Why Are Small Businesses Counting on You

Its National Small Business week and today we want to celebrate small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and you. Why you? What you do each day helps these SMBs succeed. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, there are 30.2 million small businesses in the U.S. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20 percent of small businesses fail within their first year, and by the end of their fifth year, roughly 50 percent of small businesses fail. After 10 years, the survival rate drops to approximately 35 percent. As you know, helping SMBs succeed is quite important to us. We believe it starts with getting found online. If you are not sure how we do that, request a demo today. Were dedicating this week to strategies that help SMBs succeed. Keep scrolling to join us. QUESTION OF THE WEEK Last week, we asked Advice Local readers how they currently use voice search. The results were interesting, to say the least. Lets take a look now. 35.7 percent said to get the answer to how-to type questions 0 percent said to get a meaning, definition or usage of a word 21.4 percent said to find a local business near them 0 percent said to search for a specific product 35.7 percent said they dont use voice search ever 7.1 percent said all of the above When you look back at these results, there are a few things that are very clear. Right now, more than half of you are using voice search in some way. A small percentage of you use it to access many different types of information. The surprising fact is that there are still quite a few people who are not using it at all. Voice search is a powerful time saver. It will be interesting to repeat this survey in six months to see if those non-users convert after discovering voice searchs ease of use. For this weeks question, we would like to learn about your local marketing strategies that help service area businesses specifically. Which methods are you currently using to help service-based businesses improve their visibility? Sponsoring/partnering with local nonprofits (i.e. sport teams, causes, etc.) Leveraging business listings on local, niche and geo-specific sites Publishing local-focused blog content Advertising on Google and Facebook Review and referral-focused strategy (tools like Grade.us and refer-a-friend offers) All of the above Answering is easy simply click the option that most resembles your actions. IN ADVICE NEWS The Guide to Getting Found for Service Area Businesses Whether a business is online only or serves a specific geographic area, it still needs to draw in customers just like a business with a storefront does!