@BasilPuglisi

Content & Strategy, Powered by Factics & AI, Since 2009

small business

Google’s New E-Commerce Features

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Web retailers may have just received extra encouragement for product promotion from Google with the launch of their new E-commerce, product-specific search capabilities. At least two new features will stand out to regular users.

Instant Results

First, there is the type-as-you-go feature that Google users have grown accustomed to in their web search tool. This feature will now attempt to fill in some of the most commonly searched products, even localized when possible, and get instant results for browsing and purchasing items from your query.

How Does this Work?

To see this feature in action head to babyage.com a Baby Store site and begin to type the phrase “portable cribs” into the search bar, as you do you can see that even at the letter P it is offering quick search results with clickable photo links directly to the product page. The more letters added the more specific the search results are displayed.

Product Availability

Since commerce for major purposes over the past few years has taken on a combination of online and offline shopping, the second new feature of the ecommerce upgrade encourages localized shopping by maintaining inventory management systems of many of the larger retailers. This allows users to find out exactly where an item they are interested in can be located in their area. Wal-Mart has been using a similar system for their online shoppers for quite some time.

This type of product availability mapping can be a great tool for those who do not have hours on end around the holiday seasons to hunt down the year’s hottest products. Utilized widely it may even have some impact on economical aspects such as saving on travel expenses. For those used to shopping online for their minor needs this may not seem like a big deal, however, considering that some items even the sharpest online shopper would likely never purchase online, this could make that bargain shopping hunt far easier.

Items like furniture, appliances and heavy equipment such as lawn mowers or outside storage containers may certainly be items that are well worth the trip to the actual store to save on shipping cost. The new system can also help you to find the store closest to you so that those ungainly trips to return home with those items much more convenient.

The Business End of E-Commerce Updates

Business owners are allowed to fully customize the appearance of their results any way they choose. With some additional merchandising and marketing options users can easily configure their own promotions to be displayed with a visitor enters a related search as well as designate their banner zones on site.

To help users better understand the new changes, Google has supplied a video with a great explanation on YouTube. 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nje9fUcIkKc&feature=player_embedded]

There seems to more happening these days beyond google checkout, take a look at the big picture and google commerce in conjunction with google apps and google checkout any small business can now rival the technology of the biggest corporations.

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Why Every Small Business Should Go Online

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Why a Small Business should go Online: Ways Your Offline Business Can Benefit from an Online Presence

Although it may be hard for some of the ‘old timers’ regardless of age, to understand how much it can be of benefit, there is no doubt that it would be a very rare offline business that could not benefit from an online web presence.

Here are a few ways a business owner could benefit immediately.

Broader Target Market

Obviously, advertising on the internet is going to bring in a much larger geographical market than remaining offline and using offline advertising methods such as billboards, newspapers and local discount promotions. Custom product orders online can rake in big money for businesses in most any niche.

No Need to Rely on Foot Traffic

One of the biggest killers of business can be the lack of foot traffic on location. A bad location even for the best business can sometimes spell big trouble. Opening up your digital foot traffic is the same as opening any other flood gate, you never know exactly how much is going to flow in, but it will definitely be a lot more than simple location traffic generates.

This can be an incredible benefit for seasonal businesses. Does your business sell pool accessories in middle America? If so your foot traffic likely grinds to a halt in the winter months. Fortunately, people in Florida and other southern states as well as the lower west coast can still enjoy summer-like temperatures year round. This means putting your business online will turn your company from a seasonal entity, to a year-round production.

Affiliate Marketing

The best way to understand affiliate marketing for those who are entirely unfamiliar is to imagine having a full-time salesperson to sell your products for you, 24/7/365. Although these affiliates will likely work on a commission basis, you should also have the option to choose a flat rate per sale that should meet your profit-loss requirement needs.

Ease of Communication

Although some who do not use computers often may be intimidated by communications with users via online methods there is nothing to fill. Regardless of the rumors, the internet is not full of ranting loonies anymore than anywhere else is, and you are likely to have good communications with your online users, since they are going to be coming to you, for the product or service you have to offer. Not to mention that this eliminates loads of sales pressure as well.

Permanent Business Card

Your website will serve as a permanent business card. Permanent in the fact that it is there, once set up, forever. However, your website can always be updated or upgraded at will and the only limitations you are likely to deal with are those of your own imagination.

A business owner can also provide much of their products and services information on their web site which will greatly reduce their need to continually repeat the same product pricing or services options.

Paperless

This should be enough said. It is paperless. Forget the rainforests if you like, but removing your paper needs from your business will save more money per year than you may think. Many customers are now satisfied with paper billing. This also gives you an additional option of paperless advertising in such forms as email campaigns.

Automatic Statistics

One of the greatest things about getting a new website is the ability to set it up to track any and all of your traffic. This can give business owners a whole new perspective on who is browsing their wares and from where.

Optional Revenue

Once you have a site that generates traffic, you may have other options to increase your income outside of selling your products or services. Selling banners and other links on websites are common methods for networking as well as generating money simply for owning a well traveled site.

Related Past Blogs:

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Location Trends: Checkpoints

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“When was the last time you got a reward for just showing up? When did you get a prize for something you do every day? Now you can, with Checkpoints” is the catch-phrase of a new mobile app called Checkpoints.

Founded by brothers/ entrepreneurs Mark and Todd DiPaola, who put $1 million of their own money into forming a company in April 2010, the new product was launched about 3 months ago.

What Checkpoints offers is product integration, a way to introduce new clients to products in a fun and interactive way.

An example will illustrate it the best: You are about to go shopping for groceries. Opening the app on your cellular phone will show you which markets in your area are participating in the program. By going in and checking in there –pointing your cell phone camera at a bar code and taking a picture – you get some points.

The app will also show you which products in the store they are recommending. By picking a product up and scanning it (again with the camera) you will also get points. You can do the same with any other establishment, and Checkpoints is a universal currency, meaning it is not tied to a brand or to a currency. The points you accumulate can be redeemed for products; from gift cards to new electronic gadgets and airline miles.

For shoppers this app, available for all camera-equipped cell phones, is a fun way to interact with new products and get something in return.

For manufacturers and advertisers, which have been tied to a specific location in their advertisements, Checkpoints offers the ability to expend to the product level and drive customers to pick it up and really look at it, in an interactively engaging way.

Several brands have joined the program immediately; Belkin, Energizer, Seventh Generation, Tyson foods, 24/7 fitness center, and more. Just recently, Lionsgate, the movie production and distribution company has added Checkpoints to all their DVDs and Blu-rays. Customers are able to watch trailers and receive checkpoints for interaction with new movies. They will also have access to movie reviews and exclusive offers. “We know this technology increases the likelihood of purchase and we’re also excited by the sheer power of the experience and the brand engagement it creates” says Anne Parducci, Lionsgate Executive Vice President of Marketing and Family Entertainment.

Checkpoints hit the million check-ins and 600,000 bar code scans in January 2011, about 2 and half months after its launch. The brothers are now contemplating whether to continue in their boot-strapping operation with 13 employees or start a round of financing.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXwHkpGlQ00]

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SmB Digital Trends: Groupon, Google Offers & Facebook Deals

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Small Business Trends: Groupon, Google Offers & Facebook Deals

Groupon burst into the scene of business client relationship in 2008, and changed the advertising model. It’s mindboggling rise in 2010 is proof they’ve hit the jackpot – an uncharted territory of local businesses and internet users. The virtual world and the physical world intersecting with each other.

A deal-a-day website, Groupon focuses its attention on the buying power of the surge. Every day a new deal in a specific area is advertised, announced by e mail to users by geographic location. The deal offers deep discounts – between 50%-90% off the regular price, and it can be made on merchandise or services (diving lessons for example). For businesses, even though the margin of profit shrinks, the deal has the potential of brining in many new customers and creating repeat business. For the customers it is an opportunity to buy something at a drastically reduced price.

Groupon’s scouts reach out to local businesses they deem worthy and offer to make a deal. Today, Groupon has scouts in over 300 markets in 35 countries, looking for businesses that meet their standards. There are some businesses they stay away from; shooting ranges, abortion clinics, plastic surgeons and strip clubs to mention some. Groupon has a subscriber base of 50 million members.

Forbes Magazine said about Groupon, as was quoted in The Wall Street Journal “We are projecting that the company is on pace to make $1 Billion in deals faster than any other business, ever.”

With the success came attempts by bigger companies to buy them out. Yahoo was rumored to make an offer, which was rejected, then, at the end of 2010, Google offered to buy Groupon for $6 billion. The offer was rejected in December 2010. It is rumored they are preparing for an IPO that can bring in as much as $16 billion.

Google didn’t wait long. At the end of January 2011, Google announced a new product which is in its testing stages. It is called Google Offers.

Google Offers

On January 20, 2011, Google announced on their blog “… a new product to help potential customers and clientele find deals in their area through a daily e mail”.

On the surface it seems to be the same deal as Groupon, but those who saw the program say it is a different model.

It will be an extension of their Google Coupons. You can see it if you google: coupons site:maps.google.com intitle:Google Offers. There you’ll find a list of coupons for businesses according to the geographical location. As you can see on the page, it is not very attractive and it is not easy to find deals in your area. But, if Google will let you know the deal in a daily e mail, incorporating their Gmail service, their potential customer base is enormous.

Opportunity? – With google shifting to local search results in Nov 2010, it might set the stage for a local offer to be ties into the search results in a big (or popup) way! Currently for as little as $25 a month Google places lets business owners produce a deal or coupon special, but this is likley just the begining.

Nate Tyler, Google spokesman, sent this statement a few days later:

“Google is communicating with small businesses to enlist their support and participation in a test of a pre-paid offers/vouchers program. This initiative is part of an ongoing effort at Google to make new products, such as the recent Offer Ads beta, that connect businesses with customers in new ways. We do not have more details to share at this time, but will keep you posted.”

And they are not alone. Where Google goes, so does Facebook (or vice versa).

Facebook Deals

Millions of people use Facebook Places to tell their friends where they are at a certain moment. Now Facebook is going a step further and launching an additional program for smartphone users called Facebook Deals.

We all like to feel we got the best deal possible, especially when it is shared with friends. Starting in November 2010, when you ‘check in’ to a business page on Facebook on your computer or mobile phone, you will see notations if the business is offering a deal. Clicking on it will show you the type of deal this business is offering.

Facebook Places lets you share where you are with your friends and see where they are. With Deals you can also see which businesses offer discounts in the area you are and share that information with your friends. When you go to the establishment, all you have to do is show your phone to the cashier to get your discount or gift.

There are 4 kinds of deals Facebook Deals is offering: Individual, friend, loyalty and charity.

  • Individual deals offer discounts or rewards for you, like a free cup of coffee, a free entrée etc. When you check in you get the offer for yourself.
  • Friend – You have to bring your friends with you. Tagging a number of friends to a business will get all of you a discount or free stuff (like a free T shirt in a rock concert). But you have to be in the company of all those you tagged.
  • Loyalty deals – a local establishment can offers deals that are similar to the punch-in cards, in the vein of buy 5 and get the 6th one free.
  • Charity deals – The establishment will donate money to charity when you use their services.

Since the end of January 2011, Deals is available in the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

Which system is best for your business? It depends on your niche, what a surge on clients can bring, or whether you want it to be a one-time deal or an ongoing discount for repeat customers. But one thing is certain – all those offers open a new way for businesses to advertise themselves to customers in their physical area.

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Your Book: A look at Publish America

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Publish America, or PA, is a Print-on-Demand, traditional royalty paying book publishing company. Since Publish America only prints books as they are ordered, they are able to extend authorships to many talented writers. PA believes that if one single book is worth being published, it only need have the idea of a market for it to be accepted by PA editors.

Publish America Facts

PA has nearly 40,000 satisfied authors. Every day, around fifteen of those authors ask PA to accept their subsequent works. This is an incredibly high number of return writers and one of the reasons why PA is known as one of the best print-on-demand companies available.

Although PA may have lower acceptance barriers than other publishing companies, they also have to be choosy in accepting manuscripts that meet the PA requirements. There are no contract fees with PA, ever.

PA authors have made appearances on FOX TV, ABC, MSNBC and CNN. Also the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Women’s World Magazine. PA authors have even been heard on some of the famous radio shows such as Rush Limbaugh, Oliver North and Don Imus.

PA is not a subsidy publisher, vanity press or publish on demand company. PA does not charge for their services. No catches or hidden surprises, and PA even regularly pays small advances to their authors to show their support. PA does not want an authors money, they only want rights to their books, and it stops there. The copyright, TV rights, movie rights, merchandising and audio rights will remain under the authors legal rights. Book publishing contracts expire after seven years instead of the life terms of many publishers.

Almost all of the biggest publishers use digital technologies for printing. The print-on-demand form of publishing is used by other publishers such as Random House.

They will assign a graphic designer to create your book cover, and also take suggestions and ideas from the author.

Publish America Issues

With such a huge amount of books and authors cycling through Publish America yearly, there are also a few problems.

  • Authors report that graphic designers are not always willing to take their ideas when it comes to their book covers, the second most important aspect of their creations.
  • Although Publish America does provide an editing service at no cost, it can be extremely time-consuming. If you do not plan to have your book proofread by an outside service, expect an average wait for editing of around 3 to 6 months.

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Small Businesses and their Banks

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How many keyboard strokes have been used to write about small business and the banks? Too many to count.

Promises were given, rules are being written and debated in Congress and  the Senate, ideas become laws –  and still the economy is not moving forward in the desired pace.

Small business owners blame the banks for making it difficult to get a loan and expend the business. Banks are saying they have been burnt enough with bad loans and there are less and less applications for loans. In the last quarter the numbers of loans given by the banks went down 12%.

It seems like a ‘Catch 22’.

Are we doomed to continue this cycle forever? As with everything else that triggers the American ingenuity, there are solutions, even when it comes to banks and lending.

A recent poll by J.D Power and Associates wanted to check the current relationships between small business owners and their banks. They conducted a survey in July and August 2010 among over 6,600 financial decision makers in companies with revenues between $100,000 and $10 million, about their relationships with their banks.

The loyalty factor of small business to their bank has been declining drastically. If in 2008, 34% of small business owners said they will definitely go back to their bank, in 2010 the number dropped to 19%. Less than a quarter of people who do business with banks will not go back. In any other business it will be a cause for a major alarm.

The biggest complaints small business owners have is that they are not getting the support they need from the bank.

The poll shows that small business owners want a few simple things;

They want a point man, someone they can talk to. Someone that understands a bit about their business and someone that is available, either physically at the branch or through E mail.

They want to know in advance what the fees will be. Small business owner don’t expect to get something for nothing, but many complain about being blindsided by additional fees and charges they were not aware of when they signed the contract.

It looks like the big national banks are the ones who fail their customers in those two areas.

The list of the “Least Satisfied With” banks starts with Bank of America, Chase and Citibank. It continues with Wells Fargo and the rest of the big banks.

According to the poll, the ones who did get a good loyalty rating were the small regional banks like SunTrust in Atlanta, KeyCorp in Cleveland and Huntington National Bank because they are headquartered in Columbus Ohio as local banks.

I for one have used Suffolk County National Bank and Suffolk Federal Credit Union. These two are located in Suffolk County New York and still have a great personal feel to them.

Big banks have lost the human relationships with their clients. It may be high time to leave those big ones and go with the smaller local banks, with bankers like George Baily in “It’s a Wonderful Life”, a movie we will soon be seeing again on TV, come Christmas.