Archive for the ‘Small business online’ Category

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52. Use of Panoramio for small business

Friday, September 28th, 2012

Panoramio is a tool owned by Google which affords the user help in including images as part of this approach but what makes this tool unlike other image sharing tools?

Various studies have proved that using images online can have the effect of engaging the user and holding their attention quicker than just using plain text. With this in mind, it would be prudent for any business in ensure that images are incorporated as part of their websites, blogs and any other online marketing and company branding strategies.

With Panoramio there is the facility to exhibit a symbol on a map, which will correspond to the place that the image in question was taken. This is fantastic for any business when a potential client asks questions about your business, for example; “Can you make available details of where your current customers are serviced or situated?” Rather than just offer a directory of areas or addresses, they can be accompanied by images which will help them connect more easily with the text.

Other capabilities of Panoramio are that you can effortlessly share your images on social networking sites such as Google Buzz and Twitter which will help increase awareness of your brand, products and services. GEO modifiers can be attached to an image which will help direct more traffic to your online marketing tools where people are specifically looking for your location.

There are also photographic communities within Panoramio. These groups are a place where like minded people can share images and have discussions about topics that they are enthusiastic about. These groups will help ensure that your business is connecting with and maintaining relationships with people that will want to be informed and kept up to date with what products and services you can provide.

Panoramio is free and easy to use and they provide a comprehensive resource section which will ensure that any user of Panoramio can reap the benefits to the fullest extent.

If you would like more information of local search services or how Panoramio can help with local SEO and marketing, please contact us.

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Posted in Local Mobile Search, SEO, Small business online | Comments Closed

51. How the use of Photobucket can benefit a small business

Wednesday, September 26th, 2012

Photobucket allows you to host all your photographs, videos and graphics for free and then share them with customers and colleagues by way of email or social networking sites like MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. A Photobucket account will provide safe storage for thousands of images and videos and allows you to use them in various different ways.

Along with email and social networking sites, your images can be shared with existing and potential clients on any website, blog or forum by simply copying and pasting the relative links.

The free account affords its users up to 500 Megs of storage space and provides for 10 Gigs worth of bandwidth per month. You can create numerous albums and sub-albums in a Photobucket account and reference them with identifying tags. You can choose to share single pictures or an entire album of images and are given the option of keeping any of your content private.

For businesses that require larger amounts of storage space, there is the option to pay a nominal amount per year which will provides a Pro Account with unlimited bandwidth for video viewing and photos. This type of account will also allow for a reasonable amount of business use for sales sites and others like eBay and then charge you for any additional image hosting.

For businesses that use branding merchandise for their clients such as t-shirts, cards and mugs, an account with Photobucket will offer the ability to order this merchandise through them after having been able to edit the images therefore saving on the cost of having to employ a sales site to make any changes.

Pro Account users can also take advantage of provided statistics which will afford an insight into which websites their images are being viewed though and the amount of times every image has been seen. This helps a company determine which web pages are performing well for the company by way of the number of visitors it is receiving as they have been attracted by a certain image.

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Posted in Small business online, Small Business Online Marketing, Website Design | Comments Closed

44. Online payments options for small business

Saturday, August 11th, 2012

How we shop has changed considerably since the inception of the Internet and the World Wide Web. We no longer have to shop in-store, as most items we will ever need are now available to order on-line. I love this way of purchasing goods. I no longer have to have the children traipsing alongside me when I shop for things that are of absolutely no interest to them which in turn means I no longer get stressed because they have become bored and I don’t have to put up with constant questions like “Can I have “and “Can we go home yet”.

 

There will always be those items that I will venture into a shop to peruse before purchasing; however; for the most part, I can search different on-line shops, compare prices and even get honest product reviews from those who have purchased before me in the comfort of my own home. Then with little more than a click of a button I get to sit back and relax until the postman rings my doorbell with my new purchase.

 

For many small businesses the thought of what may involved in setting up their website in order to afford their customers the ability shop online may seem daunting and expensive, however; this does not need to be the case. PayPal has no set up or monthly fees and is a cost effective, easy to utilize option that more and more companies are using in order to accept on-line payments from their customers.

 

Setting up a PayPal account is done on-line and is free. Within a matter of minutes a consumers can begin to make purchases and businesses can have a number of “one-click” buttons added to their website. From, buy it now, shopping carts, and gift vouchers to monthly subscriptions there is an option for every consumer need.

 

Credit and debit card payments, bank transfers and email payments are made and received through PayPal without the need of either party having to disclose their banking details and with the security measures PayPal have in place both consumer and merchant can rest assured that every transaction is secure. Payment from one account to another is pretty much instantaneous with PayPal fees only being taken as and when a transaction occurs which are relative to the purchase amount.

 

PayPal offers all its businesses free tools with which to manage and measure their business effectively and consumers a comprehensive history of their transactions. PayPal is one of the leading companies in respect of this type of payment service and they can boast companies such as EBay, iTunes and Toys R Us among their clientele.

 

There are other companies such as PayPoint and SagePay amongst others offering on-line payment options for small businesses, so depending on needs for both consumer and merchant it would be prudent for  any business to research all these companies have to offer in order to ensure the highest quality shopping experience for their clientele.

 

If you would like more details on how you can have a website designed, that is enabled for online payments from only £14.99, please visit our website.

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Posted in Small Business e-Commerce, Small business online | Comments Closed

43. Why a small business should start a blog

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

Ever since Google launched it has had a strong desire to return the best search results to the people using their service.  To achieve this they constantly make updates to their search algorithms (the code that decides what websites to return in the search results).

In April 2012, Google made 2 significant changes named Panda and Penguin.  These changes placed much more emphasise on good quality content being regularly updated on a website.

This presents an issue to the average small business as their websites are typically a couple of pages and static (they don’t get updated that often).  Therefore, in the eyes of Google they do not present a good experience to the person searching, meaning less likely to rank highly in the search results.

Problem

Most small business owners do not have the time or knowledge to regularly update their website.  In many cases they are not able to and any updates means spending money with the website designer.

Solution

A small business owner could start a blog.  There are many very good blogging platforms that are simple to use and do not require a huge amount of technical experience.  A blog will allow a small business owner to post regular content that, depending on quality, would be picked up by Google.

An even smarter move is to write posts on topics that their customers and website visitors will find interesting and provide value.  This will encourage even more visitors.  This in turn is looked on positively by Google and can help the website even more.  It is also possible to include links in your blog post back to the relevant pages on your main website.  Another good way of getting visitors to your main website.

How to Start

While it is possible to start a free blog, I would suggest starting a blog on your current website.  For example, the digital are blog can be found at www.digitalark.co.uk/blog1.  While not proven, Google appears to give benefit to the overall website and not just the blog.

Simple to Set-Up

A good web host, like Digital Ark, should have a solution that allows blog platform software such as WordPress to be installed with a single click.  This means that you could have a blog set-up and your first post published in less than an hour (probably even quicker).

Regular Updates

The big commitment for a small business is to make regular posts.  The best results are where a blog is updated at least once a week.  While this sounds daunting, spending a few weeks getting into a routine will soon turn it into a habit.  Then it should mean that you can create and post an entry in less than 30 minutes.

The articles should ideally be between 400 – 600 words.  Less than 400 can be seen as ‘thin’ content by Google with limited value.  It should not matter if some articles are less than 400, just aim for the majority to be over 400 words.

Remember to include headings and pictures to make the blog easier to read and more visually appealing.

If you make a post each week, over a year you will end up with a lot of content on your blog that should be viewed favourably by Google giving you a best chance of ranking higher in the search results.

Conclusion

Google wants high quality and frequently updated.  Writing a blog offers and excellent way for a small business to provide value to potential customers, engage with their audience and as a by product give Google want it wants!

Don’t delay start your blog now.  If you would like help or more information, please contact us.

 

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41. Does you small business website REALLY contain the content Google now wants?

Wednesday, July 4th, 2012

In recent posts I have covered the changes to the Google search algorithm (Panda and Penguin) and in post 40, why you should not rely only Google for your traffic.  However, you can not ignore Google as they still account for around 80% of the search engine market.  So the question is, what is the most constructive use of a small business owners time to make their website appealing to Google?

What does Google want?

As mentioned many times, they want to provide the best user experience to the person conducting a search by providing the most relevant search results.  In order to do this, Google wants high quality content.

What does this mean to a small business?

Review the content on your website and ask yourself:

  • “does it provide value to the person searching”
  • “has it been written for the person searching or for the search engines”
  • “does the content answer burning questiond, provide information, etc”
  • “is the website easy to navigate, easy to find the information”
  • “can the information be improved and enhanced”
  • “is the information out of date / defunct”
  • “ask family and friends for their input”
  • “ask your clients (after all they know what they want”
  • “ask the people on your mailing list, followers on Facebook, Twitter, etc”

There are many other questions that could be added.  However, reviewing your site using the above will be a good start.

Take action – make changes

If you find areas that can be improved, make changes.  The sooner you make changes the quicker they will be picked up by Google.  Don’t sit back and wait.  If you have a big website, start that changes in tranches, don’t wait until you have reviewed all of your pages.

Action list

  1. Review website content
  2. Identify changes
  3. Rapidly make changes
  4. Repeat steps 1 to 3 on a periodic basis

Follow these simple steps and your website should become more useful to people searching meaning more relevant to Google.

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Posted in SEO, Small business online, Website Design | Comments Closed

40. Is Google your single link of failure for your business?

Saturday, June 30th, 2012

Since the creation of the Google search engine, as well as the much publicised “do no evil”, their main objective has been to return relevant search results to the person who is looking for information. It is important to remember this as their objective is NOT to help businesses and organisations promote their website (however good it might be)!

Old way to improve rankings

Due to this objective, many small business website owners have looked for ways to help their website improve in the search engine rankings. Some have had success, others have not. A whole industry offering search engine optimisation (SEO) has been created, again with a varying degree of success. SEO can be split into 2 distinct areas, on page (the structure and content that appears on a website) and offpage (inbound links from other websites, directories, etc). It should also be added that social media (how many Facebook ‘likes’, Google ‘+ 1′s’, etc that your website is receiving).

Over recent years, Google gave a very high ranking to websites with many inbound links, especially where the anchor text of link was an exact match to a search phrase. Anchor text is simply the text that appears in a link i.e. Click Here. Many SEO companies focused on adding links with the anchor text matching the search phrase a website wished to rank well in the search engines. So if you were running a building company in Colchester, the anchor text would typically be ‘builders in Colchester’, ‘Colchester builders’, etc.

Old way made the searchers unhappy

The Google algorithm used to equate many links with the same anchor text to mean that the website must be a good match for the search phrase. This resulted in websites who practiced this approach rising to the top of the Google rankings. Unfortunately, the results that reached the top were not always the results that the person searching was looking for. This means that the searchers were unhappy that in turn means that Google was unhappy for not meeting their objective.

Google comes to the rescue

In April 2012 Google addressed this my adjusting their search algorithm to discount inbound links that looked like they were artificial and / or being used to manipulate rankings. This change hit a number of websites quite hard, unfortunately many innocent websites were caught in the cross fire. While there is still much debate on what is the best approach for SEO (just search for best seo approach post penguin), one thing is certain, building links using the same anchor text is no longer as effective. In fact it can hurt your rankings.

Important lesson

Facebook Business PageLike in business, you should never rely on one customer for all your business. What happens if they go ‘bust’? The same is true for search engine traffic. Google often makes changes to their search engine algorithm. If you are unlucky, you could lose all of your traffic overnight. Therefore, it makes sense to look to other channels as well for search traffic. For example, Facebook is the 2nd most visited website each month with many people using it to seek buying advice. Every business should set up their own Facebook Business page. It provides another source for visitors, and lessens the risk of single point of failure with Google.

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39. Ideas for small business to benefit from 2012 Olympics

Friday, June 22nd, 2012

The stadiums and facilities are complete, the transport systems have had test runs for the extra visitors so all that is needed is the start of the 2012 Olympics in Stratford, London will start on 27th July.  If small businesses are not already thinking about how to benefit from the games, they should certainly start now so as not to miss out!

To help the thought process, here are a few ideas.  Obviously not applicable to all businesses.  However, the aim is to serve as a ‘kick start’ to the thought process.

Special Offers / Discounts

People always like to get ‘a deal’.  You can think about launching a special offer or discount that is related to the Olympics.  So offer on your leaflets, signs, website, etc would be something like “Olympic Games Special Offer”.  Describe the offer i.e. 20% discount, buy 1 get 1 free, etc.  Then, most important, create the urgency by saying the offer closes on 16th August 2012.

If you want to be really clever, you can link the discounts to the games such as 20.12% discount.  However, do think about how hard this will be.

It could be as simple as giving free chocolate Olympic medals to all the children who come in to your business.

Themed Events

You can hold special Olympic themed events:

  • Launching new products, services
  • Starting your summer sale
  • For a bar, cafe, restaurant launch an Olympic menu

If possible hold mini Olympics or Olympic themed games as part of your event.  Offer prizes to winners, proceeds to charity, etc.

If you can hold an event or special day.  See if you can drum up extra publicity by issuing a press release to your local paper or radio station.

 Extra Visitors

If you are based in or around London (including close to airports or ports), think about the extra visitors who will be arriving to the area.  If you run a B&B or restaurant, create offers that target Olympic visitors.  If you sell or manufacture products, such as furniture, ornaments, etc you have an opportunity to reach new customers.  The advances of the internet mean that more and more people are more than happy to place mail order purchasers via the internet.

Conclusion

This is only a quick post with generic ideas.  The aim is to start the thought process and, most importantly, prompt action to be taken so you can benefit from the Olympic Games.

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38. Local Search – make the most of citations

Thursday, June 7th, 2012

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Google is trying harder than ever to ensure a good user experience.  This means an increased focus on returning local search results that are relevent.

This has meant that Google Places has gone through yet another update and now you will see an increased number of ‘blended’ search results.  This is where both normal organic and Google Places search results are displayed on the first page of Google.

local search results

This means that it is even more important to make sure that small businesses are set-up in a way to maximise the benefits of this service.

Action Plan

1. Claim your Places page

If you have not already, make sure that you claim (or add) your business page.

2. Complete the set-up

Make sure that you correctly complete all of the information, being mindful to take advantage of the different fields available to help people find you.  You must ensure the entry is 100% complete.

If you find any errors in the existing data and / or duplicate Places page, make sure you correct / get the duplicate page(s) deleted.

3. Reviews / Reputation Management

Check to see if you have any reviews.  If you do, and you find bad reviews, take action to contact the person who left the poor review and try to resolve their concern.  Likewise, examine your business and make sure that any deficiencies in your service that may have caused the bad review are addressed.

Get into the habit of asking your customers to add reviews.  If you don’t ask you don’t get!

4. Citations

Work on your digital footprint – mentions of your business across the internet (known as citations).  The more sources Google finds of your business name, address and (telephone) number (NAP), the more credible.

Downside is for Google to see a match, the NAP must exactly match your Places page.  So take care when adding your details to directories, websites, etc.  It is also worth searching and cleaning up old entries to gain more benefit.

Summary

Local Search is important.  Make sure you take the time to make the most of the trend.

If you would like a free local search analysis report for your business, send a mail to local@digitalark.co.uk with your website a 3 search phrases you are trying to rank your website for.

We are offering a number of cost effective local search packs to help get small businesses take advantage of local search.

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37. Google Penguin has changed the rules again for small business websites

Monday, May 7th, 2012

After the 23rd April 2012 did you notice any of the following for your website?

  • Drop in the number of daily visitors
  • Large drop on where your website appears in Google

If you did then your website has probably been hit by the recent change of the Google search algorythm, a change they have named ‘Penguin’.

Penguin

The Google Penguin change has been launched to try and address what Google refers to as ‘web spam’.  Websites that offer poor, sometimes duplicate content and / or engage in aggressive search engine optimisation  (SEO) practices to try and manipulate their position in search engine rankings.

Unfortunately, like with other changes by Google the end result is never perfect and some good websites have been caught in the crossfire.  The problem is that this is very unfair on the website owners, especially if it means in loss of business to competitors.

When Google make these type of changes it does act as a wake-up call, especially if you are guilty of (quite innocently) falling foul of these guidelines.

Link building can be risky

One area many small business owners get caught is buying a cheap deal to build 1000 links to your website for a very small fee.  What you don’t know is how those links will be built and, more importantly, the impact they will have.  For this reason it is very wise not to buy links.  In fact Google even states that links should not be purchased.

For a website with good content and serving a meanigful purpose, links will build up naturally over time.  The method of how these links are built will vary, not only by the ‘anchor text’ in the link but also the source.

For example, a natural link profile will come from directories, blogs, forums, press releases, social networks (like Twitter, Facebook, etc) and others.  They will also appear over time.  Buying links may result in 1000 backlinks all being built on the same day, all with the same anchor text and from the same type of source i.e. forum signatures.

Avoid duplicate content

Another important aspect of the change is to ensure that your website contains good quality content that is not duplicated across several webpages (or other websites).  Google can identify duplicate content and only gives credit to what they beleive is the source version.

This means that a small business owner should ensure that there is no duplicate content and ideally look to ensure that content is regularly updated.  This is where a pay each month service can be very cost effective by allowing regular updates to keep content fresh.

Google’s primary objective

I want to close by remnding you that Google is always thinking about search in respect of the user experience of the person searching.  If you keep this in mind when building your website and updating the content together with avoiding suspect SEO practices, you hopefully will not experience the wrath of the penguin.

If you would like more information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

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36. How Special Holiday Offers Help to Increase Sales

Thursday, April 19th, 2012

In years past, Sunday was genuinely a day of rest and all the shops were closed. Bank holidays were a bonus day off where we would all pray for sun (inevitably we would get rain!) and hope to enjoy precious free time with friends and family. Nowadays for those of us lucky enough to be self employed or working outside of the retail industry we can still take full advantage of these “days off” how we choose.

However, for those in the retail industry these “holidays” are the perfect time to entice the rest of us off the beach, from in front of the television and out of our gardens to spend our hard earned money on the wares they have to offer. How do they tempt us? By way of huge savings and discounts for a limited time only.

One of the first examples of this is what has become known as “Black Friday” in the United States. Thanks Giving is a major holiday for all Americans, and initially employers would give their members of staff the following day off work to recover from whatever “revelling” they had partaken in. Now…having clicked on to the fact that most Americans are not at work, retailers have taken to opening their doors as early as 4am offering promotional sales in order to “kick start” the Christmas shopping season

The UK’s best example of this has always been referred to as “The January Sales”. Having spent a fortune on presents and entertaining the family over the Christmas period, we are persuaded to part with more money by way of huge discounts in every retail store from the first working day of the New Year.  Why it is still referred to as the “January Sales” is now a question indeed, as well before Santa has left the North Pole, we are being bombarded with adverts from retailers stating “SALE STARTS BOXING DAY”.

With the way of world and the economic climate such at it is today, we no longer spend these holidays in the traditional way they were intended. We work hard to earn our money and when it comes to spending it we love a bargain, so retailers will continue to attract us through their doors with promises of huge savings, regardless of it being Easter, Mayday or Christmas and no doubt we will continue to be happy to oblige!

If you have a pay monthly website service, like those offered by Digital Ark, you can add offers to your website for holidays (and other times) and remove them without having to worry about additional costs.  Other options include adding discount coupons to your Google Places page.

If you would like more information, please contact me.

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