What Is Local Positioning 

The local positioning is to work the search engine optimization (also known as SEO) at a local level. In other words, it is about applying a series of actions so that users looking for businesses in the vicinity of a company find it among the first results in the list provided by the search engine. Thus, local positioning is essential for companies with a physical location or those who want to deliver their products or services only in a specific geographical area.

How To Get A Good Local Positioning 

Create Google My Business Account

The Google My Business tabs, adequately optimized, are an easy way to achieve visibility among the first Google results and appear in the searches of Google Maps users. In addition to creating this tab, it is necessary to optimize it to improve the positioning in Google My Business.

Get Positive Reviews In Directories

A good image in the review directories not only boosts potential customers’ confidence in a business but also provides quality links to a company’s website, enhancing its positioning. In this sense, it is also helpful to appear in online directories, such as Yellow Pages.

Optimize Your Website For Voice Searches

Everything indicates that voice searches are growing dramatically. Thus, the contents of your website and the keywords for which you optimize must take into account that users who do voice searches use different terms and expressions than those they would type with a keyboard. 

Generate Local Content 

Content linked to local events or news (for example, on the corporate blog) indicates to Google that your website and your business are connected to that specific geographic location. 

Optimize Your Website For Mobile Users

The shift from computers to mobile devices to perform searches and, in general, to carry out online activities is happening at an incredible speed. What’s more, Google estimates that people who have a bad experience on a website because it is not mobile-friendly are 60% less likely to buy from a business.

Ensure NAP Consistency

The NAP consistency is based on the name, address, and telephone company (NAP comes from ‘Name, Address, Phone’ ) are the same and are written in the same way in different parts of the digital environment. If search engines detect inconsistencies and errors in these three pieces of information, local positioning will suffer.

Advantages Of Local Positioning

• Improve online visibility: Being in the first position of Google means that a website receives ten times more visits compared to the website in the 10th position. In other words, to achieve visibility, it is essential to work on local positioning to try to reach the highest place in the list of results.
• Get more relevant traffic: Local positioning is also helpful to ensure that those who come to your website are users interested in your business. 
• Get the trust of users: Appearing among the first positions of Google is an easy way to achieve the trust of users who, at first glance, identify your company as a leader.

More sales: all the above advantages translate into an improvement in sales.

In any case, any local positioning strategy for SMEs will benefit from having experts in web positioning who can carry out an analysis of business needs and apply the appropriate actions to make your business stand out on the internet.  

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Why Is SEO Important For SMEs?

The main reason to bet on SEO for SMEs is that this strategy allows new clients to discover the business. In other words, it allows users who are looking for a certain type of business to find your company on Google before your competition. Most consumers use search engines like Google to discover businesses that meet their needs in the current context.

According to the SEO Tribunal, this is especially true for SMEs: 97% of users use the Internet to find out more about small and medium-sized companies. What’s more, in the case of local businesses, searches for nearby businesses have increased by 900%in the last two years, following figures published by Chat Meter.

Also Read: What is SEO?

SEO Tips For SMEs 

1. Build An Optimized Website

The main key to SEO for SMEs is getting Google to recognize your website as a relevant place for users to rise to the top positions. For this, the design of a website optimized for SEO must include an adequate content structure.

Thus, the search engine will “understand” what your website’s contents are and be able to show them to users. Among others, an adequate loading speed, a mobile-friendly website, and the absence of broken links or page errors are also requirements for SEO. 

2. Discover Keywords And Use Them 

The keywords or keywords are the terms people are using on Google to find businesses like yours (for example, “children ‘s clothing store”). SEO requires detecting what keywords users are using and then generating content on the website that contains those words. In addition to the website’s textual content, it is also important to use keywords in places such as titles, meta descriptions, and alt attributes in images. 

3. Generate Content

Creating content regularly through blog posts and other formats is essential. In this way, your website is considered by Google as relevant and up-to-date. In addition, the content published through social networks allows you to bring traffic to your website, thus reinforcing SEO. 

4. Create A Backlink Strategy

Backlinks are all the links to your website that appear on third-party pages. This is very relevant in SEO since Google understands that they provide authority to your website and improve your position. 

Also, the backlink is more valuable if it appears on a website with high traffic and good search engine rankings. For example, a local business can achieve a valuable backlink if it appears in the digital version of a local media or directory.

5. Use Google My Business

The Google My Business listings are a way to get to appear among the first results of Google. Optimize your listing with images, relevant content, and up-to-date information to take advantage of its potential.

Advantages Of Doing An SEO Strategy In An SME

• New customers who are looking for similar businesses discover your website, so you multiply your reach.
• You get more qualified traffic to your website. That is, it is visited by people who are potentially interested in your products or services since they are looking for them. Thus, you sell more.
• It is an economical digital marketing strategy compared to others that require greater direct investments. However, it requires a significant investment of time.
• Lasting results are achieved since if the SEO work is adequate and continued, the website can stay in the first position for a long time.

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The integration between ecommerce and ERP helps increase sales and reduce costs. “the interaction between ecommerce and ERP drives the reorganization of business processes, but requires that both solutions be designed to be able to do so.” 

In general terms, the integration of ERP software and e-commerce platforms improves accounting management, cash flow, and, of course, the entire business process – inventories, suppliers, sales, warehouse, etc. But, the key question that SMEs that operate in a digital commerce environment should be asked is the following: why does integrating both systems increase the efficiency of processes?

• Avoid the loss of information and the generation of silos. Automating functions in an integrated way minimizes duplication of tasks, reduces the margin of error, and shortens the time spent on studies of little value.
• Allow information to flow freely. For the virtual store to work well, the data must circulate bi-directionally between the ecommerce platform and the ERP.
• Facilitates order management in all its phases by synchronizing information and making the process faster and safer. All information on stocks and replenishment will be online and visible.
• Simplifies the monitoring and control of collections and payments. When placing an order on the ecommerce platform, the information on billing and collection is automatically passed to the ERP. There is no need to re-enter the data manually. Receipts and payments can be tracked and workflows set up, for example, to claim outstanding invoices.
• Optimizes stock management since the ERP updates the availability information in real-time after each order made in the online store. This eliminates the risk of not fulfilling orders due to lack of stock or substantially increasing costs due to accumulating too much inventory.
• Improves customer relationship management. In this sense, if the organization optimizes, supplier management can offer better prices, promotions, and delivery conditions. The relationship is direct: you can sell at higher discounts and broader margins if you control costs. But, the benefits for the customer are even more significant. With connected solutions, your information is always up-to-date and available by operating with a single centralized database. The contacts created in the e-commerce platform are added directly to the ERP customer base. Therefore, it is easy to modify or consult, for example, the purchase history. And, thus, offer a better service. In short, a better knowledge of the customer, better service, and a more detailed follow-up positively impact their shopping experience.
• Also Read: Digital Tools To Manage Your E-commerce

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But the digitization of SMEs is not without new challenges. As noted in the report ‘ The digital acceleration of business,’ prepared by the collaboration with Accenture, as small and medium-sized companies increase their investments in the digital field and prepare their staff, their operations and their models of business-facing transformation.

May also be more vulnerable to risks that you may not yet be aware of As a result of more than 1,350 interviews with executives of SMEs from 14 sectors in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, France, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States, the report describes four significant trends in the digital transformation process of small companies.

Mastering Digital Communications

As the study points out, digital customer experiences are essential for companies to remain competitive. In addition, customer expectations regarding products and services are constantly evolving and are heavily influenced by their interactions with brands. Amazon, Apple, Google or Alibaba, among others, are the benchmark for user experience and personalization.

In this sense, 45% of those surveyed indicate the delivery of products and services on demand as one of the two main business priorities. The other priority -46% – is the adaptation of products, services and communications for multiple generations. Despite the importance of personalized offers and demand, a quarter of the companies surveyed do not believe that the use of direct forms of communication with customers – such as social networks or real-time chats – will affect their results.

Harness The Power Of Data

As it becomes increasingly important to collect, analyze and use customer data to optimize sales, investments in data and technology become more essential to maintain growth plans and differentiate yourself from competitors. When it comes to harnessing the power of data, using the cloud is the top priority for businesses today. But looking ahead, the three-year priority for 75% of the SMEs surveyed is Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its implementation in company processes. However, only a fifth of companies claim to have sufficient internal capabilities to implement AI, which is the main technological challenge for SMEs.

Support Employees

The irruption of Covid-19 in our lives has caused that, overnight, companies have had to adapt to support a workforce remotely. In this area, 84% of SMEs surveyed by Chubb and Accenture say that their performance may be significantly affected by a need for staff with new skills and technological skills. If we add cloud and AI technologies, personalization, and new forms of customer communication to the increased volume of teleworking, the need for technologically trained staff will continue to grow. In such a competitive environment, hiring and retaining workers with the right skills can also become a challenge for SMEs.

Be A Leading Player In The Global Market

For many SMEs, continuing to grow means seeking larger markets, either expanding into new geographic areas or developing partnerships with the leading players in the digital market, such as marketplaces. In this area, the main priority for small and medium-sized companies is to create opportunities to collaborate with the significant players in the commercial and social platforms, both now and three years from now. Many companies consider virtual expansion through, for example, Google, Amazon or Alibaba – as the best opportunity to survive and grow.

But working with those platforms can create challenges like scale, distribution, and fierce competition when it comes to profit margins. In this sense, risks for third parties, such as those related to data, are the most significant challenges for approximately 40% of the SMEs surveyed. Although partnering with large platforms can facilitate access to other markets, only 41% of companies currently prioritize offering products or services in foreign markets.

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Cloud services have become one of the pillars of digital transformation, creating substantial business opportunities for providers, especially public cloud leaders. These companies are increasing their presence in new emerging markets where digitization is progressing rapidly, for which they will invest in equipment for new data centers. Last year, economic difficulties limited the sector’s possibilities for growth, but as business activity recovers, the demand for servers will accelerate.

According to experts, the demand will be driven mainly by cloud providers, especially AWS, Google Cloud Platform, which will increase their purchases between 25% and 30% compared to last year, up to more than 50% of the entire market. And they will be closely followed by Microsoft Azure, which plans to increase its IT footprint in different markets to meet growing demand from its enterprise customers. This will benefit ODM vendors, who manufacture directly for hyperscale operators’ data centers. But the business revival will also pay off in the OEM server market.

In any case, TrendForce analysts say that the cloud market will continue to grow unstoppably this year and to expand into large markets such as Europe, the top three CSPs have started collaborating with their local counterparts and telecom operators from several countries to comply with current regulations on data protection and sovereignty.

This will significantly affect the server supply chain, where manufacturers are facing a growing shortage of semiconductors such as processors, memory, and solid-state storage, among other components. Companies like Google and AWS are adopting more aggressive purchasing strategies. Simultaneously, Microsoft is more cautious when it comes to purchasing servers because they are awaiting the massive arrival of Intel’s Ice Lake server platform, which will be produced in the dough will still lag a bit.

A separate case is the China market, where major cloud providers will follow a more restrained pace in acquiring servers, and Trend force experts expect demand to increase 10% over last year. This is the path that the leading operators such as Baidu or Tencent will follow, which will show similar growth.

Simultaneously, Alicloud will maintain the pace of acquisitions of last year, and other firms such as Bytedance could reduce purchases by up to 15%. Finally, experts believe that as business customers become more familiar with cloud services and related technologies, new opportunities will emerge for CSPs. These will go beyond the traditional IT infrastructure fields such as computing, networking, and storage.

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What Is The Cloud?

Cloud storage is a technology that allows access to software, storage, and data processing thanks to the internet remotely. Information and programs are stored and run on an external server. In other words, the cloud allows a company to use programs directly from the browser without installing them on their computer and working with their files from any device.

There are many programs and applications that we use every day that work thanks to the cloud. The simplest example is email, although many other platforms use this system and allow you to work from any device in real-time:

• Google Drive (spreadsheets and word processors)
• Dropbox
• OneDrive (file or photo storage)

Why Is It Helpful To Use The Cloud In An SME, And How Can It Help Digitization?

Hiring cloud services for companies allows access to handy tools to work from any device and place: ERP and CRM in the cloud, document management software, programs to manage social networks, or billing. Also, having cloud storage allows you to save a considerable amount of data safely.

1. Substitute An Initial Investment For A Periodic Payment

The cloud is contracted with an external provider, who is in charge of investing in powerful servers to process its data. Since it is a rental, SMEs do not have to spend large amounts of money to get this technology but instead make a periodic payment to use it for as long as they want.

2. Remote Access To Information

It is one of the significant advantages of the cloud. Since the information is stored on an external server, it is unnecessary to use the same device to access it. If you work with tools in the cloud, you can modify the data anywhere and on any device (computer, mobile, tablet.). 

All changes are updated automatically. For these reasons, it does not matter if the computer breaks or the mobile is lost: the information is safe on external servers. Access to these servers is done through an encrypted and secure connection. The client has a username and password to enter the service. From there, you can work and save information just like a regular computer hard drive.

3. Facilitates Collaborative Work And telework

Working directly in the cloud allows access to company data and programs anywhere. That makes teleworking possible since you don’t have to be in the office. Working in the cloud means that several people can have access to the same document or application. These are updated automatically, and all users can see the changes that others have made.

4. Backups

Any business works with a large amount of data throughout the day: inventory, invoices, customer lists. All that information must be well protected and up-to-date, and cloud providers take care of it. The company can choose how and when to make its backup copies, and the provider is responsible for storing everything on servers more secure than a private computer.

5. Avoid Assuming The Cost Of Storage Management And Security

The cloud service provider is responsible for protecting information and complying with all legal requirements regarding data protection.

6. Scalability

Every company pays for the resources it needs. If necessary, you can expand the storage space, hire more processing capacity, or increase the number of backups.

7. It Allows To Have Cutting-Edge Technology At An Affordable Cost

Access to the cloud does not require compelling computers, so it is possible to work with high-tech tools without investing in costly equipment. The processing power needed to run complex programs or tools is provided by the cloud, not by the device you are working with.

8. Automatic Software Update 

All platforms and tools that are used from the cloud are automatically updated. Cloud service providers are responsible for keeping their technology constantly updated, so SMEs will always work with the most advanced programs without buying each new version.

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However, expanding your SMEs can be a bit complicated since there are import and export companies that already operate internationally. For that reason, taking the first step correctly will be decisive to succeed in your new expansion project.

Why Export In SMEs Is Big deal

In addition to the reasons already known, these are some of the reasons why you should start exporting your company’s goods and services.

Take Advantage Of Other Seasons

In addition to international parties where you can get good results in any market, there are other times of the year that can be very useful.

For example, summer arrives in July and August in most of the Northern Hemisphere, but it is always hot in the subtropics. So, if you have a product or service that is marketed during the summer, markets close to the equator will be productive for your business throughout the year.

Maximize Your Production Potential

If you are manufacturing products, you already know that online production is the best way to save on raw materials and lower factory costs.

However, you can only store a number of products at a time. Unless you have a percentage destined for export.

Increase the Value Of Intellectual Property

As you license your intellectual property in several countries, its value increases. If you ever decide to sell your business, this will help you get a significantly higher selling price.

Also Read : Speed Will Be The Key Factor For The Success Of Your Website In 2020

How To Start Exporting

Now, let’s look at the steps you must follow to start exporting your goods or services to any part of the world.

Step 1: Market Research
This is the most important step, and omitting it could mean a disaster later. You should know which markets will be more receptive to your products and how to target those markets.

If your products or services are not going to be culturally acceptable in a given region, you will save a lot of time and money by avoiding them altogether.

Another thing to keep in mind when doing market research is the way you will communicate. For example, most successful entrepreneurs in Japan are older.

In Japan, titles are extremely important and are used differently according to the age and social position of the person with whom you are speaking. If you use the wrong title, it is considered rude and you will probably lose respect and business.

Step 2: Product license
Once you have identified your target, you can decide which countries you want to start with. From there, you will have to license your products for those countries.

Always work with a legal team to make sure you are doing things the right way. Omitting something could cause some problems, so make sure your products and company name are protected.

Step 3: Prepare Your Website
Your website is a very important part of your business. It is the means by which other companies find it and determine if they want to buy your product or service. To reach an international market, you need to improve your web presence worldwide.

If your website already occupies a prominent place in English search engines, that is excellent, but not particularly useful in a foreign market. For that reason, you must fully translate your website to target new keywords.

Before hiring a translation service, make sure your website is completely ready to be translated. Errors in the format or broken links will be seen on your translated pages.

Step 4: Translate Your Website
Something important that you should keep in mind when translating your website is that your goal is not to find the cheapest service but the best quality one. Many of the low-cost translation services use computer-generated text.

The reasons for hiring human personnel for translation are so many that it is difficult to list them all. However, the most important reason is that you are guaranteed a precise translation of the concepts instead of words.

Idioms and other expressions that make perfect sense in English do not always translate well into another language. A language expert will understand the meaning behind his words and translate it according to his intention.

You may also want to work with a company or person that deals specifically with companies and understands SEO. This will allow you to have your website ready to start being found in new languages.

Step 5: Start Marketing
Using your market research as a guide, start marketing your products or services to your new potential customers. The exact way you do it will vary greatly depending on your type of business.

Producers may need to go directly to existing stores or through distribution centers so that their physical products are at the hands of their customers. On the other hand, if you have digital goods or services, you are likely to continue marketing directly to other business owners.

Don’t forget, while carrying out your marketing strategy, check your data frequently to see what works and what doesn’t. The sooner you identify problems with campaigns, the sooner you can solve them.

Prepare To Take Your Company To New Markets

Now you know how to start exporting your goods or services. As you can see, it takes a lot of work to take your company to the next level. But is it worth it?

Thanks to our B2B database enriched with more than 43 million companies, our solutions, services, and network of experts, you can generate new international relationships, identify your new potential customers and contact the decision-makers.

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