Google urges small businesses to invest in online presence to help boost profit
GOOGLE, is encouraging businesses of all sizes across all industries to shift towards digital and create mobile-optimized websites in order to leverage and “reach an audience of billions worldwide.”
“Every business should be an online business. Every business needs to be online and digital,” Kevin O’Kane, managing director for Google Marketing Solutions of Google Asia Pacific (APAC) said during a press event in Google’s Singapore headquarters on April 12.
With 98% of businesses in the region considered small and medium businesses (SMBs) according to a 2014 data from the Asian Development Bank, Mr. O’Kane said that “to keep growing, SMBs need to meet consumers where they spend an increasing amount of their time, online.”
“Online, on mobile, your ‘ local’ market is as big as you want it to be. It’s as big as the number of people looking for you or the products and services you provide,” he added.
And mobile is driving this online trend with the Philippines having a projected 68% mobile phone penetration in 2018 according to statistics portal, statista.com while Indonesia saw a jump in percentage of people owning a smartphone from 14% in 2013 to 60% in 2017, according to Mr. O’Kane.
Conversely, he told the press during a discussion after the event that less than 5% of businesses in less developed countries are online.
The ubiquity of mobile phones then, he explained, makes it imperative for businesses to be online as the next generation will be “mobile-only Internet users” which will make the Web “become more local.”
“People are turning to their mobiles to find nearby solutions, benefitting millions of local businesses,” he said.
While going digital is the way to go, Mr. O’Kane acknowledged that the move does intimidate many small businesses — many of whom may be multi-generational and has existed for many years — as they think it might expensive to do so.
But Google, he said, provides a free and easy way to create an online presence via Google My Business a tool which puts businesses on Google Search and on Maps which they can then customize with text, photos and design themes.
Google also offers other free services including Market Finder and Google Trends which help SMBs gauge interest for their products; Google Analytics which helps businesses to understand how their site or app is performing and which activities contribute to sales or visits; YouTube, which can be used to find and engage new customers; and Test My Site which tests mobile website speed and help them improve their website performance.
“[ The aforementioned services] are free and is better for their customers and business... The Internet erases problems of geography and reach. It lowers costs,” said Mr. O’Kane. —