For a while now, business has hoped and prayed for a competitor to the giant that is Google. It’s a massive beast that has so much power in the way of commerce and marketing. Small businesses should learn to roll with the punches when it comes to using Google to promote your business. It’s not all sweetness and lights, and occasionally you will run into a wall. Step back and realign your nose when you do, but most importantly know that the wall could have been avoided. There are so many ways to work your way around the system yet it can also gobble you a fly in a spider’s web. It’s important to remember, Google is not necessarily your friend, but it’s not out to hurt your business either. It will run on it’s own intuition and how the CEO of the company wants it to. They anticipate various things occurring in the future that the browser will plan ahead for. This can shock certain parts of the business world but overtime, those that adapt will find it easy to remain top dogs. Here’s how you can duck and weave against things that could hurt your business, but also ride the wave to the front.
It’s all about a mobile future
Consumers now more than ever shop using their smartphones. In fact, over 50% of the searches done in Google are done on smartphones. What does this mean for your business? First of all, it’s great news. Even if you don’t have a mobile version of your website, more and more customers are willing to browse around while on the train heading into and from work. That’s just more eyes and more wallets that are hovering over your business at any one time. No longer do desktop searches rule, but phones that everyone has in their pockets 90% of the time.
However, if you do not have a mobile version website, your business will take a tumble down the hill with regards to your page rank. As you can see Google wants businesses and indeed just websites in general to take on a two-tier approach. The old standard is the desktop, but a smartphone version of your website will boost you up the Google search page results. Automatically, Google will give your website priority over a competitor who has not build a mobile friendly version. So, if you haven’t already, begin creating your website but for an Android or iOS platform.
Change is good but…
Business needs to evolve constantly to update itself and remain in style and able to fulfil the desires of customers. For the latter, one has to keep the finger on the pulse of consumer trends and habits. When it comes to website design and function, you’re kind of playing catch up in this regard. Google rewards pages with high SEO such as a large amount of keywords. However you cannot simply throw these keywords and links around, they have to flow naturally as good content is rewarded as well. Anything that is interesting, and keeps people reading for longer, thus keeping them on the page for longer will be given a generous helping up the results. However drastic change to your website is not advisable. It sounds a bit counterproductive doesn’t it, because you’re supposed to shift and move with the times.
Drastic change includes changing your domain name and URLs to your pages. Typically, you’ll only need or want to change your domain name when you are rebranding. Maybe you had a less than successful launch and your first couple of years have not been ideal. Revamping the business with a new domain name is pretty common to shake off the cobwebs. However, your biggest concern is dealing with site migration. Google has a gigantic index. Even if your content, SEO and UX design is great, the new domain doesn’t have such a large pull as your previous domain. The Google index has labelled that particular website domain higher due to the accumulative popularity that it gathered over the time of its existence. Read the article and you can see that sometimes, if you can help it at all just don’t prod the bear.
You need to diversify content
Content is by far the biggest pull in the modern world of business. Consumers don’t just want to click and buy, they want to be entertained. Google rewards websites that have a mixture of content. The old promotional video that plays automatically upon visiting a page is the base standard. However nowadays, video content is by far the most exciting. Filming a short advertisement that can be played on YouTube and plenty of other video sharing platforms. It should be entertaining but shows why the product or service is valid in everyday life.
Recording interviews is senior staff is another great way to boost your ranking in Google’s eyes. Giving consumers a bit of inside knowledge and filming the usual work that goes on inside your business really allows consumers to feel more connected to your business. Of course, don’t record anything that is sensitive that could give away plans or secrets. Don’t just record interviews internally, use footage from various media outlets. For example, embed a video of you or your employees doing an interview with a news broadcasting network on your homepage. The first thing customers see is how you are keeping your name in the news and how valid you are in today’s society. Diversify your content so all bases are covered and Google will promote you higher than the average blog only website.
Somethings in life are best free
Google is a multinational company. One way it has managed to keep itself relevant with businesses all over the world is to make some of it’s products completely free. Google Docs, Spreadsheet, Hangouts, Gmail and My Business apps are easily accessed and used no matter where you are. You also have Google Drive where you can store up to 15GB for free. Even though these tools are not necessarily ideal for businesses, they are brilliant when you’re first starting out. Documents can easily be shared, thus they are open to a group that has the link, or you can tag in specific people.
Whether it’s a marketing report or sales figures, all those involved can easily switch between editing and access. Spreadsheet is used by many large businesses as it’s easy to use but can also perform complex actions. Analyzing data and plotting sales figures are the two main positives that this free program offers. On the other hand you can also talk to your employees using Hangouts. If you’re away from the office or sick, laying in your bed using your laptop or phone you can text speak or video conference anyone you want who is actually at the office. Google Drive offers a large amount of space to store your documents, videos and presentations in. although you are limited to 15GB, you can sign up with multiple accounts which each give the same amount of space.
Small businesses need plenty of software tools to get ahead. It’s vital then that you’re not forced to pay for the little things such as document and data sheet recording. Google has free apps for you to use and they should be utilized for your business. Diversify your content, create promotional, interviews and short marketing videos for your website to boost it’s ranking. However perhaps the biggest way to boost your ranking on the results page is to create a mobile friendly version of your website.
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