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How Your Business Can Profit From Retail Showrooming

May 21st, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

The proliferation of mobile devices—and shopping or price comparison apps to use on them—has retailers worried that consumers are using their stores as “showrooms” to check out merchandise, then go online on their phones or tablets to find the same product cheaper elsewhere. But a new study from Wave Collapse, reported in MediaPost, suggests that worry about showrooming may be overblown.

The study found that people who use shopping apps in-store to research products or compare prices aren’t necessarily more likely to go online to buy—they’re simply more avid shoppers in general, across all channels. In fact, 93 percent of those who used apps in stores also reported buying something at a physical retail store in the last week, compared to 84 percent of people who didn’t use shopping apps in stores.

While the research may ease your fears that people are standing in your store, checking out your products and then buying the same thing on Amazon for less, the news still doesn’t mean you can relax. Wave Collapse found that many people who use smartphones in-store aren’t looking for the same products online—they’re seeing if they’re available at other, nearby physical stores. In other words, they’re doing what they’ve always done—comparison shopping—but they can just do it faster now.

Wave Collapse’s data also shows that smartphone shoppers are desirable customers who aren’t limited to mobile purchasing. Some one-fourth of smartphone owners report buying a product on their mobile devices in the past week, 60 percent report buying something online, and 87 percent report buying something in a physical location.

It boils down to this: Mobile shoppers are power shoppers, whether online, on the phone or in the store. So if you see a customer whipping out a phone in your shop, don’t get grumpy. Get over and offer to help them by:

  • Providing more information about the product
  • Offering additional help such as setup or delivery
  • Explaining extras such as warranties and other offerings that might set you apart from the competition
  • Offering to find or order the product for them in a different size, color or style

Recognize mobile shoppers as power customers, and treat them accordingly.

Image by Flickr user whiteafrican (Creative Commons)

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted in Marketing, sales process, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Technology, Web Design | No Comments »

Consumers More Confident, But Still Pinching Pennies

May 17th, 2012 ::

By Maria Valdez Haubrich

As we head into spring and summer, will consumer spending blossom? While the latest data shows consumers feeling confident, the latest SymphonyIRI Group MarketPulse survey, reported in Drug Store News, finds that increasing confidence isn’t yet translating to increasing sales.

After declining in the second and third quarters of 2011 and rising a bit in the fourth quarter, American’s confidence in their personal financial situations surged in the first quarter of the year. Some 19 percent of consumers say their financial position improved during the past year; 40 percent say it’s stayed the same; and 41 percent say it’s gotten worse. (Yes, in today’s economy, 19 percent feeling positive is good news—SymphonyIRI says this is the most optimistic consumers have been since the first quarter of 2011.)

Asked to look ahead, consumers were somewhat more hopeful about their personal financial situation for the next year.

  • 28 percent expect improvement in their personal finances during the coming year.
  • 26 percent expect their personal finances will deteriorate during the coming year
  • 46 percent feel the same about their personal finances as they did one year ago.

How are these attitudes affecting shopping behavior? Even with a more positive outlook, consumers are still being thrifty.

  • 71 percent of shoppers make shopping lists at home before they head to the store, compared to 67 percent in first quarter 2011;
  • 56 percent of shoppers select stores based on low prices, compared to 52 percent in first quarter 2011; and
  • 62 percent of shoppers check ads before going to the store, compared to 56 percent in first quarter 2011.

“Americans have certainly been on an economic roller coaster ride for the past few years, so it is no surprise to anyone that they will not forgo their frugal ways even though they may feel a bit more confident about their bank accounts,” said Susan Viamari of SymphonyIRI in reporting the findings. “They are opening their wallets a bit more these days, but they are still making lists and clipping coupons, so the key for marketers is to demonstrate the value of their products to consumers.”

How can you do that? Online searches, coupons and ads are the key ways consumers are hunting for the best deals. Make sure your business comes up in online searches, and use discounts and couponing wisely to attract cost-conscious customers, while still making a profit.

Image by Flickr user Beige Alert (Creative Commons)

 

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Posted in Marketing, sales process, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Who’s Using Daily Deals—and How Can You Lure Them to Your Business?

May 16th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Do you use daily deal sites like Groupon and LivingSocial to lure customers to try your business? A new study from Edison Research, The Daily Deals Consumer 2012, offers some useful insights into who’s using these services, why and the potential impact on your brand and business. Here’s a closer look.

Nearly one in six Americans (15 percent) use daily deal services. Daily deal users are primarily in the 25 to 54 age group; two-thirds are women; and they have a higher than average household income.

Daily deal sites are most popular in the South, where 45 percent of users are located. Next comes the West with 22 percent of users, the Midwest with 20 percent, and the Northeast with just 13 percent.

Groupon is by far the most popular daily deal site, with 83 percent of daily deals users registered there. Forty-four percent use LivingSocial, and 12 percent use “other.”

More than half of users are relatively new to daily deals, having joined in the past year. Since they started using daily deals, most users (48 percent) say their purchasing habits have remained fairly steady, but 32 percent are using deals less often than when they first started, while 14 percent are using them more often.

Deals work–only 6 percent say they have signed up but never purchased a deal. As to how well they work, there’s good news and bad news. While 28 percent of users say they’ve tried a new business because of a deal, then continued to patronize it without a deal, 30 percent say they’ve tried new businesses once, but never gone back, and 28 percent say they use deals from businesses they already patronize.  Daily deals can be a good way to get new customers, but you’ve got to work to earn their loyalty beyond the deal.

Daily deal users were substantially more likely than average consumers to own a smartphone or tablet. Because they’re so mobile, there are opportunities to reach out to them with “just-in-time” deals that are local and mobile.

Daily deal users spend more time online than average consumers (3.34 hours per day, as opposed to the average of 2.25), and 85 percent go online at work. They’re also far more likely to choose the Internet over other forms of media, such as radio, TV and newspapers. In fact, they’re also more likely to listen to Internet radio and watch online videos, which could lead to cross-platform promotional opportunities.

Not surprisingly, daily deal users are far more likely to have social media accounts than non-daily deal users, and spend more time there. Some 83 percent are on Facebook, 40 percent are on LinkedIn, 20 percent are on Twitter and 20 percent are on Google+. They are also twice as likely to follow companies or brands on social media. When you get a daily deal user hooked on your business, you have a great opportunity to reach their friends and family circles as well.

How are you using daily deals in your business?

Image by Flickr user Taro Taylor (Creative Commons)

 

 

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Posted in Business Development, Email Marketing, Marketing, Sales Process, sales process, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media | No Comments »

Small Businesses That Use Mobile Marketing See Their Sales Soar, Survey Shows

May 3rd, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

Is your small business using mobile marketing yet? In celebration of National Small Business Month, Web.com today announced the results of its Small Business Mobile Survey. The study found that while 69 percent of small businesses consider mobile marketing crucial to their growth in the next five years, and plan to increase their spending on it, a majority of them still haven’t taken full advantage of mobile marketing.

With 82.2 million Americans using smartphones, according to comScore figures, the benefits of mobile marketing are clear. Out of the 500 small business owners surveyed, 14 percent have a stand-alone mobile website; 84 percent of those entrepreneurs say they have seen an increase in new business activity due to their mobile marketing efforts.

Why are small business owners eager to invest in mobile marketing? Their top motivations were:

  1. Provide better service to existing customers (38 percent)
  2. Attract more local customers (36 percent)
  3. Gain competitive advantage (34 percent)

“With more and more consumers specifically searching for local businesses on their mobile devices, it is imperative that small businesses invest in a mobile presence,” said David Brown, chairman and chief executive officer of Web.com, in announcing the survey results. “Having a mobile presence can be a huge competitive advantage for small businesses trying to attract local customers by instantly introducing a potential customer to their business’ products and services in a mobile-enhanced way.”

But for most small businesses, there is still a long way to go when it comes to adding mobile marketing to the mix. While 60 percent of small businesses surveyed have a website, only 26 percent have a mobile-friendly website (the same layout/content as standard site adjusted to suit a smartphone screen). There’s also a large gap between the rapidly increasing number of mobile searches and small businesses’ mobile search strategy. Over 61 percent of small businesses currently do not have a mobile search strategy, meaning they’re missing out on consumers trying to find them via mobile device.

As a small business owner, you probably know that the biggest hurdle to embracing mobile is lack of time and resources. Some 64 percent of small business owners in the survey said they are their own one-person marketing team. It’s tough to wear multiple hats and find the time to build a mobile presence as well as running other aspects of your business.

Still, it looks like 2012 might be the year when mobile-savvy small businesses step it up. Some 64 percent of small business owners surveyed plan to increase their mobile investments this year.

You can find a full copy of the Web.com Small Business Mobile report and Infographic on in our Small Business Resources secton. Help your friends in the small business community go mobile during National Small Business Month by sharing this report on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn using the hashtag #smbmobile. Presenting on Small Business Mobile please see our handy Powerpoint presentation on the side bar here.

Image by Flickr user Mikigo (Creative Commons)

 

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Posted in Marketing, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Uncategorized, Web Design | 3 Comments »

Chartbeat: Analytics Dashboard for Your Website: Small Business Resource

May 2nd, 2012 ::

Chartbeat

If you’re looking for an alternative to Google Analytics, you might try Chartbeat, a simple-to-use but feature-rich real-time analytics dashboard. Log in and get a view of every user on your site, including what page they’re on and where they came from. Track key traffic flow and know which users are actively participating and which are doing nothing. Chartbeat can also help you determine which of your SEO efforts are working and which are not. Try the free 30-day trial and then pick a pay plan that suits your needs. Plans start at $9.95 per month.

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Posted in Marketing, Resources, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Web Design | No Comments »

SmartCalls: Solution for Mobile Specific Ads: Small Business Resource

May 1st, 2012 ::

SmartCalls

Capturing your local market has never been easier with Web.com’s new small business mobile advertising solution, SmartCalls. Taking action to reach the millions of Smartphone users, SmartCalls is a customized mobile marketing campaign tailored to your industry that enables customers in your area to click, call and find you. SmartCalls works with Google AdWords advertising service and Google mobile search ads and their “click to call” feature to connect local customers to your business by phone, then gets them to walk through your front door. The SmartCalls product also provides lead alerts, call tracking and call recording.

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Posted in Marketing, Resources, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Technology, Web Design | No Comments »

Small Biz Resource Tip: Localmind

April 20th, 2012 ::

Localmind

Here’s another location-based app you should know about to help your business grab customers in your area. Localmind users know when a customer has checked into a local store, restaurant, bar or area. Curious users will post questions such as, “What do they sell at that store?” “Would you recommend that bar for dinner?” As a business owner, Localmind not only lets you know what local customers are saying about your business and your competitors, but it also lets you weigh in. You can target customers nearby by replying, “Come on in!” or “We have a sale going on!” The best part: Localmind is free to consumers and businesses.

 

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Posted in Business Development, Marketing, Sales Process, sales process, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Social Media, social media, Technology | No Comments »

The Secret to Getting Local Customers: It’s Simpler Than You Think

April 16th, 2012 ::

By Rieva Lesonsky

If you own a small business that relies on local customers—such as a retail store, restaurant or hair salon—how can you attract new customers? According to the results of a new study conducted by comScore and reported in MediaPost, local search, social networking, mobile apps and daily deal sites are the key ways consumers find out about local businesses today. Here’s some of what the study found, and how it affects your business.

Nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of smartphone and tablet users search for local businesses on their mobile devices at least once a week. And nearly half (49 percent) of them use apps to conduct these searches. When they do find locations, consumers act: Eighty-six percent report that they made a purchase after conducting their most recent mobile search.

But local search and apps aren’t the only way customers are finding out about nearby businesses. ComScore reports there has been a 67 percent increase in people using social networks to search local businesses since 2010. More than one-third (35 percent) of those who use social networking sites to search for local businesses do so every day. And nearly half (45 percent) of social networking users say they also review or rate local businesses online, the study of more than 1 million people found.

If you’re paying for your business to turn up top in search results, comScore’s findings suggest you might be wasting your money. Nearly two-thirds (61 percent) of those who use online search to find businesses believe that local search serves up more relevant results than paid-search ads. (Just 10 percent thought the ads were more relevant). And 58 percent said they trust local search results more, while only 9 percent trusted paid-search ads. As you might expect, searches on social networks were considered to deliver the most relevant and most trustworthy results; 63 percent of respondents said they prefer to use social networks to find information about local businesses whenever they can.

Speaking of social, don’t forget the importance of daily deal sites. Some 60 percent of consumers in the survey said they regularly use daily deals. Overall, their favorite services were Groupon (88 percent) and Living Social (86 percent). Deals aren’t going away anytime soon, with a whopping 86 percent of respondents saying they will keep purchasing deals.

What’s the takeaway for your local business? It’s simple: Keep your business profile updated on all the major search engines (Google, Bing and Yahoo, as well as their map programs) and on social sites, local search sites and ratings and review sites. Consistency is key to making sure search spiders can find you, so make sure your business’s key information, including name, address and phone number, is the same across all search engines. It’s great to add more about your business, but none of that will matter if your basic data doesn’t match from Google to Yahoo and customers can’t find you.

Image by Flickr user Danard Vincente (Creative Commons)

 

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Posted in Marketing, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business, Web Design | 2 Comments »

Panda 3.4, SEO and Link Building: Keeping It Natural

April 11th, 2012 ::

By Andreea Cojocariu

Google released a new Panda update this week. Its quest to make search as user friendly and relevant as possible is pushing forward. This update only affects about 1.6 percent of search. However, it reminds us that Google is determined to make the lives of everyday Internet users as easy as possible. This has quite an impact on SEO.

SEO 101

The idea is to have a website that is geared toward your target audience. That’s pretty obvious.  However, SEOs understand that you can make your website user friendly, but also search engine friendly. Certain aspects of a website’s design aren’t always search engine friendly (i.e., use of too many images, Flash). The problem now is that it’s become easy to play the “SEO game.” If you do x, y, z, you’ll rank number one in searches. Google is saying no to that. And it’s up to online marketers, specifically SEOs, to keep up with Google and change accordingly.

The basic premise: Keep it natural. Give your target market what they want. And what they want is quality content–facts, research, unbiased reasons why your product or service is by far better than your competitions. You can do this with articles, press releases, blogs and market research.

SEO Crossfire

Keeping that in mind, Google’s Panda updates are making it harder for black hat SEO to rank well…as it should. Caught in the crossfire, however, are what we would consider good quality websites. I recently noticed drastic drops in backlinks for several of my clients. One went from having over 1K links to 6. At first, I thought it was a fluke. But then I checked other sites I was working on, 6 seemed to be the magic number. Now, it’s not 6 for every website out there, but the decrease is noticeable. To check your site for backlinks, enter  link:www.yourwebsite.com.

Links and Affiliates

Google has been evaluating links.  If your backlink is coming from a spammy site, it’s not going to get counted. This can be quite the problem for companies utilizing affiliate marketing. One of my clients in particular has a rather successful affiliate program. And recently, their back links have dropped.

To combat this, I’ve become rather particular when I approve potential affiliates. Here’s what I do:

  • Check title and meta descriptions of the homepage. I’m looking for keywords, specifically ones that match my products. If they are there, I approve them.
  • Make note of where links are located on the page. Ideally, you want content on top and then ads and links below the fold of the webpage.
  • Make note of the types of products and services. Someone affiliates just want to make money and will advertise anything. Make sure that their site matches your business profile.
  • Make note of excessive images and use of Flash. Search bots have a harder time crawling Flash and images, which means that these sites won’t get crawled nearly as frequently as others.

By the way, you don’t want to overdo SEO either.  Google is going to penalize sites with too much optimization. You want to keep your site as natural as possible.  If you have a good keyword list, it should be pretty intuitive. Creating quality content with your keywords should be easy for your copywriters whether you have someone in house or through an agency.  That being said, many of you won’t see too much of a dip in traffic or sales. But you may notice small things like decreased backlinks or small drops in ranking. If it’s been a while since you touched your website for SEO, you really could see a big dip. Either way, prepare yourself. Stay connected and ask your online marketer for advice on how to make your website both user friendly and search engine friendly.

Andreea Cojocariu, also known as the Smiling Marketress, is an online marketer in St. Louis, Missouri, specializing in SEO and social media. She has a knack for developing successful online marketing programs resulting in increased sales and ROI for small businesses. By keeping her eye on clients’ target market, she helps companies create both user friendly and search engine friendly content. Cojocariu has a B.A. in English, an MBA and is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Business Administration. Connect with her on Twitter (andreeac_t) or LinkedIn.

 

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Posted in Marketing, Search Marketing, small business, Small Business Success Index, Technology, Uncategorized, Web Design | 1 Comment »

PPC 101: Basics of Pay-Per-Click Advertising

April 4th, 2012 ::

By Thomas Ford

According to Google Adwords, the definition of pay-per-click advertising is  “the pricing structure used by some online channels to charge an advertiser each time a user clicks on the advertiser’s ad. The amount is usually set by the advertiser, not by the channel.” More specifically, pay-per-click (or PPC) advertising is the placement of an ad on a search engine based on specific keywords or phrases. The advertiser sets a maximum price they are willing to pay for each click onto their website. This has become a favored advertising method because the advertiser pays only when someone clicks on their ad, not each time the ad is shown.

There are many benefits to pay-per-click advertising. Listed below are some of the most favorable:

• Quick Results: In some cases, once you have devised your pay-per-click ad, decided on the amount you are willing to bid, and lodged your application with the pay-per-click search engine, your ad will appear within minutes. Other pay-per-click search engines may take a couple of days for your ad to appear. So unlike organic SEO, pay-per-click marketing can generally give you immediate results.

• Fit Your Budget: You set your own budget, and the budget options are flexible. With pay-per-click advertising, you can tailor your budget to your sales goals and how aggressive you would like to be. It is also easy to modify your budget through the year to adapt to seasonal highs and lows.

• Track Your Results: You are able to track and measure the success of your campaign. Solid Cactus and Google Adwords have many options for you to be able to see which keywords are performing, whether through newsletter sign-ups, an online purchase, a form submission or a phone call. These actions can all be directly tracked back to your specific pay-per-click campaigns.

• Get Noticed: Pay-per-click offers the ability to for national exposure. With Google and Yahoo reaching at least 80 percent of all Internet users, pay-per-click advertising ensures your company is reaching a desired audience.

The potential to receive great success using pay-per-click advertising is high but there are some things you should do to help make this happen. The main factor to consider in assessing how successful your campaigns are is your ROI (return on investment). This is calculated by taking how much you are making from clicks and conversions through your pay-per-click ads and subtracting that from what you are paying to run your campaigns. If your ROI is low or even negative, here are a few things you may want to consider to help increase your profit:

• If you are in a highly competitive industry, such as healthcare, law or real estate, make sure you are putting enough money into your campaign to cover the cost of your keywords. Keywords for these industries tend to be on the higher end of the spectrum.

• If the majority of keywords you are currently running on are expensive, consider adding in some less expensive keywords. Typically, the more general a keyword, the more expensive it is. Try to get some targeted, less expensive keywords as well.

• The positioning of your ads is based partially on the price you have set for your cost-per-click. If your ads are showing in the top positions the majority of the time, consider lowering your bids a bit to achieve a more cost-effective position.

Anyone can create pay-per-click campaigns; the trick is getting right and making it successful. It takes time and effort to get a pay-per-click campaign optimized with the best-performing keywords, ads and landing pages. You need to acquire enough data to make informed changes and improvements to your campaigns. So remember, while you can get your account up and running quickly, it may take some time to get the results you are seeking.

Image Courtesy Solid Cactus

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Posted in Marketing, Search Marketing, Small Business, small business | No Comments »

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