Is Your Website Slow To Load? Google Could Soon Punish You

Is Your Website Slow To Load? Google Could Soon Punish You

*This is only, currently for people accessing the internet with cell phones and other mobile devices.

Google is now testing putting a “slow to load” icon next to websites that will be slow to load on cell phones.

Obviously this would be bad for companies with slow websites, but you should be redesigning your websites so they’re responsive or mobile friendly anyway.

Over half of all people now access the internet from mobile devices. So really, it should be a no-brainer to make sure you have some sort of mobile website.

But now, if you don’t conform, Google is going to punish you for it.

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Apps Will Soon Be In Search Engine Results

Apps Will Soon Be In Search Engine Results

Coming soon to Google, Bing, and Yahoo: apps!

That’s right.

The way this is going to work is when you’re on your cell phone and you go on Google, Bing, or Yahoo and search for something, not only will you get links to websites. You’ll also now possibly get links to download apps that answer your search question.

They’re currently beta-testing, which means they’re experimenting on a small scale for now.

If this does get traction and gets rolled out, it’s going to be a big advantage for small businesses to be early adopters and get their apps entrenched in organic, search engine optimization listings.

One of the biggest drawbacks of creating an app for a small business has been the fact that the app is only valuable if people download it.

Well, if businesses’ can get their apps in search engines, there could be some real potential here.

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Local Searches Could Be As High As 50% Of All Searches

Local Searches Could Be As High As 50% Of All Searches

Noted internet marketing guru Greg Sterling recently wrote an article where based off of data from Google and comScore, he’s calculating that people that search for something locally could make up close to half of all searches on search engines.

This is huge to grasp.

For any small business that doesn’t actively market themselves on the internet because they think that the search engines are for big, nationwide companies, half of all people searching on the search engines are looking for LOCAL businesses.

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Voice Search Not There Yet

Voice Search Not There Yet

There have been some in the internet marketing industry making a big deal about how voice search is the future of our business. (aka Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana, OK Google, etc.)

I think it has a ways to go though.

Search engines on computers and cell phones offer the benefit of choice. You can look at various websites and click on those you want to.

Voice search is limited in the sense that it doesn’t offer choice.

There are some industries where voice search can be more successful, like when customers have zero loyalty to a brand. Like taxi cabs. I would think most people could be Ok with asking Siri for a cab and talking to a random company. Or someone that wants to be surprised by calling a mystery restaurant.

But a lot of small businesses charge a decent amount of money for their products and services where consumers will want to do their research.

If there was a way voice search could offer the choice, then I think it’s use could get more wide spread.

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27% Of Keywords Searched For Are In Question Format

27% Of Keywords Searched For Are In Question Format

According to study done by Blue Nile, 27% of keywords searched for in 2015 are done in the form of a question.

So in other words keywords like “average price of limo service” or “moving service near me”.

I’ve noticed the past few years, more and more, study after study is showing searchers getting more specific with what keywords they’re searching for.

And sure, in the auto repair industry, “auto repair” does get searched for more than any other individual keyword. But it’s not getting searched for as much as it once did.

Because there’s been a dramatic rise in how many people will search “brake repair” or “affordable auto repair” or “discount ford auto repair”.

I’ve been saying the same thing to our small business clients: there is a TON of opportunity targeting these specific keywords.

The rest of the search engine optimization industry hasn’t caught up yet. So it’s likely your small business competitors aren’t caught up either.

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Google: In 2015, Link Building Can Do More Harm Than Good

Google: In 2015, Link Building Can Do More Harm Than Good

For years, search engine optimization companies used link building tactics Google wasn’t happy about to produce better rankings.

But since 2012, Google has slowly but surely wiped out nearly every effective link building technique.

And one Google spokesman has even gone as far to say that trying to do link building can do more harm than good.

And of course, Google could just be trying to scare people into not doing it anymore, but the past year or so, the SEO industry has formed a consensus to focus on content instead of link building.

The reasons are that Google is now confident in knowing if people are trying to game the link building system. So if you try it and Google catches you, Google might remove you from their search engine for a period of time, aka a Google penalty.

It couldn’t be any more clear that in 2015, the way to get better SEO rankings is through content.

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Majority Of Online Viewers Would Rather Watch Ads Than Pay To Watch

Majority Of Online Viewers Would Rather Watch Ads Than Pay To Watch

The last few years, the advertising industry has been paying close attention to consumers preferences on how to pay to watch video on the internet.

Would people prefer to watch a quick ad before their video plays like on YouTube? Or would people prefer to pay like they do on Netflix or Amazon Prime?

A recent study suggests that people would rather watch a quick ad.

Which is great news for businesses considering how it’s still very possible in the next 5-10 years that people will cancel their cable and dish TV service to just watch TV through the internet.

The opportunities for small businesses to advertise for TV watchers will be plentiful!

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“Custom Audiences” Could Be The Next Big Thing

“Custom Audiences” Could Be The Next Big Thing

What is a “custom audience”? It’s advertising to people who are already familiar to you.

In other words, a custom audience is made up of a list of email addresses, or phone numbers, or physical addresses, etc.

Facebook first tested a custom audience product back in 2013. Recently, it’s been opened to the general public.

The way the Facebook custom audience advertising works is you give Facebook a list of your contacts, and then instead of advertising banner ads to random people on Facebook, your banner ads will instead be advertised only to people on your contact list.

Currently Google and Bing are experimenting on a similar product where your search engine ad is only seen by people on your contact list.

So obviously a lot of people in the marketing industry are excited by this.

It’s no secret that one of the reasons email marketing can be the most effective marketing technique in 2015 is because advertising is always more effective when your audience knows who you are.

For those thinking that you don’t want to stalk your customers by doing email marketing with them, advertising to them on Google, Facebook and everywhere, there’s a way to tone down the stalking ; )

With almost every custom audience product, there is something called a “cap frequency” that limits how many times a day each person sees your ad. So you can limit each place you advertise to people only seeing your ad once a day to blend in with the other ads.

Collecting and organizing customers contact info has never been more important!

 

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Promoting Coupons Could Be A Difference Maker

Promoting Coupons Could Be A Difference Maker

After digging through lots of data and consumer studies I think I’m starting to see an opportunity for clients to help them make more money.

One of those studies recently put out by research firm Forrester shows that 68% of consumers say coupons make it more likely someone becomes a first time customer and is likely to become a repeat customer.

It’s no secret in this economy, people love deals.

As a business, no one likes to give anything away for free decreasing the profit margin.

But if you need a ride to the airport. And you have no clue who to call. You go on Google and see a whole bunch of companies you’ve never heard of before. Then you see one of the companies has a special deal going on.

I’m convinced doing something like this will not only make the business stand out in a crowded search engine, but also make it more likely the customer comes back and does business with you again.

This area of promoting deals on ads in Google and on websites I think is one of the biggest opportunities for businesses to make more money off their advertising dollars.

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Small Businesses Not Branding Themselves Are Missing Out

Small Businesses Not Branding Themselves Are Missing Out

It’s much easier to land new customers when they already know who you are.

Why do referrals work so well? Because people know who you are.

Customwave is much more likely to land a new client when the client is already familiar with our name and who we are.

Statistically speaking, when you’re advertising on Google and people have never heard of your company’s name, you’re going to get less new customers per click.

People literally ask me all the time, “What can we do to get more customers”?

The answer is building awareness for your brand. It’ll make ALL of your advertising and marketing more effective.

I know it’s a dull, boring, takes-forever answer. But it’s also the most effective.

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