Thinking about having a mobile website developed for your small business but aren’t sure if it’s worth the investment? Today we’re exploring this topic to find out if the advantages vs. cost are enough for you to make the jump to mobile.

Adam Gottlieb of The Frugal Entrepreneur thinks that embracing mobile, in all forms, is an essential part of a small business owner’s success. He said, “Small business owners need to respond to the growing proliferation of mobile devices. This actually includes several trends: mobile marketing, mobile payments, and responsive website design for mobile devices.”

Ready to check out the top three advantages of having a mobile website developed for your small business? We’ve listed them for you below:

Increase Customer Engagement

Google states, “Mobile websites produce an average 75% higher rate of engagement (revenue, page views, etc.) per visit for mobile users.” This means that if you already have a website, but it hasn’t been optimized for mobile use, you could be losing out on exposure and profit.

Why? According to Brian Poole, web developer at local business BX3 Interactive, “Without a mobile website, you risk alienating mobile visitors and potential customers because chances are great that your full website doesn’t compensate for users who don’t have a mouse or larger screen. Without simplifying the content and navigation of your website, mobile users will find it hard to find what they’re looking for. As soon as they’re frustrated, they’re gone.”

Keep Your Customers Happy

No one wants to annoy a potential or current customer, right? But having a website that isn’t mobile friendly means you’re facing this risk every day. Google reports: “A negative mobile website experience can be quite costly. 19% of mobile users will form a negative overall perception of a company if they are dissatisfied with the mobile experience. In fact, nearly 2 in 3 users are unlikely to return to a mobile site with which they had trouble and 40% of consumers said they’d visit a competitor’s mobile site instead.”

On the flip side, says Google, a positive mobile experience can keep customers happy and coming back for more. “A positive mobile experience can drive significant revenue for a business. 51% of consumers are more likely to purchase from retailers that have a mobile-friendly website.”

Boost Your Revenue

More profit is a goal of all small business owners, but is spending money on a mobile website really going to get you the increase of profit you’re after? Google has an interesting stat regarding this very question: “Users take action on mobile-friendly sites. 1 in 5 website visits lead to an immediate call to the business.”

This could be attributed to the fact that having a mobile website means your contact information has been specifically designed to be easily accessible to mobile visitors. The easier it is for someone to call you and find your address, the more likely it is that they will become a regular, paying customer.

According to digital business analytics company comScore, there are over 100 million smartphone users in the United States alone as of early this year. In conjunction with that staggering figure, experts estimate that 68.6 million people do their shopping on their smartphones. Because of these ever-growing numbers, more and more businesses are beginning to see the potential of mobile marketing.

Unfortunately, the majority of small business owners have yet to exploit this flourishing market. From Web.com’s survey of 500 entrepreneurs running small businesses, only a mere 14% have websites optimized especially for mobile use. Yet 69% acknowledge the fact that mobile marketing will be of utmost importance in their business strategy for the next five years. Out of those that have already put in the effort in employing a mobile marketing strategy including a mobile website, 84% have experienced a boost in their trade.

The results are evident. Mobile marketing poses a bright future for marketing for small businesses.

How Mobile Marketing Helps Small Businesses

Mobile marketing contributes to business efforts greatly through a number of factors. There is a continuously growing use of mobile surfing, as people want to be online more and more even when on the go.

They take out their phones and type in keywords on search engines when looking for something, including products and services. In fact, the above mentioned eMarketer study anticipates that about 88.1% of users in the US will do their research on products online this year. It also predicts that about 83.9% will buy something via online transaction.

By having a mobile-friendly website, small businesses become visible to the millions of mobile Internet users. Thus, both audience and profits can grow exponentially.

Get Started With Mobile Marketing

The rationale is clear so the next course of action is to begin mobile operations. However, this requires certain elements that need to be considered.

Make mobile website creation a priority. A standard website without a mobile version will be hard to navigate especially with a smartphone’s small screen in comparison to a desktop computer’s. Big images will take very long to load and might end up taking too much space. Flash elements simply won’t appear, leaving unpleasant blank boxes; and text will not always be resized in the proper format, making it hard to read. There are companies online offering mobilization services, with prices matching the interested business’ needs.

Set up ways to easily connect with customers. Sending and receiving text messages are as vital as accessing the Internet for smartphone users. Allowing them to join the contact list for website updates, deals, discounts and other news and information will give them reasons to continue patronizing your site, product or service.

Integrate Quick Response (QR) codes onto physical marketing materials, and explain exactly what customers can get from scanning it. You can also tell them where they can get a scanner in case they do not have one.

Generate extra revenue through mobile advertising. Placing ads on mobile websites can earn more money for the businesses than ads on standard sites due to the relatively light competition currently in the market. Start soon to establish your small business’ place and get an early advantage over other small businesses.

The Reality of Mobile Marketing

As with any business concept, there are both strengths and flaws to mobile marketing.

Strengths:

Instant communication with customers – Since websites and portals are accessible even on the go, it can lead to a more personal relationship with the audience, which can be leveraged for conversion. Feedback is also instant so strategies can be quickly reshaped according to complaints or praises.

Global reach – Due to its online nature, people from across the country and even around the world can be targeted with multiple marketing campaigns to serve each demographic.

More cost-effective than traditional marketing – Print ads and TV and radio spots are costly and limited in their time and reach. Mobile marketing can reach a wider audience at a faster rate for an unlimited amount of time at a fraction of the price.

Great potential for marketing to go viral – The popularity of social media allows for a clever campaign to explode throughout the World Wide Web. People immediately share things they see online to their friends, family and co-workers, and those people, in turn, share to their own social circles.

Managing results is easy – Collecting customer data through phone carriers and online ads is more convenient through automated software. These are highly important information that can spell success for a small business.

Flaws:

Ad size variety – Due to the different dimensions of smartphones and their screens, there are no standard ad sizes that can be followed to ensure maximum visibility for all mobile devices.

Consumer privacy – The personal attachment people have to their smartphones also means that they want to keep a sense of privacy within their gadgets. Hard selling potential customers is not a viable option.

With its cost efficiency, convenience and wider reach, could mobile marketing be the future of marketing for small businesses? That, we have yet to find out. However, the myriad of marketing opportunities it offers to small businesses is undeniable.

Although there are still noticeable weaknesses in this relatively new mode of marketing, the growth of online mobile use cannot be denied. Its advantages also lead to a faster and more efficient means of delivering exactly what the people want. It’s time small business owners make use of the technology available so both entrepreneurs and customers can benefit in the end.

This is the question that most internet marketers are concerned about today. More than 45% of internet users check their emails and also search for products and services through mobile devices, especially smartphones. In order to tap this consumer base, you have to make some tweaks in your online marketing plan. For example, email marketers have to keep some basic mechanics in mind for those consumers who will read their emails on smartphones. They have to get to their marketing message even faster! Smartphone users are not going to scroll down on their mobile devices (small enough as the screen is) to finally locate your core text. In other words, you have to get to the point quickly.

For websites that are planning to target Smartphone or mobile users, small changes are required in their mode of functioning as well. To begin with, get rid of Flash intros that take a lifetime to upload. These were a pain on computers itself, so they are excruciating when it comes to smartphones! Keep the content and designing clutter-free. Mobile device users must be able to find links to click on immediately and without much of a hassle. Make use of Flickr or Pinterest. Create fresh content and keep updating your website regularly. Do not allow stale material in the form of news and updates to accumulate dust on the website or on your blog, forums, etc. Also, make greater use of social media networks. Smartphone users are more like to check their Facebook and Twitter profiles every now and then.

When you create mobile device versions of your website or apps, ensure that you leave prime space for a click-to-call link. You must make room for mobile numbers on the website that Smartphone users can call up while they are surfing through your website. Do not leave these consumers to hunt around for your business number. That is a self-defeating proposition, to say the least. Just as it was mentioned before, you need to have social media share buttons on every material that you publish for Smartphone users. You can take it that if your content is compelling and worth reading, users will hit the share button (if you provide them with one, that is!). A point to note here is that you must use the smaller names in social media as well, other than the big boys like Facebook and Twitter.

For those three words above on Google, you get about 1,980,000 results but only the first 10 or so will be displayed on the first page of results. The chances are that, if you do order, you will do so from one of the sites on the first two pages that came up.

Yet these sites may not offer the very best overall value, the best service or product guarantees and may even be abroad. Most people cannot be bothered to look past the first few pages – “because it is an okay deal”. You have a life away from online shopping, right?

Was it just luck that the company you chose to give your hard-earned money to came up in the first two pages of results while the remaining 1,979,990 suppliers came later? No way. These top sites are up there because they are optimized, by careful planning and rank boosting, to be easily found for these particular search words.

Search engine optimization is primarily the tweaking of various parts of a website to make it easier to find by search engines for specific keywords. Full optimization also means examining and improving many other elements of ancillary parts of the site as well as building links and also proactively marketing the unique value of what is on offer.

Most traffic on the internet is driven by the large search engines. Google may be the largest and best-known of these but Yahoo! and MSN are also big players. If your site is not found by these and other search engines, your message will not be seen by those you want to reach.

If you fail to optimize your small business website, you may miss out on many potential customers who are looking to pay someone for just what you have to offer. That failure may be costing you money right now.

Now we know the importance of search queries – the words and phrases that your potential customers type into the search boxes to find what they want. The results they get may make or break the success of your business. So it is important.

A good site also has to be easy-to-use for your visitors. Clear, consistent design without garish colors, no code errors, well-organized content with easy navigation, fully accessible with all the main and less-popular browsers, and high quality and accurate content with descriptive headlines.

Your site’s content has to be good – among the best in its sector if it is to become a valued resource for others and thereby become well-ranked by the search engines.

Now you know what it’s about, should you tackle such a massively important project as SEO in-house or should you outsource to professionals? The answer is not straightforward as it depends on whether you and your staff have the time and the expertise to do it properly. If not, can you train them? This is not a job for an inexperienced employee, just because their working week is not fully utilized.

It also needs to be planned and the project must have the proper resources allocated to it. Otherwise, it will be a waste of time.

If you have any doubts over that commitment, you should call in a professional. You should also do your homework, get recommendations and examine the results of their previous work before you part with a cent.

With proper care and planning, you can optimize your small business website to achieve higher ranking with the search engines, and ensure more traffic – and sales – from your site!

Creating a brand that is unique and memorable can become an online business’ most essential asset. In today’s society more than ever before, your brand is what defines you in the business world and in the public eye. Companies are remembered and regarded by their reputation among consumers and experts in the industry. This reputation is then tied directly with that company’s brand.

So, building and maintaining a successful brand is key to developing a company or business that is long-lived and profitable. Your brand must project a consistent and distinguishing image for your business. Building a brand can be a difficult task to unfold. Try following these few tips for designing and maintaining a successful and remarkable brand for your young business or company:

Make It Simple

Obviously, one of the more essential aspects of your brand is what your company’s logo actually looks like. Successful logos and brands are those that are simple and therefore easy to remember. Start with a clean and simple typeface and color scheme and use that for all corporate materials. If you have a limited design background, you should consider consulting a designer about developing and drafting your official brand and logo. Work with an expert to find something that communicates a clear and concise concept about your company, product, or business. All too often, entrepreneurs and business hopefuls execute brands and logos that are simply too complicated and convoluted for their consumers to latch on to and understand. Developing a concept and image that are clear and simplistic is essential to making that mark on your customers and standing out among the crowd.

Be Consistent

As with most things, consistency is the key to success. If you are constantly changing your company’s name, brand, logo, etc. it will be impossible for you to gain brand recognition and notability among consumers. Your brand should communicate specific things about your company and your company’s goals. Furthermore, every aspect of your brand should make your customers feel a specific way about your product and business. Be consistent with what you communicate through your branding and in need be, contact experiential marketing companies that can assist you with brand engagement. Consistency translates to consumers as reliability and trustworthiness. Remain consistent with your design and message to ensure that consumers will recognize your company more easily and so that consumers feel they can rely on your message and brand.

Know Your Audience/Customers

One of the most basic elements of brand development involves evaluating your audience and working to appeal to their interests. Your brand will never be successful if it is not delivering what your customers want. For this reason, before settling on a specific branding scheme, you must carefully evaluate your audience/customer base and determine what their interests are. You must know what drives your customers and what makes them purchase or endorse a product. Understanding these elements of your targeted audience, allows you to narrow your brand and be more specific with your marketing. Figure out what potential customers want, so that you can better deliver it. Knowing what you are selling and who you are selling it to is key to successful branding and successful business.

Customizable Press Release Template:

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Your business is a very small fish – plankton even – in the gigantic ocean of the Internet. But you can be sure that if negative info and poor reviews get out about your business, your potential customers will have homing beacons to find it. You simply can’t afford not to manage the online reputation of your small business, so here are some tips.

Remember that It Starts Offline

The most important thing to remember about your online reputation is that it doesn’t come out of thin air – it comes directly from the experiences that people have with your business offline. It’s true that a competitor can post a fake complaint, but the majority of the time you’re dealing with real customers. Because of this, your first and foremost effort to maintain a good online reputation is to maintain good relationships with your customers, put out good products, give good services, and in general do whatever you can to make your customers happy. Happy customers don’t post bad reviews, but the unhappy ones might, so don’t let them walk away angry.

Stay in the Loop

It might go without saying, but you can’t manage your online reputation if you have no idea what’s being said about you. You have to stay in the loop if you have any hopes of nipping bad buzz in the bud. Depending on the size of your small business, this could be accomplished in a few different ways – from creating simple Google Alerts on your company name, or hiring an outside company to monitor things for you. No matter how you do it, you absolutely must stay on top of things and check your name frequently. Go ahead, Google yourself every day, and don’t feel bad about it.

Know When to Respond

If a bad review crops up about your business, you have to know what to do about it. In most cases, if you think or know that it’s a legitimate complaint, it’s a good idea to respond both publically and privately to it. You can only do this if you’re going to at least offer an apology. What you do beyond that is up to you, but offering to remedy the problem or issue a refund makes you look like the good guy, too. Don’t, however, respond if you’re going to be aggressive, and don’t ever accuse a reviewer of being fake (even if you think or know they are) because that won’t reflect well on you.

Promote Yourself

When someone Googles your business, they likely won’t ever go past the second page of results, and they’ll hardly ever go beyond the third. That’s why it’s so important to focus on what comes up in those first pages. You can’t control it, of course, but you can help to promote yourself with excellent SEO on your website. If you’re clueless, hire an expert to teach you the basics. Producing good, original content works, too, so start a blog or contribute to other websites related to your field. Finally, make sure you claim all your listings on sites like Google Places, and maintain a page on all major social networks.

By: Susannah Morgan

Plain and simple; contests work. Contests are proven to garner response from your customers because everyone loves a chance to get something for free. Put together ideas for contests that are relevant to your company and come up with specific goals. Do you want your business to gain more followers? Maybe you’d rather just increase your brand awareness. Consider your objectives first and you’ll be one step closer to the success your business deserves. See below for the top places contests work best:

1. Social media.

If you have recently created a Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or other social media account, hold a contest to gain more followers.

2. Tradeshows/local events.

People love attending trade shows just to receive free stuff. Take this valuable opportunity to hold a contest at your booth. This is a great opportunity if your objective is brand awareness. Prospects who have never heard of your business may stick around to learn more.

3. In-store.

Inform customers at your retail location of a contest at the checkout counter or while they are waiting on their service.

4. Website/blog.

To increase traffic to your website or blog, hold a contest to gain more visitors that are interested in your services.

5. Mobile app.

Hold a contest that is only available on your mobile website or mobile app. Customers will remember your business if it is easily accessible on their phones.

As any business owner knows, reviews can make or break your reputation. This is particularly true if you have an online presence. People love to make comments about businesses and websites on forums, blogs, review sites, and even online directories. While it may be great to read all the positive things people have to say about you, the negative comments can hurt. In addition, they can be extremely damaging to your business if they are not handled properly. Online reputation management is all about taking those negative comments and making them work for your business.

The first thing to do when you come across a bad review or negative comment is to stop and think before reacting. There is no need to panic or get defensive, as this may only hurt your business more in the long run. Take a few moments to think about what the reviewer is trying to say, and think about how you can rectify the problem.

Realize that the majority of people who leave negative reviews do so because they have actually experienced a difficulty with your product or services. Do not just assume that people are trying to sabotage you. Take your clients seriously, and address their concerns accordingly. Never simply delete a negative comment as this will just look shady to other readers online.

Try to think of what the client’s problem was and how you can provide a solution. Come up with a plan of action for how to fix the situation. Once you have done this, you can respond to the client. Express your regret that the client was dissatisfied, and suggest your solution to the problem. By responding quickly to the situation and offering a solution, other clients and potential customers will see that you care about their concerns.

Once you have communicated with the client and suggested a solution, act on that solution. Do not make empty promises, as this will damage your reputation even more. Remember also that if one client experiences a problem, there may be many others who had the same problem, but just did not voice it online.

One way to improve your online presence is with social networking media. Take advantage of Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Digg to increase your fan base and create interest in your website and business. The more fans and followers you have, the less impact negative comments or complaints will have on your overall online reputation.

Finally, use a service that allows you to monitor when people leave comments about you. Google Alerts is a great tool that will let you know whenever someone mentions you or your business online. This way you can respond to comments and complaints immediately, before they get out of hand.

No matter what type of business you have, you are bound to get both positive and negative comments from your clients. Online reputation management techniques can help you make the most out of negative feedback, and improve your business; online presence, credibility, and popularity.

By: Susannah Morgan

As a small business owner, you may be fighting to get your name in the news. Get Busy Media‘s research states that only 50% of businesses survive five years, though 70% make it to two years. Don’t let your small business be a statistic. Harnessing the power of small business PR can help your company survive. Use the tools listed below:

1. Build your network.

Associate with reporters in your area. Follow and engage them on social media. It’s important to get journalists on your side and build trust that turns into press for you.

2. Write interesting press releases.

If your small business can’t afford a PR consultant, you can write press releases on your own. View samples of press releases for others in your industry. Make sure the content is interesting and worthwhile to the network of reporters you have built.

3. Have patience.

Getting significant press takes time. After connecting with reporters, you may start to get asked for quotes for their articles. This doesn’t happen right away, so don’t let it frustrate you.

4. Hold focus groups.

Use your best customers to gain insight for your company. Hold focus groups, give surveys, and use the research to discover ways to get your company in the news.

5. Celebrate company milestones.

By announcing new products, services, or company anniversaries, you can get folks interested in your business.