Did Your Small Business Meet These 2014 Goals? [UPDATE]

Now that 2014 is drawing to a close, it’s time to look back and reflect on the 2014 goals we reviewed at the beginning of the year. We all saw Google’s algorithms change several months ago, and while that shifted SEO and content marketing strategies a bit, the 2014 small business trends remained true throughout the year.

Data Explosion. We’ve seen a huge push for data this year. Small business performance has shifted to focus on metrics, data, and how to properly analyze data to ensure business growth opportunities. Many small businesses have embraced and executed the act of running reports, and basing goals, objectives, and measuring performance from them.

Did your small business form goals based on performance metrics? Did your small business meet them?

Content Marketing. At the beginning of the year, we mentioned that content management and marketing was about quality over quantity. Content should be fresh, unique, be informative, and make a point; avoid the fluff. The change in Google’s algorithms late in the year caused a shift in many small business content marketing strategies. Many small businesses halted their progress to see how the change in algorithms would alter SEO.

Now that 2014 is drawing to a close, look at your own blog and site metrics…did you meet your content goals? Did traffic to your site increase? What worked and what didn’t?

Toll Free Vanity Number. We’ve talked a lot about how a toll free vanity number is proven to be a huge asset for small businesses…regardless of size and industry. Tying in a toll free vanity number to any business brand and content marketing strategy is still incredibly beneficial.

Did your business acquire a toll free vanity number this year? If so, how did it work for you?

Many small businesses are busy this time of year analyzing and reviewing their performance and progress over 2014, reaching for those last few digits during the holiday season push, and even gearing up and planning for 2015. If your small business hasn’t done any planning for 2015, now is the time. Even if your small business did not meet all of your 2014 goals, there’s still time to reach them…and there’s no reason why they can’t roll into 2015, with even more force and dominance.