Oct 28, 2017 7 min read

CANONSBURG – Today’s business owners who depend upon having an online presence with a website for a portion of their profits are subjected daily to a world of “micro-moments” when someone accesses their site for their goods or services.

The miniscule timeframe, according to Dave Mayer, refers to the often split-second it takes for someone with a smartphone or tablet to decide whether a company’s website can help them find what they’re looking for.

Mayer, who is based in Minneapolis, and has 20 years of experience in marketing and communications, was the featured speaker Wednesday at Bella Sera restaurant for “Get Your Own Business Online with Google” program designed to help businesses get the most out of their websites.

The two-hour program was sponsored by the Observer Publishing Co.’s “Reimagine Main Street” digital agency that works with small- to mid-size businesses to help them optimize their online assets to generate more business.

Moment to moment

“The way we do business has completely changed,” Mayer told the audience of about 75 business owners. “More than half of all web traffic is now conducted on mobile devices,” either smartphones or tablets.

Mayer defined many of those micro-moments that occur in the daily life of people making purchasing decisions on their mobile devices. The day often begins with someone waking up and checking his or her smartphone even before they get out of bed.

They may be checking the weather, traffic reports, looking for a hairdresser or making a reservation for lunch. “Eighty-seven percent of smartphone owners search first in a moment of need,” he said. According to Google Analytics, 50 percent of consumers who conduct a local search on their smartphones visit a store within a day.

Those micro-moments make it critical for the business owner to have a website that provides the information the searcher is seeking, Mayer said

“When people go to your website, they don’t want to know that you’ve been in business for 35 years, or who your CEO is,” he said. “They want to know, ‘Can you serve my needs right now?’ You shouldn’t be directing people to your homepage if it’s not where people need to go.”

Using YouTube

To remedy customer misdirection online, Mayer recommended that business owners determine what customers need to know and respond accordingly. If their business is selling something that could be helped by a demonstration, he said, a YouTube video could be the solution.

“If you have a complex (service or product) to explain every time someone calls you, it makes sense to have a video to explain it,” he said.

While videos or other easy to find purchasing aids like customer reviews are keys to successful online selling, Mayer said they can be hindered because many websites take too long to load. He said studies have shown that it takes the average website 19 seconds to load on a 3G network.

“Nineteen seconds is forever,” he said. “Amazon figures that for every millisecond they can speed up their website, they can make several more million dollars.”

Mayer recommended that people test the download speed of their websites by accessing the testmysite.thinkgoogle.com.

Analyzing customers

Another tool, “Google My Business” helps businesses see how customers searched their sites, where customers viewed their business information and learn what actions customers took with that information.

He also recommended that businesses include an online survey for customers so that they can learn ways to improve customer experience. He said another way to help online shoppers is to include a “frequently asked questions” or FAQ, on the site.

Mayer briefly discussed search engine optimization, or SEO, which uses a number of techniques to help a company or business remain near the top of someone’s search list, but cautioned people to use a reputable firm to assist them. He added that SEO is only one aspect of an overall strategy for improving an online business presence.

Above all, he said, businesses need to have an online strategy that anticipates and responds to customers’ needs.

“They want to know who, what, when, where and why they should choose you,” he said. “You need to think about what’s going to happen when people are accessing your website,” he added, noting that each business needs to establish a “call to action” to tell people what to do next when they arrive at the site.

The other side of the equation is to determine the customer base. “It’s important to know who’s visiting your website and what they’re doing while they’re there.”

To accomplish these goals, Mayer said, using Google Analytics can sort through the data gleaned from the website to help the business owner get the most from his or her website.

“Google has an aircraft carrier’s worth of tools” to use, he said, noting that most are free of charge.

Roy Crumrine of East Washington, who with his wife Sandy owns Signal Graphics in McMurray, said following Wednesday’s meeting that he has used the “Google My Business” application to obtain answers about his website, but added that he was unaware of many of the other tools that are available.

He said he uses his website to ask customers to review their experience with his business.

“If you ask for a review, nine times out of 10, they’ll give it to you,” Crumrine said.

The Observer Publishing Co.’s Reimagine Main Street was created to help businesses take advantage of the potential of online marketing. The agency helps businesses through a variety of online opportunities, handling the building of websites and search engine optimization to social media management, text and email marketing and targeted online advertising.

Arlea Hoffman, director of digital strategy for Reimagine Main Street, noted that employing the tools of Google, which is the largest search engine in the world, is one aspect of what her agency does to help businesses with their digital strategy.

“More and more people are searching for products and services online rather than walking in the door of their local provider,” Hoffman said. “You need to have the online presence to make sure, at a minimum, you are an option.”

She also offered these tips for building business through digital marketing:

• Online presence is everything. Today, a digital presence isn’t just an “extra,” it’s a vital component to your business’s continued success.
• Stay true to your roots. You could become a national sensation, but don’t forget where you came from. Choose a marketing agency that understands those roots and the local community. After all, what sells in Seattle might collect dust on the shelves in Pittsburgh.
• Don’t try everything at once. There are social media ads, search engine optimization, videos and other options, but they need to be prioritized.
• Don’t get roped into contracts. When seeking a marketing agency, don’t sign contracts that will rope you into a service or strategy that might not be best for your business.

She also offered these tips for building business through digital marketing:

• Online presence is everything. Today, a digital presence isn’t just an “extra,” it’s a vital component to your business’s continued success.
• Stay true to your roots. You could become a national sensation, but don’t forget where you came from. Choose a marketing agency that understands those roots and the local community. After all, what sells in Seattle might collect dust on the shelves in Pittsburgh.
• Don’t try everything at once. There are social media ads, search engine optimization, videos and other options, but  they need to be prioritized.
• Don’t get roped into contracts. When seeking a marketing agency, don’t sign contracts that will rope you into a service or strategy that might not be best for your business.