In today’s market, if you are not using technology to its full advantage you could be putting your business at a disadvantage. Technology can help you stay organized, reach a bigger market, and get feedback that will aid your business’s development. So read on to find out more about how you can utilize technology to make the best of your business.
Website
Having a website is probably the single most important thing that you can do for you business in term of technology at the moment. It’s cheap, easy to set up, and it provides a central, online location for all of your business traffic.
Why rely on just a bricks and mortar shop, when millions of potential customers can reach you at a touch of a button?
But that means your website has to be up to scratch, as non-user friendly site, or one that it’s outdated is not going to work in your favor at all. This is because, it’s far too easy for potential customers to get frustrated with their experience, and move on to another provider.
That is why it’s worth investing in the best site that you can at the time for your business. For example, it may be that when you are in the start-up stage, you go to a more basic site, perhaps even one that is ready built and you just customize the categories and the photos.
Then in the next stage of your development, you invest in a customized site, that it much more strictly tailored to your business needs.
SEO
Another way of using technology boost your business in the modern market in through Search Engine Optimization or SEO as it’s more widely known. This relates to your company’s ranking in the results of the search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.
Just consider for a second, when you are looking for a specific product or service, which links are you most likely to click? Well, it’s the first few at the top of page one, isn’t it? That is why there is always a fight to get your company into these rankings because it’s these spaces that are the most coveted.
SEO is a way of doing this, and it includes linking keywords such as your company’s name and products back to your website. The more natural links like these you have, the higher you company pushes up the rankings, giving you a much more marketable position.
Of course, you can always pay for this service as well. Service such as for as Google AdWords allow you to be at the top of the search results in a paid box when folks search for a key term related to your products.
Financial software
Something else technological that can be very useful for your business is finance software. This has particular application in small businesses or startups, where there is no specialist in a position to do the finances.
These programs take the pressure off of the individual and set out an easy way of tracking incomings and outgoings, as well as overall profits and losses, for tax purposes.
Apps
Another vital aspect of technology that you should consider for your businesses is a mobile app or application. These allow your current and potential customers, to interact with your business on the go. Which of course is essential. As over 2 billion folks have a smartphone which they use for accessing the internet.
Having an app makes your product more immediately available to your customers. Which has the knock-on effect of making sales deals easier to close because they are likely to be interacting with the app, at the maximum time of need for the product.
Convenience is an also a massive deal in today’s world, and apps give you an instant way of being available to your customers anyway and at any time.
Of course, apps can be expensive to develop, so it’s best to start off using a service like this app maker. Which allows you to customize a ready built app for your business needs.
Chats
In a similar vein to apps, another technology that is becoming very popular in the business world right now is a chat box. A chat box is an instant, live chat service that your company offers to answer questions about products, delivery, and pricing to your customers. Think of it as a store assistant but in the virtual world.
But why are these so important? Well, one reason is that you can easily lose sales because folks have a question that they can’t find an answer too.
They don’t want to waste their time and energy going through your site with a fine tooth comb for the answers. Instead, using a chat service gives them a quick and easy way of getting the answers that they need, which in turn helps you close the deal with minimum effort.
Also, a less talked about the reason that chat boxes are important for sales is a reassurance.
Not everyone using the internet today grew up with buying things online. For some folks, it can still be an intimidating experience especially if they are buying a high-value item.
In a bricks and mortar store, they have the sales assistant to talk to that can help allay their fears and encourage them to make the purchase. But that doesn’t happen when shopping online. But you can provide a similar service with a chat box.
Social media
Of course, another important aspect of using technology for a business advantage is social media. This is something that exists separate to your own company websites, but can still be used to boost hits to your site and overall sales.
In particular, having images of your products being using by social media influences can help. These are bloggers, Instagrammers and the like that have a wide following. Which should be matched to your target market for the best results.
You then ask them to post pictures, reviews, and videos of them using your products with links to your site. This then directs traffic to your sites and increase your sales.