This is official. I have recently become a very advanced IT user. I have been delaying it for a very long time, and it has now come to the point when my business was under a threat of not being noticed = losing money. Right now when my new mobile/tablet friendly website is under construction, I am loosing 46% of potential customers every day!
The world has changed a lot since Apple and Google created new markets for people shopping and using the internet on the go. The importance of google increased even more – it is a monster that can ruin your business but it is a magical thing that can make you a millionaire if you know how to do your home work. Believe it or not, at present my own life is all about how to please google.
So, what is it all about? I am in the beauty/medical industry. The industry has been very different since I started my clinic in 2010. It was more of a “word of mouth” and “location-location” approach. From approximately 2012 it has become 95% online approach. Even if you have a business (like mine) where customers physically have to come to your premises and get a service, you are not getting anywhere if you are poorly represented online.
I noticed lately that smart business start-ups often partner with someone who is good at IT and SEO. I think that it is the right way forward. Alternatively, you have to be or have to become an IT guru yourself to be able to do all these things independently: build a quality website (mobile friendly with quality content), do smart SEO (almost in a scientific way if I may say so!) to achieve the 1st page rankings and to maintain those rankings. Another big thing is Social Media.
I have recently purchased a very useful book called ‘What The Plus?’ by Guy Kawasaki. Since both my receptionists are also responsible for our Social Media campaigns, I made them read this book too. In addition, I have increased my personal presence on Linkedin from 300 people in my network to nearly 3500. Now when Body Silk posts something on its corporate Linkedin page, I share it on my personal page for my whole network to see. We make between 2-8 posts on our company page on Facebook and Google+ every day. We started using Instagram that also helped increase our Facebook and Twitter engagement. We have made a few short videos about our treatments, published them on YouTube and put the links to our website.The result? We now have between 2-8 new enquiries about our services every day. Not bad compared to 0-2 per week only eight months ago.
I personally believe that Facebook and Twitter will gradually become less popular for small businesses than Linkedin and Google+. The fact that Google is now investing a lot of resources into its G+ project suggests that my sentiment might be right…
The bottom line is that the approach to running a successful business is rapidly changing due to technology. It does not matter which industry you operate in, it is absolutely a MUST to have a smart online presence.
Daily Challenges Of A Business Owner 
Everything you stated in your blog is literally everything that recently, I have become fascinated with myself. First off, a big congratulations that you took the time to teach yourself the importance of understanding Google and SEO. Social media is SO important, especially for small business to take that extra step to making their audience a bigger marketplace. Definitely become close with an IT guru, because an professional will find IT to be their best friends. Those people are smart! It is also about adapting to social media and always being ahead of what is popular.