6 Smart Ways to Grow Your Business in 2014 [Infographic]

2013 is coming to a close and it’s about that time to start thinking about what worked this year and what flopped.

Your marketing should always be improving and you should always be looking for ways to attract more people, improve conversions and sell more stuff.

Today I’d like to share with you the 6 smartest things you can do for 2014 to set yourself up for a great year. This isn’t theory either… this list was created based on some interesting stats of 2013 that affect how we reach our target audience and how we market to them.

Check it out:

• 75% of Americans admit to bringing their phones to the bathroom
• Recipients of email marketing campaigns purchase 28% more often than those are not email subscribers
• 56% of small business owners don’t Measure Results
• 44% of online shoppers begin by using a search engine
• An online shopper is 144% more likely to purchase a product after they have watched a video
• 42% of small business owners are worried about finding new customers

These stats should raise some concerns and tremendous opportunities for us as entrepreneurs and content creators. Here’s what I suggest you do in 2014 to counteract these numbers and ride the opportunity wave they present.

1. Build a Mobile Friendly Website

People might take their phones to the toilet to continue a text conversation, but some might be searching for stuff online. Whatever it is that they’re doing doesn’t really matter.

The point of this stat is that we are attached to our mobile devices so much that we can’t even take care of business without having it near us. I recommend using the Genesis framework. They have a ton of mobile friendly child themes that take care of this for you. If you want to see how this works, do ahead and re-size your browser to see the responsiveness in action.

Pretty cool huh?

2. Create an Email Marketing Strategy

Email marketing works. This isn’t new, but this stats solidifies the fact that email is still alive and well; despite all the articles talking about the ‘death of email’.

Following up with your audience is essential to the success of your business and will prove to be critical in 2014 and beyond. Get ready by asking your visitors to sign up for email updates (or a free offer) so you can leverage the power of email marketing in the new year.

3. Track Your Results Monthly

The reason I say monthly is because you want to have enough data to make informed decisions about your marketing efforts. Seeing a spike in traffic on a random day isn’t enough to say your podcasting strategy is working.

However, if you notice 25% more subscribers this month compared to that of last month after you started podcasting, then you can conclude that getting into iTunes improved your reach.

4. Optimize for the Search Engines

Google is always changing the rules. I noticed a big drop in my search engine traffic about 3 days ago (about an 80% drop), that’s now coming back up. I have no idea what caused it, but let me tell you… I was scared!

Google sends me a very healthy amount of visitors a day and I wouldn’t want to lose that coming into the new year. So if you want to create a steady stream of visitors and new leads every day then optimizing for the search engine is something you definitely have to do.

Start with the basics. Don’t over complicate things.

5. Use Video to Sell Your Stuff

This one shocked me; 144% more likely to buy after watching a video. This is a great opportunity for you to improve conversions on your sales page or affiliate offers. You can do a few things with this:

• Record a video interview with the product owner (affiliate offer)
• Record a video walk-through of the product you’re trying to sell (affiliate offer)
• Record a membership site tour of your own site so your audience can see what they’re buying (own product)

6. Create Immense Value and They’ll Find You

Content marketing is still the best way to drive sales. If you focus on creating in depth articles, awesome podcast episodes and high quality videos for your audience, there’s no reason why they wouldn’t share your content with the rest of the world.

Finding new customers won’t be difficult for you in 2014, if you put them first.

Here’s the infographic: