As a small business (or with any business really) every potential issue should have a solution to how it is handled, no matter how big or small. This of course, includes any online problems as well.

These days every business should have some form of online presence as almost 70% of business is done online. This is why having a plan and solution for any online problems is important. You need to make sure you are prepared for anything that could potentially happen.

We will go through some online issues that can come up and how to be prepared for them.

Getting Hacked

You always think that something like getting hacked will never happen to you. You'd be surprised at how easy someone can hack something. Even big corporations like The National Lottery and the NHS, have been hacked.

So, how do you prevent or prepare for hacking? There are a few simple solutions that can help prevent hacking. This includes using strong passwords with upper and lowercase, and symbols and numbers. Regular software updates and using SSL certificates for that extra layer of security is good too.

If you found out you've been hacked, the best thing to do first is to change your passwords immediately and try and see where the problem came from. You can ask your developing company to look into this for you.

Why not check out this blog from Big Eye Deers for some more simple tricks for website security.

Issues with your Order Process

If you run an ecommerce website, you probably know there is potential for issues to arise during the checkout journey. This is a huge nuisance for everyone but there are solutions to a number of the problems.

Card declined error: this is an issue that isn’t always the businesses fault and can be the customer’s fault, however it is still an issue that needs to be addressed and it can be fixed quite simply. Basically, a card declined error could be one of many things, but one of the most common is either the customer didn’t enter their details correctly or their bank declined it. To fix this, you can simply add a message to prompt customers to try entering details again or give customers the option to pay with a different payment method.

Why not check out this handy blog for more info about Card Declined message: https://www.bigeyedeers.co.uk/card-declined-save-the-customers/

Checkout not working? This one is a bit harder to pinpoint, but is probably the most important one to keep an eye on. Just think, if the checkout is not working what do you think a customer is going to do? Carry on or leave? And if they do have an issue, how many do you think will actually contact you to tell you?

A well-established business will likely have a customer come back and say something is wrong but If you are a new business then this is something you need to keep an eye on. There is an easy way to keep an eye on this and this is through Google Analytics tool. You can create an alert that tells you if your website goal completion is lower than usual and goes below a certain percentage.

If it is under the set percentage or number then you can go on your website and test to check it is okay. If not then you can act upon it quickly and make sure the downtime isn’t long.

Dropping in the Search Engines

Getting to the top spots or on page one of a search engine is every business's main goal. Most people only look at the first page of search engines, so what happens when you drop from to the second page?

As we have mentioned before, SEO takes time and moving up in the ranks can take a bit longer than you hoped. But always be patient! There could be a number of reasons you dropped in the search engine results - the search engine could have changed their algorithm or had a recent update which means what counted before doesn’t count now.

The best way to overcome this issue is to make sure all your content is optimised for SEO, that means using a range of short and long-tail keywords when content writing. Remember to build backlinks from reputable websites and make sure your code is up to scratch as well.

It is always good to keep track of your SEO and how you are ranking, read our previous blog on how to measure SEO and check our previous blog for some extra tips on how to boost SEO.

Negative Online Comments

Being online is great, everything is at your fingertips. You have access to a much wider audience, and keep in contact with your customers via so many more platforms. However, with the ease of being online, also comes keyboard warriors typing up negative comments about your business and service.

Nowadays, if a person complains, there is a high chance that they will vent online to do so. About 80% of online comments about customer service is negative - a big number you don't want to be part of!

Having good customer service is something all businesses should strive to have, but every now and again there will be one customer who will not be 100% happy and pick about it. So how do you handle this? The best thing to do is respond straight away to negative comments, especially if they are done via social media. Responding to social media complaints show that you are being active in your customer service.

Read our previous blogs blogs about how to react to social media complaints and online reputation management.

All these online problems are big for an online businesses. However, if you have solutions in place and are ready if one arises then you should be fine. Just remember, being online means reacting quickly. So, always keep an eye on everything and make sure the online problems are handled swiftly and efficiently.

If you need help implementing bits such as SSLs or coding to help with your SEO, contact our favourite web development company, Big Eye Deers, for help! You can reach them HERE.