with a few valuable points. First, customers can give you instant feedback on certain items and what they’d like to see more or less of. Thinking you know everything about your customers is a huge mistake to make and a quick way to lose business.

Also, customers can provide a large amount of data for your business. You can find out if customers are purchasing more of one item, buying items together, what the demographic is, and much more.

Another great way to improve your visibility is by encouraging and responding to online reviews. These reviews can come from Google, Yelp, or any social media platform. You should thank customers for their positive reviews and try to resolve issues with any customers that have had negative experiences.