Jenni Walsh
By: Jenni Walsh – Bayshore Solutions Digital Marketing Team
Bayshore Solutions recently hosted a Google Partners Event at our Tampa and Denver offices. The Google Event was live streamed to all Google Partners from YouTube and featured speakers from Google and other digital marketing companies who shared tips and case studies for businesses.
The core of the presentation revolved around informing small businesses that now more than ever they can compete with large businesses online! Google (and the rest of the Internet) is changing how search results are presented and it now makes it easier for small businesses to get more visibility online.
Google shared that small businesses should identify what makes them different from the large companies and focus on speed and flexibility with their customers. Once those factors have been identified, businesses can use digital marketing to increase their visibility in many ways. Below are some of the top tips and statistics that were shared during the event:
- There are over 100 billion searches on Google per month.
- Key Take Away: Small businesses need to learn how to take advantage of the opportunity to display their business when people are actively searching for their product or service.
- Google’s index contains 60 trillion pages and use over 200 factors to rank search results.
- Key Take Away: Of course during the event Google didn’t share any information about what factors weigh more or less in their search algorithm, but they mentioned Digital Agencies do have more insight into what works due to their industry research and daily client experiences.
- 90% of consumers look for reviews online when searching for a company to do business with. However, 55% of the business listings online have 0 reviews!
- Key Take Away: Create a strategy for your business to increase the number of reviews you have listed on local listings. Google also stressed that quality over quantity is very important! You should also monitor all review sites and respond when necessary.
- 3 out of 4 smartphone users have contacted a business using their phone.
- Key Take Away: We can no longer ignore mobile and tablet traffic! Businesses should make sure they have a mobile strategy in place to capture these users.
- 6 billion hours of video is watched per month online and 27% of all time people spend online is visiting social media website.
- Key Take Away: Social Media and video is no longer an option for small businesses. They need to create a social strategy that includes video. There are ways to create a very successful social campaign without spending a lot of money – Work with the professionals to create the right solution for you and to save time and money!
- When working with a digital advertising agency, Google expects their Partners to provide their clients ongoing Reporting, ROI metrics, Optimization Recommendations, Industry Insights and Strategy.
- Key Take Away: When starting your search for a Digital Agency consider these things and use the Google Partners search (https://www.google.com/partners/) to learn more about the companies Google is confident in considering their Partner.
For more information on how you can grow your business online or to be invited to the next Google Partners event, contact Bayshore Solutions.
Jenni Walsh is a Director of Digital Marketing at Bayshore Solutions—a Web Design, Web Development, and Digital Marketing Company.