Google’s new way of presenting search results has caused a bit of stir in all areas of online business and web marketing around the globe. Their new ‘faster’ system gives you search engine results as you type. So when you are looking for ‘cheese’ for example – as soon as you type ‘c’ you will start receiving results, then when you type ‘h’ you get more results and so on. Basically Google are trying to predict your search term before you have finished typing it. Sounds good? But what effect will this have on your online business?
Well, the concern is that people who invest in search engine marketing may have to re-evaluate their strategy. Some people think that those who have spent long hours working hard to optimise their page for something like ‘lubricated widgets Wales’ may no longer get as many impressions or indeed conversions as some of their traffic will be gobbled up by those who only typed as far as ‘lubricated’ before being distracted by some other website offering similar products.
Worry not business owners! The concern around instant search is unfounded as Google’s core system will remain unchanged. The fact is, if someone is really looking for ‘lubricated widgets Wales’ then the chances are that they will still make it to your site eventually – your hard earned search engine ranking will still perform the same. Once people get used to the interface it may even increase your visitors as people can see their results as they type, they may get closer to your site even quicker. For example, say someone was looking for ‘lubricated widgets South of England’ and could see that the resulting companies were nowhere near where they needed those businesses to be. In the past they may have just accepted the results for their initial search. But now with Instant Search, users will be more inclined to back up and try another term, such as ‘Wales’, to try and get closer to what they want.
While it won’t hurt to also optimise for shorter terms, it may well be unnecessary in the long run, as it is conversions and not impressions that really count. Just make sure that your payment service provider is equipped to handle your massive influx of profit all you Welsh widget sellers.
While Google’s Instant Search may feel like a big concern for online business owners, it really shouldn’t be. As long as you have well selected keyphrases and great content, products and services you should have nothing to worry about.
You may be sitting there flying around the internet downloading files, watching videos and flicking through pictures to your heart’s content. But spare a thought for the majority of the world who don’t have access to the internet at all. Now you may consider this no big deal as many people who don’t have the internet won’t even know about it and so won’t miss it. But when you think of all the benefits the internet could bring to so many of the needy or vulnerable people in the world you begin to see just how valuable it can be.
With news brewing that Royal Mail, the UK’s national mail service, is in line to be either sold or privatised, this could well spell a boon for online business owners up and down the country. With a large portion of business done by post still, be it mail order cataloguing, direct sales marketing with flyers and leaflets or by sales letter, the fact that it may soon be harder or more expensive to send out large amounts of mail could well have an impact for online businesses.
Net neutrality has been a phrase thrust around the news recently, but what would its demise mean for online business? Well, net neutrality is the principle of user access to the internet being equal for every person surfing the net no matter where they are, what they are doing or who their service provider is. The fear is that internet service providers could throttle their bandwidth, giving some users faster connection than others. This would allow them to give preferential treatment to those who pay for say, an internet TV service, over those wanting to watch a video from a regular website.
With the latest mobile operating system, Android, being targeted recently by virus writers, it feels appropriate to reiterate just how important it is for people, and especially online business owners, always to use legitimate software when operating on the web.
One way in which you can improve your exposure is by moving your businesses website into a more socially accessible environment. This can be achieved by integrating your pages with Facebook. The social networking giant is no longer a ‘phenomenon’ as with over 500 million users it has become a by-word for modern online networking and for a fast growing movement of people who stay in touch and like to hear each others ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’, often trusting this over more direct sales approaches.
With such a fiercely competitive network of websites and blogs out there, getting your website onto the screens of your customers and keeping it there is a tough job. There are many ways in which to help your business become more popular and more profitable if you own a physical store on a high street – doing things like regular advertising, improving the appearance of your shop front, placing special offers in the window and being friendly and courteous to your customers.
If you are a business owner, you will likely have aspirations of high sales figures, loyal customers and growing budgets. One way of helping you get your business heading in the right direction, and in this case online business, is to look up to businesses which currently captivate and entice millions of people around the world to invest in, log on to and buy from their websites. By taking a look at the heavy hitters out there you can see what makes them an online success and what advice you can take from their example to help your business improve.
If you are in business these days it is almost essential to have a smartphone. With all the mobility of a…er…mobile, and all the handy application usefulness of a computer, they go with business like bread and butter. They are particularly valuable for small businesses and can act as an entire office for some one man companies. If they could find somewhere to keep the mugs in a smartphone they would no doubt do coffee too.
The Networked Nation Manifesto published on 12th July 2010 highlighted the number of people in the UK who are missing out on opportunities that the internet brings. The UK digital champion Martha Lane Fox produced this manifesto and has announced plans to try and get everyone in the UK of working age online by 2015. This is spurred by the fact that if everyone who is not online took advantage of the opportunities the internet can bring, in the shape of access to jobs and consumer savings it could in turn save a lot of money for the UK economy. For example if just 3.5% of UK unemployed gained employment this would save £560m, and with 90% of jobs now requiring basic internet skills, getting everyone online could be an easy way to save some money.
