Using Google Ads is a big expense for most small businesses. This is particularly true if you are in a competitive industry. That’s why your Google Ads campaign needs to be run as effectively as possible. By doing this you will get maximum your return on investment.
There is a lot to do when running a small business. That’s why keeping your website updated may be a task that gets put onto the bottom of your to do list. However, if it has been a while since you have made any changes to your website, it is likely to be looking a bit out of date. Even worse, it might be putting off potential customers!
So what can you do to quickly spruce up your small business website? Here are 5 of our top tips
Google Ads is a big marketing expense for lots of Melbourne small businesses. Because of this, it is important to make the best use of the your Google Ads budget to get the best return for the money you spend.
A well set up Google Ads campaign is a good start. However, it also needs to be skillfully managed to make sure that you continue to get good value from your Google Ads campaign.
Here are 5 tips to make the most out of your Google Ads campaign:
Most small business found 2020 very challenging. As a result, a lot of small businesses are thinking about the best way to reboot their online presence.
This is especially true as some have had to pivot to meet the challenges that the Covid-19 restrictions have brought.
There are a lot of ways to improve your online presence. The following are just a few of them:
For most small businesses, emails are an important part of their operations. You receive emails from clients, suppliers and employees. To be able to run your small business efficiently you need access to your emails at all times.
Most small businesses don’t really know that much about how their emails work or if there are better email options. However, with small businesses receiving more emails with large attachments (including videos and photos) it is important to make sure the system is set up correctly. This means finding an email system that suits your business and budget.
Most businesses know that keeping track of their customers and jobs is important. This is especially true if you have a team working for you. In addition, new businesses and businesses that are growing can find it difficult to keep track of customers. There are a lot of options claiming to have solutions for you, but what exactly do they do? And will they help your business? ServiceM8 is one of these options and it is becoming very popular amongst tradesmen for booking and scheduling jobs. So let’s take a closer look at ServiceM8.
Google My Business is becoming one of the most important ways for a business to improve their online presence. Nearly 95% of people use Google to search the internet.
This means you need to do whatever you can to get an edge on your competition. If you do this, more customers will find you. This means more sales for your business!
It is free to set up your Google My Business account. You first need to verify your address. Once your listing goes live, when people search for a business like yours, the chances of showing up on search results increases.
Getting paid for work completed is always a hassle for tradies. The first part of getting paid is to generate an invoice for your customer.
When you are out on the job this is not that easy to do. If you have to wait until you are back in the office to issue an invoice this just causes a delay, This delay means it is likely to take longer for you to get paid.
However, there is good news if your business has a website and you have a smartphone. This is because this is all you need to get your invoices issued quickly and easily when you are out on the job.
It takes a lot of time and effort to create a website that gains you new customers, as well as increasing your sales.
Unfortunately, there are lots of common mistakes people make with their website. These mistakes significantly decrease the chances of the website being a successful marketing tool for their business.
Given how important a website can be to the success of a business it is best to get things right from the start.
Here are 5 of the most common mistakes people make with their website:
There has been a buzz for the last couple of years with Afterpay changing the way people purchase products online. After only a few years it now has over one million users. It is particularly popular with millennials who make up 75% of their client base.
Afterpay’s motto is Shop Now. Enjoy Now. Pay Later. It is essentially a modern form of lay-by. However, you don’t have to wait until you pay for the goods to enjoy them.
It is estimated, depending on your business, that conversions rates (ie the percentage of people who come to your website and go on to make a purchase) can increase by 30%. In addition, people are inclined to spend more when they use Afterpay. In fact it is estimated that they spend up to 60% more.
So if Afterpay a good option for your business?
Around 50% of small businesses now have a website. This is still a low number considering over 90% use the internet to search for a business. Having a website puts you ahead of 50% of your competitors. However, is there anything you can do to make your website work harder for your business?
Fortunately the answer is yes! This is because there are lots of strategies you can do to make your website stand out from your competition and bring in lots of happy customers.
Videos are now considered one of the best ways for people to engage with your website. Over the last few years there has been an incredibly fast move away from websites using just words and photos. Although words and photos are still important, videos are now a necessary feature for many websites.
Having at least one video on your website is a great way to tell your story and stand out from your competitors.
Here are three of the top reasons to why you need videos on your website.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) can be a frustratingly slow process. It can take months (if not longer) to get your website ranking well for highly competitive search terms. However, once SEO starts working for your website it is very cost effective. This is especially true when compared with the costs of using Google AdWords or Bing Ads.
The good news is that there are some simple things you can do that can have a real impact on your website’s SEO position. Listed below are five quick ways to improve your SEO
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a form of online marketing that uses various techniques to get a website a high ranking on Google organically. It is usually compared to Google AdWords. The main difference is that if you use Google AdWords you pay every time someone clicks onto your website. Although it can take some time to see SEO results it is very cost effective when it works well, and can completely replace the need for Google AdWords.
Google AdWords, under the right circumstances, is a great way to reach out to new customers. However, it is not for every small business. Google AdWords can be expensive – which is not so bad if you are actually getting new customers. However, if a Google AdWords campaign is not managed correctly it is surprisingly easy to spend a lot with little or no return. So, what are the traps small businesses need to be aware of being deciding to use Google AdWords?
Around 50% of small businesses still do not have a website even though nearly 90% of people now search on the internet to find a business. So what about the other 50% of small businesses who have spent time and money to develop a website? Are their websites bringing in a constant stream of new work? The answer is probably not. Most small business websites do not work effectively to bring in new customers.
More and more Australians are using the internet to shop. In fact, over $30 billion is expected to be spent on online sales during 2017. Every month 40% of shoppers will buy something online. There are various reasons for the large growth in online shopping. Some of them include the high use of the internet by Australians. Over 85% of the population now use the internet so that creates a huge market for online retailers.
Google has put together some very insightful information about how customers choose a tradie. Although it specifically relates to services provided in the home – eg by plumbers, electricians, cleaners, gardeners etc, some of the information is useful to the broader service industry.
As people are using the more traditional forms of advertising less and less to find a local tradesman (think Leader Newspaper and Yellow Pages) it is becoming increasingly important for every tradie (from one man businesses to larger enterprises) to have a website. However not every website is designed well – which means a lot of money can be spent for very little return.
You know that lots of people are coming to your website but for some reason they are leaving before they make a purchase. This is actually a common problem as most businesses focus on getting people to their website. This is a good start – but unless you get them to buy it has been a wasted effort. Unfortunately, it is not as easy as getting people to your website and the sales will just flood in.
A blog when it is done properly, is a very powerful tool to show off your expertise. It also keeps your website fresh with customers coming back to read your new blogs on a regular basis. A blog is considered one of the most effective tools for search engine optimisation (SEO).
The Square Reader payment system recently launched in Australia and is revolutionising the way to get paid on the go at a low cost. It has been developed by the Founder of Twitter and is directly targeting small businesses including trades, services and retail sector.
It is commonly thought that social media, as it is a free means of advertising, is great for small businesses to use. It is also considered to be one of the best ways to engage with a broad audience. However, what is not commonly known, is that what you may be saving in money you will most likely be spending in time. Without an effective social media plan you could end up spending lots of time on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc but get very little back in resulting sales.
It is often thought that the ultimate aim with Google AdWords is to have as many people as possible visit your website. However, this is not necessarily true as you pay Google every time someone clicks onto your website. This can become very expensive very quickly.
With all the new social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, sending out an email to customers can seem a little old fashioned. However, email marketing it still very effective.
The following is a list of the 5 biggest benefits of email marketing that illustrate just how effective a well managed campaign can be
Why limit yourself to customers who are willing and able to visit your shop to make a purchase? Expand your potential customer base by having an online shop.
With over 70% of people now using the internet to buy goods and services, even the smallest of businesses now need to have an online shop. In addition, over 1/3 of people are now using their mobile phone to make purchases so you need to be mobile friendly.
A lot of people, one way or another, are connected to a non-profit organisation – whether as an employee, volunteer, consumer, or donor. But did you know that Google has a Grants programme that allows up to $10,000 of free Google AdWords each month? – that is over $1 million dollars per year! Is your non-profit organisation making use of this very generous Google grants offer?
Are you a tradesman who spends lots of time chasing up payments from customers? Is it affecting your cash flow? Do you wish there was an easy way to receive payment from your customer as soon as the job is completed? If so, you should consider using your mobile phone to do exactly that.
Fairly recent technology now allows you to use your smart phone as a mobile credit card facility. Most of these applications do not require a card reader or card swipe machine.
