If you're a newcomer to the e-commerce scene, chances are you're not so sure how to go about building your online reputation. But guess what? A lot of online entrepreneurs still make mistakes too. This is why it's highly essential to consult web marketing experts, to read helpful articles and attend webinars on this matter, and to never stop increasing your knowledge and experience.

Yes, you do learn from your mistakes. But as much as possible, wouldn't you want to skip some of them especially if they're going to be costly on your part? Certainly, lessening your boo-boos will speed up your growth, development, and profits.

Inability to Focus and Interact
It's fairly common for many e-business beginners to get so excited that they'll immediately open up various social media accounts, start a blog, try to build an email list, and also attempt article marketing. What do you think is likely to happen in this scenario?

You're right! It'll explode. You'll find yourself shattered into pieces, with a few posts here and there, feeling overworked and overwhelmed. This is often the biggest reason for the lack of focus. Even before you've begun strengthening your blog readership or developing more likes for your Facebook page, you feel as if everything's going down the drain and all your efforts are wasted.

FOCUS is very important. Just concentrate on one area first. Build and strengthen it. Interact with your followers, readers, and visitors. Once it seems to be doing well, open a new social media account or start your own video channel on YouTube. Then slowly build and fortify it too while continuously maintaining the previous one you worked on.

Lack of Consistency
There are times when some online companies fail to establish a particular branding because their "looks" or "themes" don't match across various platforms they use on the Internet. The posts are not consistent with the image they wish to cultivate. When this happens, you convey mixed and confusing signals and messages to your audience. Hence, it can be damaging on your reputation.

Be consistent with the appearance, tone/style, and conversations across the board. Thus, if different people are managing your website, blog, social media accounts, ads, and marketing campaigns, there's a danger of sounding or seeming incongruent. Make sure you have a managing team for these things who meet up regularly and coordinate with one another.

Incorrect Placement of Efforts
At times, you exert so much effort and even invest a lot of money in something that doesn't bring back the same amount of benefit. What if you're spending so much time spreading word about your business through article marketing but failing to reach your target audience? What if you keep posting on LinkedIn but majority of your prospective clients don't even use this platform?

In this light, it's definitely important to determine where to place your efforts and how much to give. There may be situations when you'll need to balance the work you do among your various e-marketing instruments. There are also cases when you'll have to drop a few to focus on and grow what's left.

Failure to Understand Your Target Audience
In trying to establish your online presence, you have to first identify your target audience and then study them to understand them. The problem is, most online entrepreneurs tend to just stop at pinpointing the target audience. This is especially true for smaller businesses and start-up companies that don't have the budget to conduct extensive market research.

Nonetheless, there are still plenty of creative ways to go about it without spending. Join communities and forums where you think your target audience hangs out. Get to know their deepest desires and common problems, where they like to hang out, what triggers their emotions, and more. These are valuable pieces of information that will be of great use to you as you mold and buttress your online rep and presence.

Being aware of these 4 common boo-boos will at least give you the heads up on what things to dodge and which paths to take. This way, you won't suffer the same consequences that other web business owners did.