The Power of Influencer Marketing in Ecommerce

If you have an ecommerce business, you might want to consider utilizing influencer marketing to increase brand awareness and advocacy. In fact, experts believe that influencer marketing is the next big trend within the ecommerce marketing space.

Small Business Trends recently caught up with Katie Manley, Rhiona Sullivan and Courtney Sneed of Pepperjam at Influencer Marketing Days in New York City’s Times Square. Pepperjam is a performance marketing agency that provides resources and services for influencers and affiliates and the brands that work with them.

During the conversation, the team shared some thoughts on influencer marketing and how it specifically relates to ecommerce businesses.

The Importance of Influencer Marketing in Ecommerce

Currently, influencers mainly impact the buying process early on, usually during the discovery or brand awareness part of the sales cycle. But even though influencers might not be actually closing tons of sales, creating that awareness and building brand advocates can be a huge part of the marketing process for ecommerce businesses.

Manley said of influencer marketing, “It’s important because it is a huge piece of your ecommerce. It’s a really great way to build brand equity and brand advocacy.”

Since that’s all part of the beginning of the buying cycle, measuring results of influencer campaigns for ecommerce has been more difficult than other strategies like affiliate marketing.

But that all could soon change. The team at Pepperjam is working on a new tech offering that could make it easier for influencers and brands to measure results even when working with influencers that have more of an impact early in the buying process. Even though measuring the impact of affiliates has traditionally been a lot easier, Pepperjam believes that the newer concept of influencer marketing is poised to have a major impact on ecommerce businesses going forward.

Manley said, “That is going to be the sweet spot moving forward for ecommerce.”

This article, "The Power of Influencer Marketing in Ecommerce" was first published on Small Business Trends

Stripe Atlas adds a tool to set up stock issues for founding teams as it builds its business services

 Stripe Atlas was launched by payments company Stripe last year to help small businesses set themselves up as a legal, incorporated business entity in the U.S. Now with “thousands” of entrepreneurs from 125+ countries using Atlas, Stripe is expanding it with a new feature as it hones its focus on being a platform for startup services. Companies that are signed up to Atlas (which… Read More

Amazon Prime Video launches globally on Xbox consoles

 Today, Amazon Prime Video is launching globally for Xbox One, and will also be available on the new Xbox One X when it lands in stores on November 7. The streaming app, which is the only place to watch Amazon Originals like Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle, is going live in Canada, Mexico, France, Italy, Spain and India. In January of 2016, Netflix globally expanded its service to cover… Read More

19 Mistakes to Avoid on Your Ecommerce Site Before It Goes Live (INFOGRAPHIC)

So you built an ecommerce site and think it’s now ready. But is it really good to go live?

Several businesses have ecommerce websites these days, but not all succeed in increasing their page views and maximizing conversions. To launch a successful ecommerce site, you must know which mistakes you should avoid.

Discount coupon company Bluehost Coupon Codes has created a checklist of common mistakes businesses make when they launch their ecommerce sites.

Ecommerce Website Mistakes to Avoid Before Going Live

Let’s take a look at a few glaring mistakes you must avoid.

No Proper About Us Page

Potential customers want to know who you are before they start doing business with you. That’s why, most of them will check your About Us page for information. The absence of a good About Us page can affect website traffic and impact your sales.

Not Focusing on the SEO Strategy

You may invest a fortune on creating a sleek ecommerce website, but you won’t be able to reap the results unless you have a solid SEO strategy.

In today’s increasingly competitive marketplace, SEO is crucial to ensure you rank on the top pages of the search engines. A top ranking will get you more traffic and translate it into sales.

Not Taking Content Marketing Seriously

Good content is the reason why customers keep coming back to a site. For an ecommerce site, relevant and updated content is essential to keep customers interested. Remember, the information should provide real value to your target audience.

Not Making Your Website Responsive in Design

The number of mobile users is growing at a steady pace. And for ecommerce site owners, majority of traffic comes from mobile devices. A responsive web design ensures users get the same great experience when they are browsing your site on their mobile phones.

Loading Speed

Slow sites lose customers who tend to never come back again. Fast loading speed, on the other hand, can improve user experience and help you boost traffic.

To see all 19 mistakes you’ll want to avoid before launching your company’s ecommerce website, check out the infographic below:

Image: Bluehost Coupon Codes

This article, "19 Mistakes to Avoid on Your Ecommerce Site Before It Goes Live (INFOGRAPHIC)" was first published on Small Business Trends

Amazon Wants You To Allow Strangers Into Your Home…And Other Small Business Tech News This Week

(This post originally appeared on Forbes)

Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?

1 — Amazon will sell smart locks so it can slip packages into your home.

This week, Amazon rolled out Amazon Key, a lock-and-camera system that customers control remotely to let delivery people slip goods into their houses. They can create temporary passcodes for friends and other services professionals to enter too. In development for more than a year, Amazon Key may help the company capture sales from shoppers who could not be home to receive an order in person and didn’t want to risk having it stolen from their doorstep. (Source: Fox Business)

Why this is important for your business:

A big business hurdle for Amazon merchants is getting deliveries to customers when they’re not at home home.  If this program is a success, then the small merchants who sell on Amazon will have more an opportunity to overcome this challenge – and increase their sales.  Oh, and if you compete against Amazon…what will your response be?

 2 — LinkedIn wants to make your business chats snappier.

Hoping to boost engagement among its 500 million users, LinkedIn now offers enhanced messaging with a new automated smart replies feature for LinkedIn Messaging. It relies on machine learning to offer quick replies that are relevant to the context of a conversation, such as “Yes I am,” “Sure,” and “What time?” According to LinkedIn, users will see up to three responses based on the message they’ve received from a contact. (Source: ZDNet)

Why this is important for your business:

 Bot technology like this will help business professionals on LinkedIn be more productive and increase their response time to people that reach out to them. This could turn into more leads and opportunities.

3 — “Pay with Google” arrives to speed up checkout.

This week, Google launched “Pay with Google” to make it easier to purchase things on Android devices. At launch, Pay with Google can be used in the Android app or Chrome browser at 15 places, including Doordash, Yelp EAT24, and Gametime—with about 12 more coming soon. (Source: The Verge)

Why this is important for your business:

Using this tool, your customers can choose the preferred credit or debit card they gave Google when setting up products like Google Play, YouTube, Chrome, or Android Pay.  They can then authenticate the purchase with a security code or their Android device and then check out. There’s no need to enter multiple lines of payment details in online forms.

4 — Saudi Arabia plans to build futuristic city for innovators.

This week, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia announced a $500-billion plan to build a futuristic city run entirely on alternative sources of energy. Called the “Neom” project, the prince envisions a hub for technological innovation, funded by his kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund as well as the Saudi government and a range of private and international investors. (Source: The Daily Progress)

Why this is important for your business:

In the alternative business? How intrepid are you?  Intrepid enough to move your company to Saudi Arabia? The kingdom’s business-friendly mission is to build the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund to invest in projects like Neom in order to diversify revenue away from oil exports and create more jobs.

5 — Why businesses are saving the humble text message.

A small company in England is at the forefront of this business text messaging. With just 200 employees, Esendex now sends out two billion text messages per year, on behalf of 30,000 businesses and other organizations, up from 100 million texts in 2010. (Source: BBC)

Why this is important for your business:

Even though the number of text messages being sent by people in the developed world has fallen since 2011, there continues to be one big growth area: notification SMS messages sent from businesses to customers. Most of us are now increasingly receiving such text messages on a regular basis, especially for reminders about appointments, maintenance, and deliveries.

Small Business Job and Wage Growth Slow, Says Employment Watch Report

The Paychex | IHS Markit Small Business Employment Watch reported a slowdown with a job growth index of 99.89 for October. Wage growth has also slowed down slightly with national hourly earnings at $26.07.  Still, the last three months have been the most stable in the Small Business Jobs Index’s history.

October 2017 Small Business Employment Statistics

Although monthly hourly earnings have slowed nationally in recent months, the bigger picture is still good with a year over year gain of 2.91 percent or 74 cents. The South still leads small business job creation with an index of 100.58 for the eighteenth month in a row.

Paychex uses payroll information in the report. The Index establishes a baseline index of 100 to monitor small business health. It’s the break even point that indicates moderate wage and/or job gains. The data is gathered from small businesses with under 50 employees.

At least some of the dropping numbers (99.89 for small business job growth nationally) were partially attributed to impact of two major hurricanes.

“While generally stable, the national jobs index dropped slightly in October, undoubtedly impacted to some degree by those communities recently disrupted by natural disasters,” said Martin Mucci, Paychex president and CEO in a company release.

Tampa, Miami and Houston are still dealing with disrupted hours worked due to Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.

The West had the fastest weekly earnings growth while the Midwest has experienced declines since February. On the job growth front, Georgia had the best one month growth rate in October. Hourly earnings in California jumped while weekly earnings in Florida took a tumble.

Job Listing Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "Small Business Job and Wage Growth Slow, Says Employment Watch Report" was first published on Small Business Trends

Roman is a cloud pharmacy for erectile dysfunction

“When I was 17, I experienced erectile dysfunction.” My interviews with startup founders rarely start so candid. But to destigmatize the business of his new company Roman and empathize with customers, Zachariah Reitano is getting vulnerable. “I think in a good way I’ve become numb to the embarrassment” says 26-year-old Reitano. “I remember the embarrassment… Read More

The ONE Big Secret of Local Marketing

Sponsored Post

Did you know online listings, digital knowledge management and reviews can be the most important local marketing your business can have? Certainly social media marketing is important as is the quality of your website and other aspects of your business’s web presence. But tending your online listings and reviews should be your business’s first priority. Want to know why? Keep reading.

Here are 10 key points to remember when marketing your business online:

• Living online is no longer enough.  Websites are important for promoting your business, but being active online and understanding the paths to purchase — how customers find your local business online — are what really count.
• Most potential customers will never see your website.  In fact, on average people are three times more likely to see your business on Yelp, Facebook, Google My Business, Bing, Yahoo, FourSquare or similar sites. And they’ll often make their decision whether to patronize your business based on what they find there.
• That’s even more true if you run a local restaurant. It turns out people looking for a local place to eat are on average 10 times more likely to find your eatery on a third party site. And they’ll decide right then and there whether to give your menu a chance without ever visiting your finely crafted home page.
• The “path to purchase” is through third party sites.  This means the majority of your potential customers are making decisions whether or not to visit your business based on these review or listing sites. And while you may be managing one or two pages for your business on the most important of these — say Google My Business or Yelp — there are literally hundreds out there.
• Services like Yext make managing these sites easier. By using Yext or other similar services, you enter phone, address, times of operation, products or services,  wheelchair options, gluten free food selections and other deep knowledge about your business, all in one place. Then press a button and the information is published to an estimated 80+ listing and review sites — all at once!
• Your website IS still important. So don’t assume from all this it’s not. A visitor who finds you through a review or listing site may still want to learn more. There may be “deeper facts” about your offerings or a better idea of the overall experience you provide. Still, while a website can take weeks, months or longer to get up and running the way you want it, your listings can be managed and bringing in business within 72 hours.
• Social media is important as well — to a point. You’re probably aware of all the social media platforms out there at your disposal. Those sites include Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and the list goes on. But here’s something you may not know.
• The half-life of a Tweet can be as little as seven minutes.  After that, most people forget it. A Facebook post lasts a little longer — about five hours. But listings for your business live forever on the web. Focus your efforts there.
• Reviews are also gamechangers. In fact, reviews may make all the difference between bringing in that new customer or losing him or her to a competitor. For example, if a customer searches Google for something like “best pizza shop near me” the restaurant with the most recent positive review will likely come out on top.
• But the one BIG secret of local marketing is this. When it comes to online marketing, worry about managing listings and customer reviews first and social media last — and you’ll always be found in local search

For more on how to improve your local online marketing and put your local business on the map, visit Yext.com.

These tips and many more were presented during a live video event held October 18, 2017 with Rev Ciancio of Yext, host of The Hot Seat Ramon Ray, and Small Business Trends CEO Anita Campbell. You can watch the full session here:

This article, "The ONE Big Secret of Local Marketing" was first published on Small Business Trends

Zapier makes it easier for teams to collaborate on their app workflows

 Earlier this year, Zapier launched a $250/month teams plan for its workflow automation service. Today, it’s adding some long-requested functionality to this that will make it easier for teams to collaborate. This comes in the form of shared folders, which doesn’t seem like it would be such a big deal, but this now makes it far easier for teams to collaborate on workflows. Until… Read More

Rylo creates shake-free standard video from 360-degree shots

 I wasn’t particularly excited to take a meeting with another 360-degree camera company when I sat down with Rylo last week. It’s not that the tech isn’t interesting, or that there isn’t a future in it. For a majority of us, 360 video is, at best, an occasional novelty. But this Bay Area startup has the makings of something different. Read More

10 Tips to Prevent Burglaries at Your Small Business

There were 1.7 million U.S. burglaries in 2014 alone, says Streamline Telecom Inc. And small businesses are four times more likely to be victimized than homes. Here are 10 tips to prevent burglaries at your small business.

Ways to Prevent Burglaries at Your Small Business

Place Inventory Strategically

Items that might be tempting to burglars should be placed out of harm’s way. For example, taking sunglasses out of the window at the front of a retail store works.  A display placed on the front counter checkout is a much better idea.

Sean Nolan is the founder and operations director at Streamline Telecom Inc. He says some planning goes a long way to preventing burglaries.

“An organized store helps to deter this kind of theft,” he says.

At least taking any high risk items out of window displays at night lowers the risk.

Evaluate Your Storefront

Nolan stresses this is one of your small businesses’ most vulnerable access points. You should you have an effective alarm system for starters. Security cameras covering multiple angles is also necessary.

“You may also consider posting the Operation Identification sticker on your storefront, so thieves will know that you have a security system in place,” he says.

Beef Up Your Glass

A determined burglar can usually find their way into your store. However that doesn’t mean you can’t do things to slow them down. Replacing traditional glass with a tempered variety makes a smash and grab much more difficult. Laminated glass is an excellent choice too.

Any kind of reinforced glass only breaks after several strikes which causes a lot of noise and draws attention.

Use Bars and Locks

It’s not always necessary to go high-tech. Putting bars on the windows at the back of your storefront discourages burglars. Having double cylinder deadbolts that need keys on either side discourages any potential criminals from hiding inside and waiting for your store to close.

Position Safes Near The Front

Small business owners might think it’s best to put the safe in a back room out of sight. Actually, it’s better to move them to the front where any kind of suspicious after-hours activity can be seen from the street.

Bolting them to the floor helps discourage any burglars who might be casing your store.  Leave as little cash as possible inside after you’ve closed up for the night.

Light the Outside Up

Many small business owners keep the inside of their stores well lit to prevent burglaries at night. However, there’s another angle to preventing crime.

“By keeping the parking lot and exterior well lit, your cameras will be able to capture the thieves and their license plate numbers,” Nolan says.

Keep the Outside Manicured

If you keep the lawns and walkways around your business manicured and clean, you’ll discourage criminals who are casing the area. Well looked after properties tell them someone is always around.

Cutting back hedges and trees that obscure windows is another good idea so there’s no where for a potential thief to hide.

Establish Good Sight Lines

Although it might seem counter intuitive, leaving cash registers and computers in plain sight allows police to keep an eye on them when they patrol at night. Leaving cash register drawers open after you’ve closed up for the night deters burglars.

Get Security Cameras

Security experts will tell you getting cameras for your property serves a twofold purpose. Not only do they act as a deterrent, but they also provide a record if your place gets burglarized.

Nolan says they aren’t just useful as after hours tools.

“These cameras are also active during hours of operation, so you have a record of all employee and customer activities.”

Get Expert Help

There’s a lot to think about when you’re trying to prevent burglaries at your small business. Getting some expert advice can help you find the right combinations. 

For example, getting the right combination of alarms and cameras can be tricky without some professional advice.  The Electronic Security Association can point you to a chapter near your small business.

House Break-In Photo via Shutterstock

This article, "10 Tips to Prevent Burglaries at Your Small Business" was first published on Small Business Trends

The ZTE Axon M Gives Small Business Owners a Mobile Option — with Dual Screens

For small businesses looking to get more done outside of the office, the new ZTE Axon M could be a critical innovation. It comes with two 5.2 inch displays. When fully open, the device actually turns into a small tablet. This phone can remove the strain of working on a small screen by taking advantage of both displays.

When it is folded, the Axon M looks like a standard smartphone and it pretty much has the same features. The transformation takes place when you unfold the back and it lights up to reveal a second screen of the same size.

With more people using their smartphone as their primary computing device, providing more screen real estate means being able to do more. And Axon M has many Android/Google driven apps that take advantage of both screens to run multiple apps separately on each screen or a single app on both.

Smartphones have personal and business use and they have to evolve to keep up with how the technology is being used. Lixin Cheng, CEO of ZTE Mobile Devices (SHE:000063), touched on this point in a press release announcing the new device. He said, “The mobile technology ecosystem and consumer habits have evolved over the past several years, but the smartphone experience has only slightly varied throughout that time until today, with the introduction of the Axon M,” Cheng said. 

Dan Seiffert of the Verge gives a first look in this video.

ZTE Axon M Dual Screen Smartphone Specs

The Axon M comes with two 5.2-inch screens at 1,920×1,080 pixels each and a 2.15 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor. You get 64GB of storage expandable to 256GB, and 4GB of RAM powered by a 3,180mAh battery.

A single 20M camera is used to capture selfies, regular photographs and 4K video.

Optimized Apps by ZTE

Besides the obvious entertainment value of the Axon M, ZTE wants the phone to improve productivity apps. The company has optimized Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Photos, Chrome, Maps, Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Firefox and others along with a total of 80 of the 100 most commonly used apps.

These optimized apps work seamlessly to display the content by taking into account the gap that exists between the screens. So when you are running a spreadsheet or presentation, you won’t lose any of the data.

The company has created Dual, Extended, Mirror and Traditional modes to make use of both displays so they can work in tandem or individually.

Pricing and Availability

According to ZTE, the Axon M is going to be available in the US exclusively through AT&T in the next month. Although the price hasn’t been announced, the press release says you can get one for $24.17 per month for 30 months, which comes out to $725.

The Axon M has great potential, and for small businesses that spend most of their time outside of the office, the secondary screen and the functionality it provides could be the deciding factor to making the purchase.

Images: ZTE

This article, "The ZTE Axon M Gives Small Business Owners a Mobile Option — with Dual Screens" was first published on Small Business Trends