Moving your office can be a stressful process, whether you are moving just one desk and computer or whether you have dozens or even hundreds of individuals to move. There’s a lot that can wrong, and while not all of it can be controlled, there are some mistakes that you might make that can complicate the process unnecessarily.

When we talk about moving office locations, some of the factors to consider are certainly logistical, while others are marketing, SEO and brand based. Today, we’ll discuss both as we walk down the 15 most common mistakes made when moving your office location.

Forgetting to Update Your Website

Make sure you check all the places that your address is listed on your website and update them to list the new address instead. Don’t forget to check the headers and footers of your website, where many web developers will stuff an additional location listing your office address.

Not picking the right building.

Location, location, location! Like many businesses, you may be leasing a space from a building that contains other business spaces. Choosing the right type of building, in the right location, is an essential part of making your business successful.

Even if you do not actually have people come to your business to buy a product or service, you should still consider whether or not you have chosen the right location. Is it easy for your employees to access? Is there parking and places to eat nearby? Will search engines and the postal service recognize the address? All of these questions are key factors to consider when choosing your new location.

Not Updating Your Citations

Citations help search engines, like Google and Bing, verify that your business exists. When multiple credible sources have the same accurate information about your business, it signals to search engines that your business is legitimate.

Listing your business on the prominent national and local sites helps your business create authority, establish trust, and will improve your business’ ability to rank in local search results.

When moving, the last thing you want to have is inconsistency in your citations. For example, having your old address on half of the listings, and your new address on the other half. It can take some time to go through these and update them to ensure consistency, but it’s definitely worth it. Carve out some time in your schedule to make sure this gets done as soon as possible.

Neglecting the Social Media Promotion

Moving locations or opening an additional office always a great thing to share on social media. It can give you the opportunity to engage with your new neighbors, and excite colleagues in your new town or area. Share pictures of your team packing on Instagram, and shoot videos of the move and share on YouTube. You could even Facebook Live or Periscope some aspects of it. The bottom line is, it’s fun, and it’s a great opportunity to show your community that your great team is excited about the future in their new town.

We found a little piece of Chattanooga at @VaynerMedia‘s NYC office. 😍😍 pic.twitter.com/7ilGIy6yOa

— Chattanooga Chamber (@CHAchamber) May 7, 2017

Finding ways to engage on social media is always the hardest part of the strategy for a small business. So, don’t let an opportunity that falls into your lap pass you by. Capture and share every bit of your move on social media.

Not inspecting the office before signing the lease.

If you are eager to move from your current office into another one, you might be willing to sign the lease for your new office before actually looking at it. It might advertise three private offices, but what if those offices are tiny and barely fit a desk and computer? You might realize, standing in the space, that it is going to be too small or, conversely, way too big, for the current size of your company. Make sure that you actually look at the office before agreeing to lease it.

Not planning far enough ahead

How long do you reasonably believe it will take you to move? Many companies make the mistake of thinking they can pack, move, setup, and be ready for work again, all in the span of one night. Even a small business, with just a few items to move, across the street to a different building, will likely need more than just a day to make the move and get setup in the new space. Not planning for this time with your customers or client can leave them high and dry and looking for a new business.

Update Your Google Structured Data

Schema is a type of microdata that makes it easier for search engines to parse and interpret the information on your web pages more effectively so they can serve relevant results to users based on search queries. Although schema and other structured markup formats have been around for several years, relatively few sites bother to include schema microdata, and even fewer people actually know what schema is or what it’s for.

There’s a fantastic walk through from Neil Patel on Search Engine Journal explaining how to use Google’s Markup Tool to help you with this.

Not backing up your data

You might be banking on using the same computers when you move into the new space, but what happens if one of your computers falls out of the truck during the move and is smashed beyond repair? You have lost all of that data if you have not taken the time to back it up onto an external hard drive or onto the cloud. While it is relatively unlikely that your equipment will be so damaged during the move that your data cannot be recovered, in this instance, it is far better to be safe, rather than sorry.

Ignoring The Local SEO Aspects

If your business serves customers at a physical location, you have to stay in front of local SEO. Why? Because people tend to Google for the address, opening hours, or phone number of a business establishment before making a visit. You don’t want to miss out on a customer wanting to spend some cash at your store, do you?

With a comprehensive tool like Moz Local, first discover where you currently stand with respect to citations and listings across the web. Once you know which directories, websites, and listings you’ve missed out on, get to building your profile on those sites right away.

Not planning for delays

There are going to be delays while you are moving one office to another. Maybe you discover, when you arrive at your new office, that the internet connection has not been set up and you have to wait another day for someone to come out and get it connected.

Maybe taking down the old office, packing it up, and then setting up the new office takes far, far longer than you thought it was going to. Not planning for things to not go smoothly is one of the biggest mistakes that you can make as you try to transfer from office to another.

Not being flexible about the new office configuration.

Believing that you will be able to set your office up exactly how it is in your current space is a huge mistake. You and your employees should huddle to discuss how the new office should look and operate, once you have arrived. While the old configuration might fit in the new space, a different configuration that takes advantage of the floorplan in the new office could make for a much more functional work environment. Don’t simply assume that you can take down your cubicles from the old office and set them back up in the new one in the exact same formation.

Not getting enough insurance.

Moving insurance isn’t something that most businesses budget for, even when making a big move, but it can be a life saver if any of your most important items are damaged during the move. This insurance can cover both any products that you might be moving with you, along with your equipment and technology. Don’t move without it!

Not Seeking Professional Help

From one business owner to another, this is crucial to remember. This business began to flourish years ago when I realized that I wasn’t the best at everything. And even in some of the areas I was great at, the amount of time I had to commit to those things would be minimal, and would display minimal results. When I realized that “I’m a pretty good web developer” but could bring on an expert that could devote all of their time to it, things began to grow. When I realized that “I’m not the best writer in the world,” and decided to bring writers on staff, things began to grow. And they continue to grow because I look to experts in their field that love to work, and love to be better each day.

Understand that trying to do all of these things while continuing to operate your business can make you wanna pull your hair out. So look to experts for the SEO strategies that you want to achieve. Look to experts for moving your office furniture and configuration. Look to experts when painting, and so on… You’ll be glad you did.