small business Archives

5 Reasons why small businesses need a mobile app

April 8, 2017

Small business needs a mobile app- Not Kidding!

Small businesses were once very easy to run. You just have to set up a shop, place an ad in the local newspaper, wait for the businesses to come through. Though it took a few days, it wasn’t a complex process. But as days went by, the Internet became an essential element in running any business.

Small business owners now have to keep up with technological advancements in order to run their businesses successfully.

The difficult part starts with setting up a website as small businesses seriously need one. Earlier, only large corporations had a website on their own, but it was time for the small business owners to become familiar with web designing, hosting, etc. Once the website is ready, it doesn’t end with that. You should also get familiar with SEO, Ads, tackling issues related to social media, offline and online marketing, etc.

As all these became essential for a small business, it looks like you now need to function like an MNC.

Does it all end here. Absolutely not. Now it’s all about mobile phones. Gone are those days where we used mobile phones only to talk to each other. Smartphones have revolutionized the way we do business. Even large corporations from all over the world, have shifted from their routine work of printing ads, billboards, and giving out leaflets, to the world of mobile marketing and ads. And of course, there are enough reasons why small businesses should embrace the change but almost all small businesses have one common perception in their minds.

A mobile App? We don’t see a need for that at the moment.

Yes, You might not see a need but there are plenty of stats and research findings that reveal what the consumers expect. Here are a few surprising mobile app stats.

Of the 1.8 hours average users spend online on their smartphones each day, mobile apps account for 89 percent of this media time (Social Media Today).
Almost 60 percent of marketers say mobile apps are crucial to creating a cohesive customer journey (Salesforce).
Around 88 percent of customers who search for local businesses online will actually visit or call these businesses within a day (Social Media Today).
269 billion apps will be downloaded in 2017 (Statista)

Number of mobile app downloads worldwide in 2016, 2017 and 2021 (in billions)

You need an “extra” to become extraordinary. The survival rate of small businesses depends upon the extraordinary effort and innovative ideas they bring to the table. Here are few ideas that show how small businesses can benefit from mobile apps.

1. More Value to Your Customers

Business is all about giving. When you open up and offer your product, it should create value for your customers. If they find your product/service to be great, the market/customers will be ready with their wallets. Mobile App is a great way to increase your customers’ interaction with your brand. And not only that, you can add a lot of offers and loyalty programs inside your app in such a way that when the user opens the app, they have great deals either while ordering online or be it in the shop. One great example is The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, They offer free brewed coffee/hot tea to customers who install their mobile app.

2. Better Brand Engagement

Customer service is not always about communicating through emails or having a conversation over the telephone. Nowadays, it has become much more than that. A recent survey brings an interesting fact that 63.5% of the entire U.S population is expected to use a smartphone.

The real challenge for businesses is to create a rapport with their target audience and the best way to deal with this would be with the help of a mobile app. Design the mobile app in such a way that it interacts with your customers seamlessly. It should give a feel as if they are interacting with you in person. If you can win this challenge, you can resolve all your sales and customer service issues.

Another huge advantage of building a mobile app is when a customer wants to know something about your business at his convenience, say middle of the night, all he has to do is unlock his mobile and download the app. Very simple. Even buying a product is very simple. The customer doesn’t have to wait for the opening hours. He can just order it through the mobile app even when the working hours are over. For example, big boys like Amazon, eBay, etc allow you to order anything you need, from anywhere and at any time.

3. More Revenue, More Profit

A mobile app has enough features to generate additional income. By 2020, there will be 6.1 billion smartphone users globally.

When you create a user-friendly mobile app, the customers tend to spend more time browsing your product/services. When there’s more personalized content, there is a higher chance of an increase in sales. Recent data from Yahoo’s Flurry analytics shows that 90% of consumer’s mobile time is spent on apps.

It’s an App world, the web just lives in it.

CMO by Adobe recorded every e-commerce transaction during the 2016 holiday shopping. It reveals that a staggering $46 billion worth of sales came through mobile devices.

Here’s a very interesting statistic from Domino’s Pizza. When they introduced the mobile app for ordering pizzas, they saw a quick rise of 28% in sales in just half-year. As of today, 51% of their online orders come through mobile apps.

4. Customer Experience

A well-designed mobile app can perform faster than a mobile website as it does not require a web server. Mobile App stores all its data on the local device thus making it perform faster.

Minimal UI design combined with personalized content is more likely to engage your audience.

5. Extended Marketing Tool

More than just a mobile app, it can act as a tool adding a lot more value to your marketing efforts. If your app helps the users save time or keeps them engaged, they would definitely recommend it to their friends and share glowing reviews.

mobile-marketing-Griffon Webstudios As a business, Instead of reaching out to the customers through the traditional medium of phone/email, you could try conveying your message in the form of a mobile app.

Your downloads will increase when you promote the app with special deals and coupons. The users would enjoy the experience rather than avoiding the brand.

You must remember that today’s customers are constantly moving and addicted to their mobile devices.

72% of adult internet users use Facebook.

Your app can be easily integrated with Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. That allows the users to share your app with their network and review your business if they enjoy the experience. This gives you free publicity.

Forbes states that “building and delivering great mobile experiences will be the beating heart of your customer engagement strategy for the next 10 years.”

Push Notifications

One of the most important features the small businesses can make use of is push notifications. Push notifications are alerts that pop up on a user’s screen and informs them of the latest news, deals, offers and so on, which are available through your app.

Frequency, Timing, Content, and Deep linking are the important strategies to master when it comes to push notifications.

Frequency: Push notifications can keep your customers well informed and interested but too many notifications would frustrate the customer and they end up trashing the app. There are no universally correct solutions for frequency but don’t overdo it. It all depends on your audience and their expectation.

Timing: Right place at the right time always works. Timing is very crucial in sending push notifications. The best way to determine the optimal timing for your business is by A/B testing. The same message at different hours will give you the user pattern and their engagement rate.

Content: Make sure that you offer real value, every single time. Content that drives urgency and relevancy would drive them to your app.

78% of users tend to immediately delete the app or disable notifications if they are unhappy with the content.

Deep Linking: Push notifications with links can redirect your audience to a specific screen or pages in the app. As a result, It provides a seamless experience and increases the engagement level of the viewers due to less distraction.

As you know, Mobile apps play such a huge role in the world of small business but there are two major things that make or break your app strategy. The quality of your app and the way it is marketed to the audience determines your success.

5 important things to remember in Local SEO

March 15, 2017

by Griffon Webstudios Digital Marketing

One of the highly effective forms of online marketing is Local Search Engine Optimization commonly known as Local SEO. This online marketing technique is found to be tricky because it does not just stop with performing the on-page and off-page work, but even the more complex activities such as citations and listings.

Though it sounds simple, Local SEO can get confusing when differentiated into various forms and deeper analysis. A good example of this is, the common misunderstanding that having listed in a lot of directories is the exact way to achieve a successful local SEO. The reason why it’s not completely true is that there are several other factors that need to be in order other than the number of listings in directories.

The business should ensure that the directories listed are unique and relevant to the industry of business and are being optimized based on the location of your business which includes street name, city and state.

To better understand the technique to achieve a successful local SEO, you should remember the five major things below:

Accurate location in online listings
Useful information on directories.
Building social profiles
Getting more reviews
Optimizing for Hyperlocal.

1. Accuracy and Consistency in online listings:

The first important thing to keep in mind is the information such as Name, Address, Phone number and Website. The information should be accurate and consistent across all the listings. A recent study revealed some interesting patterns found among the local business owners.

Around 85% wanted their business to be found on local listings and directories but only a very few have actually taken the effort to update their business information on the web.

70% of business owners say that there is not enough time for them to update.

The two most annoying things for the local customers are:

Finding a false location of the business he/she’s searching for will have an adverse effect on the business.
Mismatch in business information- Untrustworthy.

A lot of times we don’t find even some of the most important details such as the store information, operational hours, location with a map. Such inaccuracies lead to the dead-end of your local SEO efforts.

This can further be divided into two

(i) Accuracy of the Information

(ii) The consistency of the information.

The accuracy of the Information: Information required to optimize your local business are Name, Phone Number and Address. It is used as an important tool to determine the accuracy of the business. The information fed on the listing should have the correct information. An easy example to remember is Kasey’s Donuts misspelled as Kassey’s Donuts– A simple spelling mistake would lead to inaccurate information on the listing.
The consistency of the information: After accuracy, Consistency is the second most important word to remember in Local SEO. The business information on listings, local mentions, citations and directories must be consistent across all the places. Businesses should stay cautious and not let the consistency of their brand slip away by entering information that mismatch.

Local SEO can be optimized in a simple way by keeping the information consistent and accurate.

2. Useful information on directories:

It is a well-known fact that getting listed on the directories is a very simple process. The difficult part of this process is to provide detailed information about your local business and making them rank higher.

The most important step to perform is to create a local listing. A recent survey conducted by the Local Search Association Inc revealed the information consumers wish to see when they search for a local listing.

Address 67%,
Phone number 66%,
Location 59%,
Company name 56%,
Website 54%,
Prices 52%,
Credentials 22%

There is enough reason now to keep the directories updated with as much relevant information as possible. If your listing has more information, there are higher chances of customers reaching out leading to more new business.

3. Building Social Profiles:

The biggest advantage of local SEO is that your business can benefit even without having a website. This is possible because of the way the Local SEO works. Social profiles like Google plus, Yelp has become an identity for all the local businesses and it dominates the search results and listings providing exact information thus bringing success to the local SEO efforts.

As a business owner, Do you think the website will help in scaling up your business and streamline the operations? The answer is always a resounding “Yes” irrespective of the niche your business belongs to. A lot of times, customers prefer checking the business details on their social profiles instead of visiting the website. But having a website is an authority on the business you are managing as it allows the customers to know more about who you are, what services you offer, and read the client testimonials.

One classic example is the delicious coffee shop in New York- Neil’s Coffee Shop has so much success with social profiles. When you search for this restaurant you’d only see the rating, reviews, timings, and price. Now, this information surely hasn’t come from the web search, because this shop doesn’t have a website. The only way the restaurant earned its place is through social profiles and local listings, which clearly signifies the importance of social profiles for local businesses.

4. Getting more reviews:

The best thing about local SEO is that you can control it very easily by creating local listings in Yelp, Foursquare, Google Business page, and Facebook page which helps the listing go on top for the local search.

The only thing that you cannot control is the ‘reviews’. You need to earn it with the quality of the service provided to your customers. You can always encourage them to give ratings and reviews online as most of the shoppers decide their visit depending upon the ratings and reviews.

As a token of appreciation and love, you could always incentivize your customers with some free coupons, discounts, etc which would make them share their experience at your store. We can do a few innovative things to make the customers voluntarily perform this act.

QR-Code-local store Posting a sign at the door, a QR code on the menu allowing the customers to scan and post reviews, and so on. By going a little further, you can also get your service team to ask for reviews from customers at the time of checkout.

Reviews are an essential part of local SEO. Google always keeps delivering results that are local with high reviews for a great customer experience.

5. Optimizing for Hyperlocal:

Google is in the process of testing an algorithm called the ‘neighborhood algorithm’.

Few steps for a successful local SEO:

Your neighborhood name can be added at the end of the business page. (Example: Ray’s Pizza, South City East)
If you have a website, don’t forget to add the texted version of your neighborhood name.
Your neighborhood name has to be added to the website on the title tags area.
Be aware and check thoroughly whether Google Maps has defined and placed your neighborhood correctly.
Don’t forget to add your neighborhood to all the citation profiles that are local.

You need to follow the guidelines above to successfully optimize your business for the local search.

10-ways-how-your-small-business-can-benefit-from-SEO-Griffon-Webstudios-1

10 ways how small business can benefit from SEO

November 19, 2016

by Griffon Webstudios Digital Marketing

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plays an important role in determining the success of any small business. It may not be appropriate to say that businesses that do not engage in SEO will fall apart but certainly, the one that does such marketing activities enjoys huge benefits over the businesses which do not practice it. Now the question is, Why does SEO play such a vital role in small businesses? Let’s find out.

There are tons of benefits provided by SEO for small businesses in different ways. Let us discuss the 10 ways how a small business can benefit from SEO.

User-friendly website.
New customers and continuous growth.
Explore new markets
Achieve better conversion rates.
Build brand awareness through better rankings
Build a dedicated fan base via newsletter
Stay in sync with the latest trends
Bypass competition
Open your business 24×7
Better optimization of social media.

1. User-Friendly Websites: SEO helps in creating a user-friendly website. As the name suggests, SEO not only helps in search but also focuses on the user experience. Google tends to recognize the quality of the website based on user-friendliness and content. For an improved user experience, It is always essential to follow the On-Page SEO techniques. It not only improves the experience but also creates numerous short and long-term benefits.

2. New Customers and continuous growth: If you think about it, One of the main reasons to have a website is to increase your brand reputation and improve the customer base and thus the revenue. SEO helps in ranking your website on the first page of search results and that’s the reason businesses that engage in SEO grow much stronger than those businesses which do not have them. As your website gets good visibility, it reaches a wider audience which eventually results in increased revenue and market share.

3. Explore New Markets: In today’s world, technology is growing at a rapid pace. The entire global market can be tapped with a click of a button and the best way to become successful in reaching out to the new markets for your business is to have a successful SEO campaign. Another magic wand that boosts up your performance to take your business to the next level is Social Media. It acts as a link between the real world and your business world.

4. Achieve Better Conversion rates: A search engine optimized website is easy to use, has a good speed, and is compatible with all the devices such as mobiles and tablets. It is not necessary for businesses to depend only on laptops and computers instead, they can be searched even through mobile phones. This helps in translating better conversions, i.e. A mobile-optimized website tends to retain the visitors and engage them to become your customers, regular visitors, or subscribers.

At least 40% of the global search is expected to be from mobile devices in the next 12 months.

5. Build Brand Awareness: Another benefit that SEO provides small businesses is brand awareness. This helps the businesses in ranking on the top positions in search results. When a brand appears in the first place of the search engine, it is perceived to be the most trusted one. The small businesses that need better visibility have to invest in SEO. There are two things that need to be done for a definite success.

1. Creating awesome content

2. Promoting them.

The search engines play a major role in developing as well as destroying a brand with the content associated with them.

6. Build a strong fan base: What’s the smartest SEO approach? It is to build a trusted and dedicated fan base through newsletters, articles, social profiles. These sources play an important role in increased website traffic and greater search engine presence. A recent study revealed that successful e-commerce small businesses claim 90% of their income from emails and articles than from any other source so it is very important to engage your customer base with informative articles and newsletters to win their trust. In many cases, websites collect the email and other information of the subscribers but hardly send any useful newsletter.

7. In Sync with latest trends: One of the most dynamic industries in the world is the SEO marketing industry. Google has its SEO guidelines and practices changing every now and then with a sole purpose of creating a refined search result that gives great quality for the searchers. Small Businesses need to understand the importance of regular updates and stay in sync with the change to be benefited.

Since SEO is a continuous activity, you have to keep your business updated with the latest trends and developments. To do this in an easier way, it is best to hire a reliable SEO company that makes you aware of the best practices for your website.

8. By-Pass Competition: Let’s say there are two businesses dealing with similar products and services. One has a website that is search engine optimized and the other doesn’t. Which one would be the most successful? Obviously, The one that invites a lot of customers, stays updated with the current trends and marketing mechanisms with a faster growth rate. So it is essential to outdo your competitor and stay ahead of the race. A lot of times, Small businesses ignore the importance of SEO and eventually lose its market share. The survival rate in the US for small businesses is just 25% in 15 years timeline.

9. 24*7: 24×7? Are you nuts? No, But…. When a business is open 24*7, i.e. 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, then that business is more likely to get a higher organic traffic. Customers always tend to reach out to those businesses that are open whenever they want than those businesses that do not operate. These days we get a notification on our mobile phones when someone fills a form on the websites or place an inquiry so you can always reach out to them because it is revealed that,

First vendor to reach out to a decision maker has 74% more chance to get the business.

10. Social Media Optimized: A high ranking web page is more likely to gain maximum exposure in social media. The relationship between social media and SEO is bi-directional. Both benefit from each other, The social page found on the top position of the search results is most likely to get increased number of likes, tweets, comments, etc than the other page that doesn’t have a good ranking.

There are few ways in which one can take advantage of all the above-mentioned benefits.

The first step towards gaining the benefits from SEO is to have a website. Ahem! More than 50% of small businesses in the US do not have a website. It was also found that businesses with websites grow 50% faster than those who do not have one. So the first step here is to choose a domain name and register and develop a responsive website optimized for users across all devices.

The second step is to hire a good digital marketing/SEO company to handle your marketing campaigns. SEO is an investment that provides a steady ROI for your business. A lot of times, businesses shy away from optimizing their website and lose out on a lot of potential sales.

The last and most important thing is, If you do not have enough budget to spend on any digital marketing campaigns, you can do it yourself. All you need to know is that SEO is not about just building links, it is mainly about making your website more user-friendly with great navigation and excellent content that adds value to the website visitors. A well-optimized website helps the small businesses in gaining a lot of customers and has a great chance of retaining the top position in the search results. As a business owner, you need to understand that SEO is an investment and not a cost.

Get in touch with us for a Free SEO consultation.

Griffon Webstudios

Posts tagged: small business