Google Small Business: June 2017

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Fast mobile sites get more customers. Let's help get yours up to speed.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

How long does it take for your mobile site to load? Five seconds? Ten seconds? These few seconds could be the difference between keeping visitors on your site or losing them – because people aren’t willing to wait. In fact, most sites lose half their visitors while loading.1 And 46% of people say that the most frustrating thing about browsing on their phone is waiting for slow pages to load.2
With a little help, we believe every business can have a fast mobile site. That’s why we’re launching a new set of features to test your site’s speed on Test My Site, which will show you:

Your site’s mobile speed: 50% of people expect a site to load in less than two seconds.3 Find out how fast your site loads.

The number of visitors you may be losing: When it comes to mobile speed, every second matters – for each additional second it takes a mobile page to load, conversions can drop by up to 20%.4 Learn how many people may be leaving your site during the time it takes to load.

How you compare to the competition: See how your business stacks up against others in your industry.

How to make your site faster: We’ll email you a personalized assessment with specific recommendations on how to speed up your site.

Taking a few steps to improve your site speed can make a big difference. Yard Dog Fence Company, a Nashville fencing company that specializes in pet-friendly and child-safe fences, took the recommendations from Test My Site to significantly improve their mobile speed. They reduced the file sizes of the images on their site and now their mobile site loads in 5 seconds compared to 26 seconds. For Michael Casper, the owner of Yard Dog, it’s made a real difference: “90% of our business comes from our mobile site. Since we improved our mobile speed, we doubled our sales.”

Making changes like these can help you see a real impact on your business, too – get started now with Test My Site.

Posted by Yong Su Kim, VP Americas, Google Marketing Solutions

1. Think with Google, Find Out How You Stack Up to New Industry Benchmarks for Mobile Page Speed, 2017.

2. Google Webmaster Central Blog, #MobileMadness: a campaign to help you go mobile-friendly, 2015.

3. DoubleClick by Google, The need for mobile speed, 2016.

4. Think with Google, 4 Things You Need to Know About the Future of Marketing, 2017.

Make your business stand out on Google with Posts

Thursday, June 22, 2017

With 82% of people turning to search engines to find local information,1 your Google listing is the ideal place to showcase what is unique about your business. Even when customers know exactly what they're looking for, they still want to get to know the business and see what it has to offer. That’s why Google My Business is bringing Posts to local businesses — an easy way to help attract new customers and build relationships with the customers you already have.


Posts appear on your Google business listing. Customers can tap to read the full post, and they can also share your post with their friends directly from Google.

Posting on Google gives you new ways to engage with your customers:

Share daily specials or current promotions that encourage new and existing customers to take advantage of your offers.

Promote events and tell customers about upcoming happenings at your location.

Showcase your top products and highlight new arrivals.

Choose one of the available options to connect with your customers directly from your Google listing: give them a one-click path to make a reservation, sign up for a newsletter, learn more about latest offers, or even buy a specific product from your website.

Seventy percent of people look at multiple businesses before making a final choice.2 With Posts, you can share timely, relevant updates right on Google Search and Maps to help your business stand out to potential customers. And by including custom calls-to-action directly on your business listing, you can choose how to connect with your customers.


“Posts definitely helped our business because a lot of people look us up through Google. When they do, they want to see the vibe of the place. Being able to post directly to Google allows them to see the reviews and get a feel for the shop all in one spot.” - Cut & Grind, London, UK	“As a small business, we don’t have a ton of resources. We post with the intention of engaging new and existing customers, informing them of new therapists and services we offer as we expand our business. The posts help us stand out in a unique way and allow us to differentiate ourselves from our competition.” - Just Mind, Austin, TX	“Posts are worth my time because with limited effort you can get something fresh that is reaching people's eyes. 1,100 people saw my last post. Getting information out to the customers is big for this kind of business, letting them know we have bikes or different sporting goods they may not be aware of.”- Play It Again Sports, Saint Paul, MN

If you’re a Google My Business user, you can start posting right now. Posts can be created on-the-go using the Google My Business Android and iOS apps or website.

If you’re not yet using Google My Business, sign up and get started today managing your business listing on Google. Once you’ve verified your business, you’ll be ready to start posting. To learn more, visit the Google My Business Help Center.

Posted by Rosa Wu, Product Manager, Google My Business

1 Google. Google Consumer Barometer. 2014/2015.

2 Google. Google Consumer Barometer. 2014/2015.

Small Business

Fast mobile sites get more customers. Let's help get yours up to speed.

Make your business stand out on Google with Posts

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