Google’s New Small Business Advisors Program Aims to Help SMBs Grow
Small business owners are not given the same resources as corporations or enterprises. They are often left on their own trying to figure out how to gain an edge over one another. Google wants to help. In the wake of businesses having to shut down due to being unable to adapt to the current pandemic climate, it is vital that small business owners take advantage of the kind of advice that Google offers. Here is what small business owners can learn from the new Google Small Business Advisors Program.
Who Can Apply?
One of the aspects of their advisor’s program that Google has emphasized is that its program is for small businesses only. While they do not give a fine definition of the parameters of a small business, it likely means anywhere from a handful of employees to just under 500 workers.
If you have employees within that range, then you can likely apply for their program. As it stands, Google charges $39.99 per session.
What Will Occur During a Session
During your session, which will likely take place through a video call, you will sit down with a Google expert. You are able to tell the advisor about one or two different products that your business sells. Due to time constraints, Google does not suggest attempting to squeeze any more in. You will likely need to pay for another session in order to discuss other products that you have.
However, in the session, the advice that the advisor gives will likely be scalable. You may be able to extend it to the rest of your products.
In particular, the session is about helping your business make the most of Google’s tools and services to grow your business and bring awareness to your brands. Google has tons of programs and services that can make running a small business more profitable.
Yet not all small business owners know how to use these tools or what they even do. An advisor can show them what tools can have an impact on their business and in which way to use them.
Digital Marketing to Beat Your Competitors
One avenue that the advisor will likely discuss is digital marketing. If your small business is running to catch up to join the rest of the businesses around you online, then you have a lot of work ahead of you. To ensure your business attracts the traffic it needs to stay afloat, you need to master digital marketing.
One move that some small business owners make is to internalize digital marketing. Yet simply passing on the construction and upkeep of a website to a typical employee is not a good business move. It is unlikely that the employee has the digital marketing training and experience your company needs.
Instead, you should look for an agency that can grow your traffic for you. This includes helping your business understand SEO, Google Ads, and other forms of monetization and traffic growth that translates into sales. Our premier digital marketing agency in Philadelphia has a proven track record to help all types of businesses thrive online.
Start Growing Your Small Business Today
Learning from Google’s Small Business Advisors Program can help your small business grow and expand. If you want an agency to do the digital marketing for you, we’re here to help grow your small business. Contact SEO Locale if you are interested in any type of digital marketing.
Holiday 2020 is Do or Die for Many SMBs
The COVID-19 pandemic hit small businesses the hardest. Big box stores frequently have investors and savings and even help from the government to rely on. Small businesses, on the other hand, don’t have easy access to these resources. Many had to shut their doors. A few managed to hang on, but they’re facing a crisis coming into the holidays. Most business owners was not prepared for online order or eCommerce and struggled once COVID-19 came crashing down on the United States. Here’s why small businesses need to do everything they can to make a sizable profit during Holiday 2020.
The Impact from the Coronavirus
For months, several businesses had to shut their doors to their customers. Lockdowns kept businesses from running their operations. Customers and workers were unable to utilize their services or make an income. Yet some businesses still needed to pay their employees to keep them on board. Others had to keep paying health insurance premiums and other bills even though they weren’t bringing in any profit to cover their expenses.
This has left many small businesses in the red. With the virus still hitting many cities hard, small business owners are hoping that the virus remains contained enough that they can keep their doors open to the public.
Yet many reports have indicated that the majority of shoppers will be doing their holiday spending online. Small businesses that haven’t utilized certain SEO strategies may not see the kind of profit margins that they need to survive the new year.
How Small Business Owners Can Take Advantage of Holiday Sales in 2020
More than ever, it’s important for small business owners to adapt to the times. Consumers are worried about big crowds in stores. Some states may not even allow stores to accept that many customers within them at a time.
To ensure your small business can receive the profit it needs to get back on its feet, you need to have strong traffic on your website. The best way to acquire that traffic is through SEO or search engine optimization.
SEO involves the process of using strategies and tools to increase your ranking on a Google search. Proper honing of your SEO score can land your website on one of Google’s first few search pages. By showing up sooner in a Google search, consumers are more likely to visit your website and make a purchase.
It can be tricky nailing down the particulars of SEO. While experts know a few key strategies that can dramatically increase your SEO score, much of the algorithm is still a mystery. To ensure your website performs as best it can, you need the help of SEO experts.
Contact Us to Increase Your Score
Start preparing for the holiday sales today by contacting us to increase your SEO score. We’re ranked as one of the best national SEO agencies out there. Let us save your business.
Online Holiday Sales Could Reach $200 Billion Thanks to COVID
With a recent report from Adobe stating that online holiday sales may reach $200 billion, it’s more important than ever for businesses to hone their SEO and bring traffic to their website. SEO Locale is a leader in the eCommerce SEO space, we help businesses grow their online sales and we’re going to break down the reasons why you need to step it up. Here’s why businesses can expect their online stores to be hit harder than their physical stores in 2020.
The COVID-19 Pandemic
While online sales have been steadily rising as the preferred way for consumers to shop, it’s the Coronavirus pandemic that is pushing most consumers into the arms of online stores. It’s simply safer to buy their holiday gifts online than it is going to a store.
Yet the pandemic has also brought into question as to if consumers are going to spend as much this year as they did last year. Many families were hit hard with job furloughs and lay-offs. While many of those families now have their job back, others are still unemployed, and for many, a large gap in their savings is gone.
Another stimulus check may help bolster families and allow them to spend as much as they would like this holiday season. However, as of yet, there hasn’t been any real action on a second stimulus check.
Regardless, any holiday shopping that is going to be done will likely be performed online.
Other big businesses are gearing towards this shift. Some, like Wal-Mart and Target, have even closed their doors for their usual Thanksgiving shopping sales.
With Black Friday quickly approaching, businesses need to be prepared to garner as much online traffic as possible to make up for the losses that the pandemic waged on them.
How to Find Those Holiday Sales
Businesses who haven’t implemented an SEO strategy are missing out. SEO, or search engine optimization, is the process in which a website utilizes certain tools and strategies to make Google’s search engine rank their website higher on their search result’s list.
If you’ve ever searched for anything on the internet, then you know that you likely don’t look past the third or fourth page during a Google search. No one has time for that. If your business is on that fourth or fifth page during a Google search, then you’re missing out on tons of traffic.
Implementing an SEO strategy can increase your SEO score and land you more consumers. If you have money to make up for because of the pandemic, then investing in SEO experts and strategies is essential to your survival.
Start Including SEO Today
It’s a race to the first holiday sales and those who hone their SEO score will receive most of the sales. Contact us if you want to learn more about our custom national SEO packages.