The Boss Blog, Page 4 of 6

If you’ve recently been working remotely, then chances are you are familiar with the video conferencing platform Zoom. Teleworking arrangements have been made across many businesses, organizations and even schools with many of them adopting Zoom as their video conferencing platform of choice. Zoom has quickly become a vital tool for millions of people to communicate during this time of stay-at-home orders and social distancing.

Zoom-Bombing

Unfortunately, the world is succumbing to a new type of internet trolling with disturbing, aggravating and irritating circumstances: Zoom-bombing. If you haven’t fallen victim to Zoom-bombing, count your blessings. Zoom-bombing occurs when someone hijacks the screen sharing feature of Zoom to bombard other viewers with the most appalling and downright nasty videos. These video hijackers even go as far as promoting violence, racism, sexism, and even shockingly monstrous pornography.

These video hijackers can gain access to a Zoom meeting when the video conferences are hosted over a public channel and the URLs or meeting IDs are shared over the internet or made accessible to the public. Video hijackers can also use an app that cycles through various meeting IDs until it lands on one that is correct and instantly gives the hijacker access to the Zoom meeting.  

How to Prevent It

There are a few things that can be done to mitigate and prevent Zoom-bombing during your next Zoom meeting. Your first line of defense is to not share your meeting link on social media where everyone can have access to it. Instead, only share your meeting link privately, directly to specific meeting attendees. Here are a few tips on what else to do to prevent getting Zoom-bombed:

• Change screen sharing to “Host-Only” before a meeting starts
• Disable “Join Before Host”, that way people can’t get in the meeting before you and start wreaking havoc
• Designate a “Co-Host” that can help you moderate while you are presenting
• Only allow hosts to share screens.
• Lock the meeting once all attendees have joined
• Disable File Transfer to stop any participants from sending or receiving malicious software or even viruses

All these are valuable steps to take to mitigate the risks of getting Zoom-bombed. However, the best protection from Zoom-bombing is to set up a meeting password, which all participants must enter in order to join. Doing so ensures that only those with the password can join the meeting, and it stops any hijacker from being able to access your meeting. Even video hijackers using the app to cycle through meeting IDs will not be able to gain access to your meeting as the app has no recourse for a password-protected meeting.

Zoom-bombing may soon, itself, be classified as a punishable crime. Certainly, the actions taken by the video hijackers are worthy of lawful punishment. As we use the internet more and more, the number of cybercriminals will increase. It’s up to us to always be careful and take the necessary precautions as to not fall victim to any cybercrime. Stay vigilant, and as a general rule if anything seems weird or fishy, do not proceed forward.

Unless you are a Martian, or are on a space odyssey, you should be aware of the global crisis we are facing due to the Coronavirus. Throughout the whole world, governments and health organizations are taking unprecedented measures to fight and mitigate the impact of the virus. Stay-at-home orders have been implemented. Multiple businesses aren’t able to function properly. Some have even shut down all operations. The economy has taken a hit, and more and more people are in self-isolation.

Amidst all of this, online businesses are still able to operate, and in some cases even thrive better than before the crisis. Member-based organizations that operate in part or completely online are not much different. It’s absolutely normal, during these uncertain times to not be sure what the best thing to do for your organization is. We’re here to offer some guidance on how to proceed forward; however, no matter what you decide to do, you should always take your audience into account and do right by them. Whether you are a large organization with membership running in the thousands or a small-size group with few members, here are some things to do to keep running your membership during this crisis.

Be There For Your Members

In times like these, it’s quite easy to suspend everything and momentarily disappear on your members, and justifiably so. However, right now that would be the wrong move to make. More than ever, showing up for your members right now is critical. Your response to what is happening will definitely shape how your member base views your organization. Disappearing on your members, especially without notice and a viable explanation can only have a negative impact on your image and your brand. Everyone, including your members, is to a certain degree affected by what is going on. Your members are feeling just as anxious and uncertain as you. Now is the time to be a leader and give them some reassurance. Now is the time to give them helpful resources. This is the perfect time to create content that is tailored to the current climate, as everyone is tuned in to this topic. This is also the perfect time to open up ways for your members to connect with one another. If you’re using Membership Management Software like MemberBoss, a collaboration tool can be added onto your platform to allow a forum-like space for your members to communicate.

Don’t Stop Marketing

Right now, everything that is happening might be encouraging you to stop selling and slow down your marketing, maybe even shut down all marketing efforts. However, if your organization is able to function in these new circumstances, then shutting down your sales and marketing is completely erroneous. Additionally, there are some people for whom things haven’t really changed that drastically. So, if your organization is able to service people during this time, then it is completely fine to keep marketing. You can help a ton of people. Just make sure your content or efforts are not misconstrued as you being insensitive to the situation. If you know you can help people right now, it’s also worth taking into account offering a free trial or a specially discounted membership. People will remember that you’ve helped them during a difficult time.

Prepare and Position Yourself

In times like these, it’s very easy to rush into things out of panic. Don’t fall into that trap. Best thing you can do is take your time assessing the situation. Take your time and prepare. Prepare for every contingency. What is your organization going to do once everything returns to normal? You want to be ahead of the curve, so prepare now. Plan your marketing accordingly. Build your site the way you’ve always wanted it to be. Create tons of content. Think about the problems you can solve for people right now and when the crisis is over. Can you offer additional services that you weren’t able to put into place before? Do everything you can right now that will put you in a great position when everything settles. This includes mastering all your operational activities and tools. Among those tools is your Membership Management Software like MemberBoss. In case you weren’t aware, MemberBoss puts on live webinars to help you master the platform.

We’re facing a very unusual crisis, and how we respond might shape our future in ways that we can’t predict. This doesn’t mean that we have to stop being productive. It doesn’t mean that we have to stop serving others. It certainly doesn’t mean that you have to stop managing your membership. If you’d like to learn more about MemberBoss, feel free to Book a Demo. Also, don’t forget to subscribe to The Boss Blog to get more helpful tips for you and your members.

One of the greatest challenges for member-based organizations is membership retention, especially during uncertain times. The long-term success of any membership site depends on member retention. Now, more than ever, as the nation faces an usual crisis that we have never encountered before, remaining calm and making every effort to continue business as usual is very critical. Nationwide measures have been taken to deal with this crisis. Schools have closed. Sports have been suspended. Multitude of events have been cancelled. People have been ordered to stay home. Both in our personal lives and in the business world, there’s a general sense of uncertainty. The French symbolist writer, Auguste de Villiers de l’Isle-Adam said “Uncertainty is a quality to be cherished, therefore – if not for it, who would dare to undertake anything?” Times like these provide an opportunity to think creatively and endeavor to keep the wheels turning. For a membership organization, this means to implement strategies for retaining members. Whether you operate a chamber of commerce or a trade association, here are a few tips and strategies that will help your organization improve membership retention during these times.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Reward and Incentivise Your Current User Base

You may already have rewards and incentives for potential new members. This is great as it motivates prospects to sign up for a membership. However, you should keep in mind that when it comes time to renew membership, those members might be discouraged by the idea of not being able to enjoy the same incentives as before. Maybe they had a discounted price, and now they have to pay full-price for the membership. Also, the long-time members might feel some unfairness between their loyalty to you and the benefits that new members are enjoying. Be mindful of this, and focus on rewarding / incentivizing your current, loyal members as much as you reward new ones. You can offer your user base additional services with their membership or renewal. This is where bundling your membership with other great items such as a magazine subscription or an exclusive instructional video series can prove to be very helpful. Our flagship membership management software, MemberBoss has a fantastic bundling function already built-in. Get creative and bring more value to your members with rewards and incentives that are very hard to pass up.

Have an Onboarding Process

Once a prospect signs up for a new membership, you should begin developing a solid relationship with them through an onboarding process that allows you to assess the new member’s interests, needs, and goals. The first year of membership is crucial to keeping that member around for years to come. By identifying what their interests, needs and goals are you will be able to personalize and guide the new member in a way for them to gain the most value from your organization. One of the best ways to accomplish this is through a drip campaign, which is also built-in to our membership management software, MemberBoss. With a simple series of emails you’ll be able to not only engage your new member right away, but you’ll also gain some insights that will help keep your new members around for years to come. Also, do not fail to show them that your organization appreciates their business.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Survey Current Members

It’s very easy to assume that you know exactly what your members need, want, and expect from their membership. This can lead to a disparity between what your members acquire from their membership and the value your organization perceives to be offering. Sending out surveys to your current member list helps to mitigate this disparity. Send surveys to current members to find out what their preferences are, what they wish would improve, what sort of things would increase their engagement, etc. Send different surveys for different types of members. New members will show you if they see value in being part of your organization. Loyal members will show you what works and what doesn’t. Also, send out surveys to past members who have cancelled their subscription to find out more about what led to them opting out. Once you’ve received their feedback, you can adjust accordingly. Everything you find out will allow you to keep doing what works and to fix problems that lower membership retention.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Prevent Membership Cancellations

In times like these, it is very easy for a member to want to cancel their membership. Difficult times have a funny way of making people re-evaluate everything, from their priorities to where they spend their money, and rightfully so. You can expect this to happen, but instead of staying still, go on the offensive by preventing cancellations. Offering the option to pause membership is a great way to keep someone from completely leaving, especially if their decision is a knee-jerk reaction to what is happening in their surroundings. Not only does it show that you are not completely oblivious to what they are going through, but it also leaves the door open for when things come back to normal and business as usual resumes. You can also offer shorter time-frame membership for potential new members. Doing so would allow those who are on the fence because of the unfavorable climate to sign up for membership at a lower risk.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

Take Advantage of a Membership Management Software

It goes without saying that using a great Membership Management Software helps increase member engagement. During these times, take full advantage of a Membership Management Software like MemberBoss. Not only does it allow you to manage your members (among other things), but it also helps with communicating with your members. With the email marketing feature you can start a series of branded, engaging emails that will keep your organization in the mind of your members. You can also take advantage of the blog feature to write relevant articles for your members to read while they’re at home. This cloud-based platform makes it easy to keep your members feeling a personal connection to your organization.

One thing about uncertain times like these is that they do not last forever, but this doesn’t mean that losing members should be ok. Stay ahead of the curve and implement the above strategies in your organization. If you’d like to learn more about MemberBoss, feel free to Book A Demo. Oh, and of course, don’t forget to subscribe to The Boss Blog to get more riveting tips and tricks for your organization!

We realize that the COVID-19 outbreak has redefined "business as usual" for many of us and adapting to this new reality can be difficult. With that in mind, we would like you to know that we are still here and operating remotely to help in any way we can. As the pandemic has affected staffing levels we request that if you have a support question or issue, please email support@contensive.com and we will make sure the issue gets to the right person.

We also recognize that your staffing levels may have been compromised and as such we are implementing the following changes as of today, March 24th:

1. We are reducing our rate on content management services by 25% to $30.00 per hour. Please email over clear instructions and any associated files or graphics to info@contensive.com. We will attempt to complete all tasks within 24-hours.

2. We are offering a 20% reduction in development costs. If there is a need for a specific function that will help your business weather this storm, we want to make it as easy as possible to accommodate you. Please contact sales@contensive.com with your request details and we will respond within 24-hours.

3. Online Educational Webinars, will be held biweekly to help walk through any issue.

Our goal is to make sure our employees and customers stay safe, healthy and prepared to resume business as usual as soon as possible.

Lets Get Through This Together!

#LetsGetThroughThisTogether

Businesses on page 2 of the search engine results might as well not exist.

It sounds harsh but it’s simply the reality that we all need to accept.

You know the drill—you want pizza so you get on your phone and do a search. Google presents its top 3 local options in the “Snack Pack” and 10 other organic results. You pick one make a call or pop in the pizza joint.

If you’re the local pizza joint, you want and need to appear on the first page for those target keywords. So how do you get them there?

You’ll need to do a local SEO audit to find out. Here’s how to get it done.

Step 1: Audit Keywords

What keywords are you targeting? Step one of your audit should be to determine what you’re currently ranking for and identify any opportunities you might be missing.

For example, if you’re ranking well for ‘Philadelphia Bankruptcy Attorney’ but are nowhere to be found for ‘Philadelphia Bankruptcy Lawyer’, you’ve identified an area to improve.

Start by making a list of services, products, or a page you’d like to drive traffic to. Once you do this you’ll be able to use tools like Keyword Finder to quickly put together a list of high volume local target keywords.

With this list in hand, you can proceed through the rest of your local SEO audit and determine how well these keywords are optimized every step of the way.

Helpful Local SEO Tools:

• Ahrefs
• Keyword Finder

Step 2: Audit Your Competition’s Local SEO

Your local SEO audit should include a snooping session to determine your competitor’s SEO status and tactics early on. If you’re located in a highly competitive area where the other top businesses are doing everything right, you need to document what you’re up against.

You don’t need to do a full diagnostic on each competitor, but take a look at the following, and compare that data against yours:

• GMB ranking for top keywords
• Organic rankings for top keywords
• Review quantity and quality
• Number of links
• Site Speed
• Social Stats

In most cases, you should be able to take a look through these items and develop a hypothesis on why your competitor is successful in local SERPs.

Step 3: Audit Google My Business Listing

The 2017 edition of Moz’ Local Search Ranking Factors Survey ranks Google My Business (GMB) as the biggest driver of local SEO success. If you want to appear in Google’s ‘snack pack’, your GMB listing should be robust, and well-optimized with your core target keywords.

Here are some things to look for:

• Do you have a GMB listing? If so, is it claimed and verified?
• Is all business information present and correct?
• Do you have multiple reviews and a high cumulative rating? Are you responding to reviews?
• Do you have appropriate business categories listed?
• Do you have images of the business?
• Have you created any GMB posts?
• Are you participating in the Questions & Answers section?

These are the core elements that make up a strong GMB listing.

Helpful Local SEO Tools:

• Manager access to your GMB listing

Step 4: Audit Reviews for Quality and Quantity

Reviews pack a ton of clout in both the local ranking and reputation building arenas. Search engines regard them as an authentic measure of a local business’s popularity and viability. Potential customers trust reviews as an accurate gauge for that business’s quality level.

Getting an abundance of positive, glowing and wordy reviews across multiple review platforms like GMB, Facebook, Yelp, and vertical-specific sites like Houzz, Tripadvisor, and Healthgrades helps you win on many levels.

Local SEO Guide notes that Google does pick up on the keywords people use in their reviews:

“At a high level, having a keyword you are trying to rank for, and a mention of a city you are working to rank in, in reviews has a high correlation with high ranking Google My Business results.”

Helpful Local SEO Tools:

• Get and manage reviews with Customer Voice (contact us for more info)

Step 5: Audit Links for Quality and Quantity

Links remain the bread and butter of Google’s ranking algorithm.

Darren Shaw of WhiteSpark notes that,

“Google is still leaning heavily on links as a primary measure of a business’ authority and prominence, and the local search practitioners that invest time and resources to secure quality links for their clients are reaping the ranking rewards.”

A diverse array of quality links is crucial for any local business’s link portfolio. This means that you’ll need to evaluate your links, looking for links with:

• Local content
• Industry or vertical topic clusters
• High domain authority

Link quality will win over quantity, and quality + quantity will help you dominate the search rankings in your market. On the flip side, if you see a high volume of spammy, off-topic links, you’ll want to make a note of it as a red flag that may be damaging your ability to rank well for your target keywords.

Helpful Local SEO Tools:

• Ahrefs
• Open Site Explorer

Step 6: Audit Schema-Markup for Local

Schema markup is code that goes on a website to help the search engines return more informative results for users. Schema tells the search engines what your data means, not just what it says.

This is a key way to tell search engines exactly what a given website is about, which will help them serve it up on SERPs for the correct search queries.

One way to check to ensure that your site is using schema markup is to enter your URL in Google’s Structured Data Testing ToolYou’ll be able to check to see if all the correct info about your business has been included.

To add Schema markup, if it’s a WordPress website, then “All In One Schema Rich Snippets” is a great plugin. For other websites, this is a good tool to create the code.

Helpful Local SEO Tools:

• Google Structured Data Testing Tool
• Schema Markup Generator

Step 7: Audit Local SEO Citations

How frequently is your business mentioned online? Auditing your citations will determine how many online mentions exist of the name, address, and phone number for your business.

It’s important to look into both your structured and unstructured citations. For structured citations, you’ll audit your business listings across the web, looking at social platforms and directories like Yelp, Yellowpages, Facebook, Superpages, and MapQuest. You’ll also need to check to see if their correct business info is listed on the main data aggregators: Axiom, Neustar/Localeze, Factual, and Infogroup.

Next, you’ll need to check your unstructured citations. An unstructured citation can be found on random websites, blogs, event listings, job posting sites, government records or social media mentions. These are unstructured because they could be as simple as a company mention. Usually, these citations don’t include a business’s NAP data.

Whitespark’s Local Citation Finder is a great free tool to find and analyze both your structured and unstructured citations.

Helpful Local SEO Tools:

• Whitespark’s Local Citation Finder
• Moz Check Listings

Step 8: Audit SEO on Main Pages

An audit of the main website pages is probably the most important piece of your entire audit. It doesn’t have to be time-consuming if you have the proper tools though. Screaming Frog is one of many excellent tools that’ll deliver a comprehensive look at your on-page SEO.

With your list of target keywords in hand, you’ll want to run through each page on your spreadsheet looking at the keywords on each page. Specifically, you’ll be looking at:

• Page title
• Title tags
• Sub-headings
• Word count
• Meta description

Even with just this information, you’ll be well-equipped to analyze how well your pages are optimized for local SEO. Plus, you’ll be able to determine improvements and content gaps that might be missing.

Once you’ve evaluated and recorded the weaknesses in your local SEO, you can make use of a host of top-tier SEO plugins to help you do your work.

Step 9: Audit Image SEO

There are two main components two image optimization for local SEO: keyword usage and how it affects page load speed. You can use ScreamingFrog’s free SEO tool to evaluate both.

Auditing image keyword optimization boils down to evaluating each image’s filename and alt text. Since Google can’t yet tell what visual content an image contains yet, site crawlers rely on things like the filename and alt text to determine what’s being displayed. These are places you should optimize with relevant target keywords.

You can get some big improvements in page load speed when images are optimized to reduce their file size without significantly impacting their visual quality. Using ScreamingFrog, you can take an inventory of all the images on your site and highlight the images that are slowing things down. (There are also image size optimization plugins that resize images automatically going forward.)

Step 10: Check Website Speed

Having a site that loads rapidly is crucial in today’s online business environment.

Edwin Toonen of Yoast notes that,

“Google’s latest research shows that the chance of a bounce increases 32% when the page load time goes from 1s to 3s. 1s to 5s increases the chance to 90% and if your site takes up to 10s to load, the chance of a bounce increases to 123%. That’s incredible. For search engines, better results and performance is a sign of a healthy site that pleases customers and therefore should be rewarded with a higher ranking.”

Google PageSpeed Insights Tool performs a near-instant audit of a given URL for both mobile and desktop searches. This will give you a quick way to tell if improvements are needed, and a list of actions to take to improve your website speed.

Helpful Local SEO Tools:

• Google PageSpeed Insights Tool
• Pingdom’s Website Speed Test

Step 11: Audit Site Engagement

What visitors do when they discover your business online affects your rankings. In fact, David Mihm argues that,

“Engagement is simply a much more accurate signal of the quality of local businesses than the traditional ranking factors of links, directory citations, and even reviews.”

Metrics like organic search click-through rate (CTR), dwell time, bounce rate, and conversion rate are all ranking factors. You can simply use Google Analytics to examine your engagement metrics and compare them to industry benchmarks.

Helpful Local SEO Tools:

• Google Analytics
• Google Analytics Industry Benchmarks

Step 12: Audit Social Engagement

The truth is that we’re not sure to what extent social signals are baked into Google’s ranking algorithm. However, there’s no doubt that a strong social media presence can significantly boost local SEO efforts.

According to Ron Dod of Search Engine Journal, the bigger and more engaged your audience is, the more they’ll boost rankings:

“The bigger your brand is and the more consumers trust you, the more likely you are to receive a larger share of clicks in Google. Social media can be a great and efficient way to help you build your brand and get in front of people who wouldn’t have otherwise found you.”

Therefore, evaluating your social platforms is an essential part of your local SEO audit:

• Number of people that like your Facebook page + Facebook shares
• Number of Twitter followers + tweets mentioning your brand name
• Number of LinkedIn company followers and Linkedin Shares

Helpful Local SEO Tools:

• Track dark social (contact us for more info)
• Find all social media profiles
• Find your most shared content

Final Thoughts

Performing a comprehensive local SEO audit using the 12 steps I’ve outlined is going to dredge up issues. Finding and fixing any SEO optimization issues you discover along the way is also crucial, as is recording your progress to ensure you’re not missing any vital pieces to the local SEO puzzle.

As a business your reputation means everything. It says how you treat your customers, tells of the quality of your service, and speaks to the professionalism of your brand. Managing your reputation is big in today's world of Yelps and Google Business Listings, but it doesn't have to be a "big deal".

The social aspect of the online experience is simply an extension of how human beings as consumers and providers engage in the real-world. So, the main line of thought is this: Do right in the real-world and your business reputation will be a reflection of that. Sounds good right? It is, but it's not always so simple.

Just as there are bullies and liars in the world off-line, there are individuals online who may wish to pose a threat to your business out of spite. Thankfully, most tools that a customer or random troublemaker can use online to soil your reputation, have built-in safeguards that enable you to disprove the validity of false claims.

If a bad review or other form of bashing is pure garbage, it will usually be removed by the review service or website. If, however, a review seems to be legit, you may have to fend for yourself. This means, you manage your reputation by reaching out to the customer and asking how you can remedy their experience. Human nature should also dictate that if a real customer is satisfied that you cared for their needs, they will return your effort in good faith. If they don't, you can ask them to do so.

Hopefully You Know Why Reputation Management Is Important

Social media outlets, review sites, and blogs where your online reputation can be tarnished are inherently risky places for businesses. The golden rule

though, should apply. Take care of your customers the way you want to be taken care of and your online reputation should reflect that ethic. In the worst case scenarios, you should find that most of the sites are going to have your back, so don't worry!

Contact us if you want to chat about keeping your online rep up!

As a business, how likely is it that potential customers will come through your door?

The whole point of an online presence is to entice customers into your store, your leasing office or your showroom so you can convert them to paying customers rather than just browsers online.

Further, nothing is more frustrating as a customer than finding out that you have been given the wrong information about where a business is located. As a customer, how likely are you to give this company your business? Not very. In fact, according to Placeable, 73% of consumers stated that they lose trust in a brand when the online listing shows incorrect information.

1. Missing hours of operation information can be a dealbreaker

There are many things that people look for in listings, whether they are looking at that search engine on a PC or on a mobile device. The top piece of information that most people look for is the hours of operation, since their search is likely for a business that they frequent quite often.

In fact, in a study conducted by local data aggregator Localeze, hours of operation were noted as the most helpful feature in selecting a business during local search. 76% of respondent reporting that they expect this information when searching and 61% believe that it is a feature that helps them to select a business.

Even if people are new to a business, it doesn’t give people a good impression if the business hours are not listed and they don’t know that it’s only open from 11 a.m-6p.m. Tuesday-Saturday .Imagine that potential customer who is ready to spend their money in store, but shows up on Monday at 7 p.m. only to find it closed. That customer is likely going to do another search on a mobile phone to find a different store and spend their money there.

2.You can’t spell NAP data (and score a citation) without an A(ddress)

While most people would assume that the number one reason people do a search online is for the address or location of a business, the address is actually behind hours of operation as the second most desired information. But, of course, the whole point of being in business is to make money doing what you love or selling what you love. And that happens by attracting foot traffic and increasing customer base.

It bears repeating that if a business address is incorrect on listing sites such as Google or Bing, then customers will not be crossing the threshold. A simple thing such as the wrong number on a street address, or even the wrong town, can mean that a customer cannot find you. The US Postal Service relies on a complex system of checks to verify and standardize addresses, and many of the search engines will default to the USPS for correct mailing addresses.

What this means for the average new business owner is that unless a business is in an established location, getting the correct address on their listing means that both the address from City Hall and the information on USPS must be consistent. If USPS doesn’t recognize that address, then a business owner must contact them to verify their new address and get that information updated on USPS’s online database.

3. Local searchers are mobile creatures

According to Localeze, mobile-phone-based searches drive in-store purchases with more than 75% of searches ending in a purchase—if a business has their listing details correct. Now if half of the people searching for a business listing on a local search engine, such as Google Local/Maps, can’t find the store’s business listing details, then the business is going to lose 100% of their business.

For ease of use for potential customers, some of those details need to be as readily available as possible in a mobile-friendly manner. This can be accomplished with a responsive website that supports cellphone and tablet-specific versions.

4. Updated, accurate websites still serve as a first impression

At the same time, more than 60% of searches on PC platforms such as website portals, Internet Yellow Page directories and local sites have a similar chance of ending in a purchase. While mobile searches are becoming more of a standard in where a customer searches, a business owner should not discount the power of a fulsome, consistent and accurate listing that is reflective of the business website.

Any listing should be linked to the business’s website and feature the exact same information, but more of it. While a website should be enough to entice a customer to visit or buy, if those inconsistencies exist, then trust issues may arise in a business’s practices before a customer ever crosses their threshold.

5. Local searchers mix it up across multiple devices, situations and times

People who search for listings are doing it in many more ways than when the Internet first coalesced into existence about two decades ago. In that time, we went from working on desktops to laptops to PDAs to Blackberries to Apples to tablets—and in each iteration, the methods of search have changed.

However, that has slowed over the last five years or so as web developers realize that they need to be smarter. Rather than designing three different sites for three different platforms, they have created websites that are scalable to the search device. And that has been helped along by the proliferation of types of devices in use everyday.

According to Pew Research Center, In 2015, smartphone ownership in America was at 68%, with tablet and computer ownership at 45%. Statista says that almost half of American adults use their smartphones the most to search for local information online, the other half being split between computers (40%) and tablets (11%). According to Localeze, like the types of devices used, what we are searching for varies by the time of day and device. Entertainment is searched for during work hours on computers, restaurants during evening using phones and health/fitness evening using tablets.

The most important part of those mobile searches is accuracy. If someone cannot find your business in a local search or find inaccurate results whilst out and about, then your business has lost the chance for that browser to become a customer. So having those listings correct in all of the device formats is a must as we, and our technology, continue to evolve in the way we interact with local businesses.

6. Local search results are trusted sources of information

Last but certainly not least is the fact that local search results are considered the most trustworthy. In a study by Neustar, it was determined that these searches, such as “used games Raleigh”, are what people do the most since they put that trust in local business more than big box, big website stores.

Think about it, would you rather find a local store where you can get that latest purse in town right now? Or you can wait a week for delivery, which is four days past the event that you want it for! Local searches lend themselves to instant gratification and that interaction between browser and salesperson will convert that browser from someone who might get just the minimum to a loyal customer who feels like a million having spent a little more, but getting what they consider to be gold!

Those interactions are what lead people to local searches and the absolute necessity of getting your listings correct. Trust leads to loyalty, which leads to more business, which leads to happy customers and business owners.

And it all starts with that correct listing in that customer’s local search.

3 Tips To Make Your Website Useful

Gone are the days of a “form over function” internet. Where the simple novelty of seeing a business online, was enough. Now, today’s more savvy audiences simply want to get where they are going. So with the priorities of business websites being speed and ease of use, here are 3 tips that can make sure you are providing your customers the information they require in the best way possible to help you make conversions either on your site or in person.

1. Where is the business?

Contact information is the most important information you can have on the internet. Seems simple enough, yet many well-intentioned websites make this information difficult to find. Studies show that people will tend to look at the top left corner of your website first, like they’re reading a book. This is where the most important information should be, your contact info—don’t make customers scour the page looking for a way to find your business.

There is lots of data you can include in the contact information section. The trick is finding the balance of information overload vs. unnecessary vagueness. There are three things you need to specifically include:

Hours of operation

People seeking this information are likely close to buying, so having your hours of operation listed accurately and in a fashion that’s easy to read is a huge priority. 

Don’t do it like this

We are open Mondays – 8:00 am-5:00 pm, Tuesdays – 8:00 am-5:00 pm, Wednesdays – 8:00 am-7:00 pm, Thursdays – 8:00 am-5:00 pm, Fridays – 8:00 am-7:00 pm, Saturdays 12:00 pm-5:00 pm and the service shop is also open until 7:00 pm.

Looks hard to read, right? It doesn’t look nice, it’s hard to look at specific days, and you don’t know if the service shop is just open on Saturdays, or if it’s always open until 7:00 pm every evening.

A better example

Sales:

• Mon 8 – 5
• Tues 8 – 5
• Wed 8 – 7
• Thurs 8 – 5
• Fri 8 – 7
• Sat 12 – 5
• Sun Closed

Service:

• Mon-Sat: 12 – 7

Looks a lot nicer, right? It’s a lot easier to read and find the information you need. The most important part is to make sure the hours are accurate. Even if it takes an extra line to better explain a confusing set of hours, customers greatly appreciate knowing when they can expect your business to be open.

Address

Unless you’re an online retailer, your address is an essential part of your contact listing. But just like hours of operation there is are a variety of ways to share your location. Here is how we recommend it. Provide enough information so that Google maps can locate the business. For people in major cities, often times just your street address is sufficient. But if your business is a little tricky to find consider linking to a map application, or have the map right on the website. If you’re going that direction, make sure to use an accredited map engine like Google Maps, instead of a hand-drawn creation. People tend to be a lot more familiar with popular map formats and might get confused/scared at the sight of your beautiful artwork.

Phone number

This is the number where customers can most easily reach you. Businesses with multiple departments equipped with individual phone lines, might want to stick those on a “Contact Us” page. There’s no sense in cluttering your home page with 30 different phone numbers. Businesses should have one phone number on the homepage display to be a catch-all for any inquiries. Don’t forget an area code for those out-of-town customers. Make it easy for on-the-go customers to hit a button and have their mobile device ring the business instantly.

2. Who is the business?

You likely have a lot to say about your business so the real challenge here is the distillation of your story. Here, think of the company from the customer’s’ perspective; what makes you unique? Why are you better than their competitors? What do you do for customers? These question will likely shed light on the most important information to share, at least at the top of the page.

Once you’ve got your top level information cased, consider designing a way for interested customers to learn even more about the business. There you can dive deeper into your history, philosophy, and share any achievements or media coverage your business has had in its past.

3. What does the business do?

This is where functionality needs to be the highest priority. Customers are looking for confirmation that your business is what they are looking for in the moment they are searching. You can’t afford to have this information be anything but concise, easy to find, and extremely helpful. It’s challenging to know the exact right strategy for your business but a tactic we recommend is taking a look at your closest competitors for insight.

Look at those website and assume the perspective of their customer. If you like something about the way their website works, make a note. If you find something super inconvenient or confusing, again, make a note. Have these notes inform your approach.

Conclusion

A lot of people think a website should be an online version of your business. In reality, this is virtually impossible. A website is more like a messenger for your business. It’s a tool for relaying information about the business to potential customers. If your messenger is long-winded, confusing and tries to use flashy bright colours to grab attention, the customer is not going to be engaged. If your messenger relays all the information in a simple, concise and memorable way, customers will be much more likely to engage. It is quite likely a website is the first impression the customer might have of your business—remember, you only get once chance to make a first impression!