A Brand New Reason Why Your Small Business Needs Facebook

One of the most common questions we get asked by small business owners is "Why is it important for my business to have a Facebook page?"  Up to this point our answer included:

1.  It helps the visibility of your business on search engines like Google.
2.  It's a great way to engage your existing customer base.

Now we can add another huge new reason: Facebook is on its way to becoming a search engine for local businesses.

Yesterday, Facebook updated the Nearby feature in its iPhone and Android apps to enable users to find nearby local businesses by name or by category. Results will be ranked by ratings, recommendations, check-ins and "Likes".

Facebook is entering the local search arena.

Only those businesses that have a Facebook Page will be listed, creating a powerful new incentive to create a Facebook Page.

It’s only mobile (for now). And there are no ads planned for the immediate future, but you can imagine that will change in all probability over time and we believe that the goal is to compete with search engines like Google and review sites like Yelp.

Below is an official statement from Facebook as well as a few tips for local businesses:

Local businesses have always relied on word-of-mouth recommendations to gain new customers and grow their sales. Whether they’re a new restaurant in the neighborhood, a favorite salon, or a trusted tailor, small businesses often depend on social endorsements to get discovered.

And recommendations from friends become even more important when people are on the go. In fact, 150 million people visit Pages on Facebook every day globally. And in the US, over half of visitors to Facebook Pages are visiting them from a mobile device. 

Today we're pleased to announce updates to Nearby, accessed via the Facebook mobile app: now, in addition to showing which friends have checked in at a particular place, Nearby helps people discover places near them based on their friends’ recommendations. People can explore by category (ex: restaurants or hotels); connect to businesses directly from their phone (by liking, checking in, calling, or getting directions); rate the places they visit via a five-star system; and share their recommendations with friends.

If you have a Page on Facebook with a location, your business now has another way to be discovered by Facebook's 600 million-plus mobile consumers.

When someone looks for a place, the results that appear in their Nearby list are based on things like their friends' recommendations, ratings, check-ins, and likes. If you're a business with a physical location, here's what you can do to ensure your place is more easily discoverable in Nearby:

• Update your Page to include all of your basic information, including your address, store hours, phone number, and details about your business in the About section
• Update your category to make sure you appear when people are looking for your specific type of business
• Encourage your consumers to like, check into, rate, and recommend your place

Based on this news, there has never been a better time for a small business to contact Network For Solutions.  We will make sure your business is ahead of the curve and utilizing the Internet the right way!

Small Business Saturday Gaining Traction

With the third annual Small Business Saturday now behind us, the data is showing that the movement is gaining momentum and increased popularity:

American Express created Small Business Saturday in 2010 with a basic concept: If you build it, they will come. This year, to encourage consumers to shop locally (and, ostensibly, to improve its image in the small-business community), AmEx offered 100,000 cardmembers a $25 credit for shopping locally. That's a possible $2,500,000 in free money.

So far, it seems, that logic--along with those dollars--has paid off on Main Street.

This year, about 500,000 small businesses around the country participated in the event, which attracted some 100 million consumers; the National Federation of Independent Businesses reported that 67% of consumers planned to shop small. And although American Express is notoriously tight-lipped about the incremental revenue generated by the promotion, anecdotally, at least, it seems business owners around the country are enjoying a modest windfall from the event.

Store owners in Wichita, Kansas, and Athens, Alabama, for instance, saw an increase in foot traffic firsthand because of Small Business Saturday. Nancy Robinson, the owner of Best of Times, a small gift shop in Wichita, told the Wichita Eagle that Small Business Saturday "made people stop and think about supporting local stores and how their money stays in the community."

In Iowa City, Iowa, a business owner reported a 30% increase in sales, while independent store owners in Saratoga Springs, New York saw a sales increase of 25% on Saturday.

While revenue data is scant, Google Insight data offers a top-level sense of the growing interest in Small Business Saturday. According to the chart below, the user search volume for Small Business Saturday is growing at a steady pace. The day was especially popular (at least from a search perspective) in New York, Phoenix, and Boston.

Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2012/11/24/2579769/wichita-business-owners-report.html#storylink=cpy

The Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2012/11/24/2579769/wichita-business-owners-report.html#storylink=cpy

Twitter also offers some valuable insight into the interest in shopping locally on Small Business Saturday. Data from Topsy, a social insight and analytics start-up based in San Francisco, shows that Small Business Saturday (or a variation of the #SmallBizSaturday hashtag) was mentioned about 200,000 times on Saturday.



Still, the day hardly compares to Black Friday, which garnered just under 1 million mentions on Twitter at its peak on November 21. Cyber Monday--as of Sunday--was generating quite a bit of buzz with about 350,000 mentions on Twitter.

In other words, Small Business Saturday may attract just a sliver of the attention received by big-box retailers on Black Friday, but retailers are happy to take what they can get.

"I think it's a good cause," one Massachusetts entrepreneurs told the North Adams Transcript. "It's good for the Berkshire economy. I know I spend my money locally...it's a good time to be a small business. A lot of people are really conscious of supporting that."

[Article Source]

72% of Consumers Want Mobile-Friendly Sites: Google Research

Websites that aren’t mobile-friendly annoy users and that’s bad business. Consumers are doing more on mobile devices, including shopping and product research; when they do, users look for content to meet their on-the-go needs.

A recent Google survey of mobile users found that 72 percent of mobile users say it’s important to them that websites are mobile-friendly, yet 96 percent have visited a site that doesn’t work well on their device.

Almost three-quarters of respondents said they are more likely to revisit a mobile-friendly site. Users are five times more likely to abandon the task they are trying to complete if the site isn’t optimized for mobile use, with 79 percent saying they will go back to search and try to find another site to meet their needs.

Consumers are more likely to buy online when the site meets their mobile needs. Unfortunately for e-commerce stores, 61 percent said they are likely to leave if the site isn’t mobile-friendly.

Worse still, many fans of the brand are disappointed in the company itself if the mobile experience doesn’t meet their expectations. Fifty-five percent of respondents agreed, “A frustrating experience on a website hurts my opinion of the brand overall.”

So what, exactly, are consumers looking for in a website accessed from a mobile device?

• Site speed - loading time of 5 seconds or less
• Big, mobile-friendly buttons
• Limited scrolling and pinching
• Quick access to business contact information
• “Click to call” access to phone the business
• Links to the company’s social media profiles

Usability and design features matter. Mobile users indicated they are most looking for (in order of priority):

• Information in just one or two clicks
• A search bar that is easy to find and use
• A site that fits the small screen
• Clean and efficient design
• An option to visit the non-mobile site
• The ability to save information for later
• Big, finger-friendly buttons
• Non-scrolling forms with a limited number of fields
• A “click to call” button
• One-direction scrolling, either horizontal or vertical, but not both.

Consumers seeking retail information are looking for things they can act on immediately. They still prefer to do deep research, read reviews, and make big purchases on desktops; making contact and taking action are their priorities when mobile consumers are on the go.

Google’s survey involved 1,088 US smartphone Internet users and was performed by independent market research firms Sterling Research and SmithGeiger in July 2012.

so does your business have a mobile-friendly website?  If the answer is "no" or "not sure" contact Network For Solutions today!

Article Sources:

http://googlemobileads.blogspot.ca/2012/09/mobile-friendly-sites-turn-visitors.html

http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2208496/72-of-Consumers-Want-Mobile-Friendly-Sites-Google-Research

Andrew Dargan Memorial Golf Tournament

Network For Solutions was a proud sponsor of the 2012 Andrew Dargan Memorial Golf Tournament at the Mount Hood Golf Course in Melrose, MA.

The Andrew Dargan Memorial Tournament is a “Not for Profit” organization with a sole mission of raising money for deserving charities. All proceeds go directly to people and/or charitable organizations that need the help.

We feel very fortunate to be able to support such a great event that contributes to worthy local charities.

Small Business Did You Know?

• 97% of Americans who use the Internet are looking online for local products and services.

• Yet, more than half of all small businesses in the U.S. don’t have a website.

• Businesses that make use of the web are expected to grow 40 percent faster and are nearly twice as likely to create jobs.

• Since small businesses make up half of the U.S. GDP and contribute two-thirds of all new jobs, the potential impact of getting these businesses (more than 15 million of them) online is enormous.

Call (866) 234-7170 to plug your business into the network today!

www.networkforsolutions.com

Take the Google vs. Bing Challenge - "Bing It On!"

The second most popular search engine, Bing, is taking it to the streets to combat the industry giant, Google.  People are stopped on the streets of  "Google’s backyard" and asked to take the “Bing It On” challenge, and win an Xbox if they choose Google!  Check out the video below and take the challenge yourself!

Do you think Bing can compete with Google?

How To Reach Your Target Audience

On Small Business Saturday®, an estimated 103 million people shopped small on November 26th of last year. But did you know that you have access to tools and resources that can help encourage your customers to shop small and help grow your business all year-round?

It starts with our toolkit at www.facebook.com/shopsmall, which we've updated and expanded so you can reach your ideal clients. You'll find tools like My Business Story, which shows you how to create a video that allows potential customers to see what makes your business special and learn about the kinds of services you offer. Find more ways to promote your business with Facebook in this month's Expert Analysis by blogger and social media strategist Angela Stringfellow.

We've also teamed up with Facebook to give you the opportunity to boost your social media presence with the Big Break contest. In our Featured Video, learn how to enter for an opportunity to win $25,000 to grow your business and drive customers to your door – and a one-on-one strategy session with American Express and Facebook to put it all into action. Enter through July 9, 2012 at www.facebook.com/OPEN.

Search Engine Market Share: Google Sets Record

Google is now (more than ever) the single most important place for a business to be highly visible and Bing is still #2:

Google increased its stranglehold on the U.S. search engine market, reaching a record high in May, according to the latest comScore report.  Meanwhile, Yahoo’s share of the search engine market decreased for the ninth straight month. Bing’s share held steady.

Google’s search hit 66.7 percent in May (up from 66.5 in April and up from 65.5 percent from May 2011). Previously, Google’s highest recorded share was 66.6 percent, recorded in December 2010.

Meanwhile, Yahoo continued its slide, reaching a new low of 13.4 percent (down from 13.5 percent and down from 15.9 percent in May 2011). Yahoo, which once upon a time was neck-and-neck with Google, has lost market share since September 2011.

Bing’s search engine market share remained unchanged in May at 15.4 percent. However, Bing was up year-over-year, having inrecreased its share of searches from 14.1 in May 2011.

Ask also remained unchanged at 3 percent in May (but up slightly from its 2.9 percent share in May 2011), while AOL dropped to 1.5 percent (down from 1.6 percent in April, but unchanged year-over-year).

More than 17.5 billion “explicit core” searches were conducted in May, up from 17.1 billion in April. Google ranked first with 11.7 billion searches (up from 11.4 billion in April); Bing was 2.7 billion (up from 2.6 billion); Yahoo with 2.3 billion (same as April); Ask with 521 million (up from 511 million); and AOL with 268 million (down from 271 million).

24 SEO Stats Every Business Needs To Know

Keep the following statistics in mind when looking at Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your business:

1. Content marketing rocks. Marketing Sherpa reports distribution lead to a 2,000% increase in blog traffic and a 40% increase in revenue.
2. 70% of the links search users click on are organic.
3. 70-80% of users ignore the paid ads, focusing on the organic results.
4. 75% of users never scroll past the first page of search results.
5. GroupM states “when consumers were exposed to both search and social media influenced by a brand that overall search CTR went up by 94 percent.”
6. Search and e-mail are the top two internet activities.
7. Companies that blog have 434% more indexed pages. And companies with more indexed pages get far more leads.
8. Inbound leads cost 61% lower than outbound leads. An example of an inbound lead might be from search engine optimization. An outbound lead might be from a cold call.
9. 81% of businesses consider their blogs to be an important asset to their businesses.
10. A study by Outbrain shows that search is the #1 driver of traffic to content sites, beating social media by more than 300%
11. SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (such as direct mail or print advertising) have a 1.7% close rate.
12. For Google, a study from Slingshot SEO shows 18% of organic clicks go to the #1 position, 10% of organic clicks go to the #2 position, and 7% of organic clicks go to the #3 position.
13. In that same study, tests for Bing show the following: 9.7% of organic clicks go to #1, 5.5% of organic clicks go to #2, and 2.7% of organic clicks go to #3.
14. 79% of search engine users say they always/frequently click on the natural search results. In contrast, 80% of search engine users say they occasionally/rarely/never click on the sponsored search results.
15. Google owns 65-70% of the search engine market share.
16. 93% of online experiences begin with a search engine.
17. MarketingCharts reports that over 39% of customers come from search
18. The search engine industry is estimated to be worth more than $16 billion.
19. There are over 100 billion global searches being conducted each month.
20. 88.1% of US internet users ages 14+ will browse or research products online in 2012.
21. Search directly drove 25% of all online U.S. device purchases in 2010.
22. 82.6% of internet users use search. 
23. Mobile internet users will reach 113.9 million in 2012, up from 97.3 million in 2011.
24. Mobile shoppers will reach 72.8 million in 2012

Contact Network for Solutions today to position your business for success with the right SEO strategy!

The SEO Investment: Long Term, High Reward

When business owners are looking at a search engine optimization (SEO) investment it is very important that they understand the nature of the investment; a long term solution with an extremely high return.

A good way to look at SEO is as an investment into establishing highly valuable real estate for your business online.  The first page organically of search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.) is the most coveted real estate around for a business website right now because over 92% of searchers looking for a local business choose a result on the first page of the search results.  As with most things in life that are highly valuable prime real estate online for your business is not easily and quickly acquired.

The reality of a search engine optimization investment is that it generally does not provide an immediate return on investment.  While other options like search engine marketing (or Pay Per Click) can often provide a decent return on investment in the first month or two, SEO often takes several months.  SEO is about making a website more relevant and popular in the eyes of search engines and creating relevancy and popularity for a website takes serious work and time. Time to improve the website, build the content, and have the search engines recognize the improved website and increased relevant content about the business online.

A proper SEO program should consist of website improvement, blogging, social media, inbound linking, business listings, ratings & reviews, among other factors.  There are many components that go into creating a high amount of visibility for a business online.

While other programs such as search engine marketing may provide a quicker return on investment, SEO provides the largest return on investment by far in the long run.  After 3 months of search engine marketing you may have a moderate ROI and no ROI from SEO but if you look at the ROI after 6 months or a year, SEO will be exponentially larger in most cases.

In closing, the SEO investment is one of patience and long term growth.  It does take a significant investment up front to achieve high returns several months later.  The key is choosing an SEO firm that has the experience and expertise to deliver the desired future results.  An SEO firm should be looked at as a long term business partner and trusted advisor that helps a business grow.

The Benefits of a Blog for a Small Business

Many articles have been written over the years enumerating the benefits of blogging for online lead generation. While blogging is but one of many ways to generate leads online, there is significant data to back these assertions up. Here are just a few data points in support of business blogging:

• B2B companies that blog get 67% more leads/month
• B2C companies that blog get 88% more leads/month
• Companies that blog have 55% more website visitors

For the sake of simplicity, there are three broad reasons why blogging helps companies generate leads online:

1.      It drives traffic your brand

2.      It amplifies your brand message

3.      It helps legitimize your brand

DRIVE TRAFFIC

Blogging helps drive traffic to your website by creating indexed pages and (eventually) inbound links to your site, both of which are critical to SERP (search engine page rankings).

Exemplified by Google’s Panda update, search engines are increasingly favoring fresh, high-quality content in search rankings. The nice thing about blogging is that each blog has a discrete URL, and as such is a separate web page that can be indexed by search engines. The more blog posts you publish, the more indexed pages you create for search engines to display in their results, which in turn helps your page ranking on Internet searches. Also, search engine web-crawlers tend to favor original content that has a more recent timestamp; they may skip over content deemed replicated or already indexed.

Inbound links (aka “backlinks”) are simply links that come from an external site to your website. When you blog, you are creating fresh, thoughtful (hopefully) content that others may find relevant or interesting. If an external site references your blog, they will usually include a backlink to your original blog page. The number of backlinks is an indication of the popularity or authority of a website.

Backlinks are important for SEO because some search engines like Google give more credit to websites that have a large number of quality backlinks, and consider those websites more relevant than others in their results pages for a search query.

By creating indexed pages and attracting inbound links, blogging will help your company generate organic traffic, the first step in online lead generation.

AMPLIFY YOUR MESSAGE

With the massive growth of social, integrating your web-based blog posts with social media can exponentially amplify your message.

As a matter of form, blogging is considered to be part of social media.  Hair-splitting aside, most business blogs are website-based, therefore it is critical that brands actively integrate blog posts with their social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and especially Google+. Each time a blog is published, it should be automatically shared throughout your various social media. Moreover, you should dedicate resources to actively promote your blog posts on each social media channel.

LEGITIMIZE YOUR BRAND

As Randa Clay aptly pointed out in a recent Fast Company blog, the more customers know you, the more loyal they become. Blogging builds consumer loyalty and trust by helping prospects and customers solve problems or address pain-points.  Most blogs will offer a subscription option through RSS and email, giving your company an opportunity to interact with subscribers every time a post is published.

Brands often use business blogging as a platform to show off their industry expertise and establish thought leadership. A recent survey conducted by Fast Company found that 71% of respondents said blogs affect their purchasing decisions either somewhat or very much.

In an increasingly crowded Internet, blogging provides your company an actionable way to drive web traffic, amplify your message, and legitimize your brand. In turn, all of these efforts will help your business generate leads online.