Summary

Google Garage primer on getting a business online.

Completed by Nick on June 11, 2021

Key Ideas

1. Setting Online Goals

2. Building an Online Presence

3. Marketing an Online Presence

   1. Main ways to use search engines

      1. SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

      2. SEM (Search Engine Marketing) - paying for ads in search results

   2. Display ads

   3. Social Media

   4. Email marketing

4. Analyse and Adapt

   1. Setting realistic expectations

   2. Tracking my results

      1. analytics

   3. Adapting to changing technology

      1. Write down the digital goals you believe you can accomplish within six months. Next to each goal, estimate the costs, time and resources you'll need to achieve them. Then, ask yourself: are you dependent on any one technology? That could be a sign that you could be more flexible.

Planning your Online Business Strategy

1. The benefits of an online strategy

   1. Defining business goals

   2. Knowing what your business stands for

   3. USP - Unique Selling Proposition

2. Taking a business online

   1. When taking a business online, understanding how customers browse on the web is an important factor in ensuring your online efforts are rewarded. In this lesson, we will explore:

      1. customer behaviours online, and how these overlap with offline behaviours

      2. the "See, Think, Do, Care" framework, and how to use this to help understand the online customer journey

      3. how to group your audiences using audience segmentation.

   2. Think about the last product that you bought online and then look back at the See, Think, Do, Care framework explored in this lesson. Map your journey through the touchpoints you encountered before making your purchase. Think about: 1. What initiated your interest in the product? (See) 2. How did you go about doing your research? (Think) 3. What finally made you hit that 'Buy Now' button? (Do) 4. Did you leave a review or post an image of your purchase online (Care) Now think back to your business scenario: what types of content could you use at each stage of the customer journey to encourage people to make a purchase?

3. Understanding customer behaviour

   1. Create the best possible online experience for customers by understanding how to make the most of the moments when they interact with a brand. In this lesson, we'll explore:

      1. what customer touchpoints are

      2. how to map common online customer journeys

      3. how to identify customer touchpoints that generate business goals.

   2. Think about the customer journey and how touchpoints affect it. Taking your business or a business of a well known brand as an example, put yourself in the customer's shoes and map out the customer journey from start to finish. At every touchpoint, make sure to answer the following questions:

      1. What value does this touchpoint provide you as a customer?

      2. Does this touchpoint match up to your expectations of the brand?

      3. How could this touchpoint be improved to provide the customers with a better experience?

4. How to stand out from the competition

   1. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

      Ask yourself:

      • what is it we’re good at? These are your strengths

      • what can we do better? These are your weaknesses

      • how can we grow, change and improve? These are your opportunities

      • what is happening or could happen, both internally and externally, that might affect us negatively? Those are the threats.

      While constructing your USP, it’s a good idea to check what the competition is up to. When starting a competitor analysis, make sure to utilise the free tools available online. Start with search engines, which can offer the most immediate answers.

      Simply search for your key terms and make note of:

      • who appears in the top results on search engines for your product or service

      • which keywords appear on their website, that is, what words are they using in the page titles on their website, and

      • what messaging they use on their social media.

      Another way to stay up to date with what competitors are doing is through signing up to alerts systems. Free tools like Google Alerts show you who is talking about certain topics online, so they help you keep your finger on the pulse. Try setting up alerts for key products or services, as well as your own business and competitor names. You’ll then receive notifications when the terms you enter are discussed online, and be able to see how your business or the business you work for compares.

5. Using goals to improve business performance

   1. When marketing your business online, it's important to use the data and metrics available to evaluate how your online activities are performing. In this lesson, we'll explore:

      • why setting goals and KPIs is so important to online businesses

      • how to construct a KPI using the SMART framework

      • how to analyse data gathered to help improve online marketing efforts.

Build your online shop

1. Using e-commerce to sell

2. Taking payments and managing orders

Sell more online

1. Creating a smooth e-commerce experience

2. Product promotion and merchandising

3. Retargeting for e-commerce

Build your web presence

1. Choosing your online presence

   1. There’s more than one place for people to find you online. In this lesson we’ll explore just how important being online is these days, as well as some common ways to do it, including:

      • websites

      • local business listings and review sites

      • social media

      • mobile apps.

   2. Write down all the places your business currently “lives” online, from listings, to social media sites, to your own website, if you have one. Now, write a wish list of options you’d like to include in the future. Next to each, jot down ideas about what you might include there, like content and functionality. How can you encourage customers to interact with you online?

2. How websites work

3. Key website ingredients

4. Websites and your business goals

   1. When creating your website, consider how to combine your business goals with what your visitors want. In this lesson, we'll talk about:

      • using your site to further your business goals

      • thinking like a customer

      • telling your story online.

5. Make your website easy to use

6. Website design do’s and don’ts

Get noticed locally

1. Marketing to the locals

   1. Google My Business

   2. Bing Local

   3. Yahoo! Local

2. The power of local directories