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Archives for November 2021

How Technology Is Transforming Retail

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Experts are predicting that retailers who boldly invest in cutting-edge technology are the ones who will lead in the future. The rise of web-connected devices has completely reconfigured the retail landscape, and those who do not react will be left behind. Because of this, more companies than ever before are reaching out to Unwired Web Solutions for eCommerce solutions and search engine optimization services.

The Rise of Technology 

Chances are, in the past 18 months, you’ve probably bought something online, paid for something with your smartphone, or used a retail app. Each of these examples is easy to see how crucial technology is becoming in the retail and consumer sector. It had previously been advised that consumer companies and retailers need to evolve into technology companies, but the COVID-19 pandemic brought technology front and center, faster than anyone could imagine. For retailers that have had no choice but to close their stores during the pandemic-related lockdowns, eCommerce and online customer service have been their lifelines.

To say that technology is changing the retail sector would be an understatement. It has completely revolutionized the way we shop, forcing the industry to rethink its business model. People have found an increased convenience, time saver, and equality experience through shopping online.

Two adults Online Shopping

M-Commerce

The rise of technology has seen a blurring of the boundaries between retail and supplier. Brands once relied on physical stores to get their products to consumers, but now many can sell effectively through their digital channels. Some of the most popular digital media that people use for online shopping are on their mobile devices. With the release of dedicated apps by retailers, consumers don’t even need to go to a website to order anymore. Now known as M-commerce, customers can use an app on their mobile device, find what they are looking for, and purchase.

Automation

Automation is another way technology is changing the retail sector. Automated assistance can create a customer experience that bridges the gap between customer service and customer questions. Many are simply pop-up chat boxes that appear to have a live person on the other end but in reality, only contain automated messages.

Omnichannel

Omnichannel retailers can offer a unified experience through their social media channels, their website, mobile apps, and physical stores. Each channel can present its own sales opportunities and options for customers to talk to real-life customer service representatives in various ways. By promoting their brand across various platforms in a unified way, consumers can easily recognize and purchase products. 

different marketing platforms

What Will the Future Look Like?

Whether retailers like it or not, digital transformation in the retail sector is happening. However, only the most forward-thinking ones will adapt successfully. There are many ways that retailers can change their marketing strategies to fit more into the technology their customers want. For example, mobile apps can help grow your brand and engage with your customers. Customer portal software is also a great way to enhance your relationship with your customers. By simply bringing the experience of a brick-and-mortar store into your website, social media outlets, or app, your customers can easily see your products, get information, and most importantly, place an order easily.

At Unwired Web Solutions, we have helped many businesses adapt to this rapidly changing technology. Contact our team of experts today to help transform your retail location with eCommerce solutions and search engine optimization services.

Google Business Profile Updates To Make For The Holidays

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The holidays are almost here, and as a businesses owner, we understand you want to do all you can to increase sales this season. By updating your Google Business Profile, your customers can easily find the information they may need. Unwired Web Solutions offers local SEO services that include making sure your company’s profile is up to date on Google. 

This holiday season, chances are your customers are using Google to find information about your business. They may be looking for your website, checking for extended holiday hours, or getting directions to your location. No matter the reason, your customer needs to find the information they are looking for; otherwise, they may go to your competitor. 

The peak holiday season is rapidly approaching, and for many businesses, it has already begun. ECommerce sales for November 2021 to January 2022 are forecasted to increase 11% – 15% this year over last year. With much of the world still locked down to some degree, many consumers are still opting to do their holiday shopping online. 

But it isn’t just online shops that need to worry about their online profile. With in-store shopping anticipated to rebound to a 33% share in 2021 from 28% in 2020, customers may be looking online before visiting a brick-and-mortar location. 

To keep up with sales this Christmas, businesses need to prepare their Google Business Profile (GBP), formerly Google Business Profile. By updating your information online, you can aid shoppers in their searches by presenting the most up-to-date, accurate, detailed information possible. 

Update Hours

If your business is extending hours over the holiday season, we recommend setting “Special Hours” in your Google Business Profile. Setting these special hours enables you to provide shoppers with the information they need to visit your shop. 

Use the “More Hours” section if your business plan to provide specific services at different times during the holiday season. For example, if you plan to be open an hour earlier for seniors this holiday season, you can set it in the “More Hours” rather than the “Special Hours.” 

It can be necessary for a business to close for a number of different reasons temporarily. Google recommends that if your company is closed for 7 or more days in a row or will be closed for an unknown period of time, you should mark your business as “Temporarily Closed.” 

Update Your Images

Businesses with more GBP photos have been shown to get more clicks, phone calls, and driving direction requests. For those with over 100 images, businesses were found to get 520% more calls compared to the average business. 

Providing many high-quality images will not only correlate to more conversions, but they can also provide the visual stimulation needed for a customer to consider your business. By acting as a digital representation of your brand, your images will be a digital storefront, accurately portraying the in-store shopping experience that your customers can expect this holiday season. 

Monitor Reviews

Often time, Google reviews can make or break a business. These reviews can also provide your customers with pertinent information about your business operations. 

Research shows that 50% of consumers feel more confident in a business when they see a brand actively responding to reviews. This gives the customer the feeling that the company cares about their wants and needs. 

This holiday season, have a team in place to respond to both positive and negative reviews to encourage customer loyalty. 

A Few Simple Steps

By taking these few simple steps this holiday season, you can help to ensure a profitable holiday season. Our team at Unwired Web Solutions offers many services to help your local business thrive all year long. From local SEO services to website design, and SEO analysis tools, we can help your business stand out online. Contact us today to learn more about our valuable services. 

The Future of Content Marketing

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The future of content marketing is already here, so it is vital to learn how it may impact your marketing strategy. Many businesses are still cranking out 500-word blog posts, but in many marketing circles for the past few years, the talk has been about how this will no longer be enough to get you on the first page of Google. It’s time for marketers and businesses to think about what the true state of optimized content marketing truly is.

This doesn’t mean content marketing is dead; it just means businesses need to start looking at the purpose of content marketing and understand how to use it beyond keywords and 500-word blog posts.

Build Trust

Content marketing has always been a great way to build trust with prospective customers and move them into sales funnels. While many people only think of blogs as content marketing, it was not invented solely for the Internet. It has existed for hundreds of years. Brands such as Betty Crocker had made fortunes using content marketing long before the first blog was ever invented. Content marketing can be direct mail, brochures, videos, and more. It is essentially a way of getting content out to consumers. 

Find More Creative Ways to Reach Consumers

Recently, many marketers have gotten complacent and act as if Google will always drive organic traffic to websites if a few simple practices are followed. However, those days are long gone, and marketers need to find more creative content marketing methods.

While blogs can still be a powerful way to build a business, it now takes much longer to see a return on investment than in previous years. Marketing experts agree that blog posts need to be more detailed and longer than previously required. Blog content should now be between 2000 to 10,000 words long. Although these are much more expensive to produce, they can provide a much higher return on investment than short blog posts if used wisely.

How Your Content Strategy Needs to Change

How Your Content Strategy Needs to Change

Chances are, whatever you are writing about, someone has already posted something about it. With so much information available on the Internet, your content can easily get lost amongst the crowds. In today’s fast-changing world, your content needs to be something original and unique to be recognized.

Sharing life experiences and tying those experiences into your content can help your site rank better. By ditching the generic posts and writing more about your own experiences, they will become unique and popular. Whether your content is based on a personal experience or is data that people haven’t seen before, posts that are unique and can only be written by you will perform the best.

In other words, being original will get you noticed not just by Google but by people. This fresh quality content for your website can be a considerable investment, but experts urge that it’s worth it. By providing an original perspective, you will create a niche that your potential customers will be more willing to share on social media, giving you more exposure.

Some Still Do Well

Some businesses may still do well with generic content. However, their content is usually older, so they were one of the first to cover the topic, or they have high authority. Companies with high authority simply rank because they have lots of brand queries, social shares, and backlinks. It is vital for small businesses that cannot rely on high authority to have an up-to-date optimized content marketing strategy.

Content marketing is designed to show your audience what you can do and provide an entrance into your sales funnel. If your content only generates views, likes, and shares, you may be doing it wrong. Effective content marketing should collect contact information from your customers and generate email list signups. For help with your content marketing strategies, contact Unwired Web Solutions today.

What Does a Digital Transformation Mean for Your Business

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“Digital transformation” has become a bit of a buzzword recently among the business community. It is the process of using digital technologies to improve or enhance your business. What this looks like can mean many different things depending on the industry. It can mean any sort of changes needed to meet market requirements, including customer experiences, website design, business processes, and more. 

A digital transformation doesn’t just mean traditional roles such as marketing, sales, and customer service. Instead, digital transformation is about how a company thinks about and engages with customers. As a company moves from paper to smartphone applications, they can change how customers are engaged with technology on their side. 

For small businesses just starting out, it is much easier to set up a business process that is future-proof. Thinking about building digitally can set them up to be flexible and ready to grow. 

From Analog to Digital

From Analog to Digital

It wasn’t long ago that businesses kept records on paper. But since computers have gone mainstream, most companies have started converting all of those ink paper records to digital computer files. This is called digitalization: the process of converting information from analog to digital. This process has helped to show that sharing information is much easier once it has been digitized.

In terms of customer service, digitalization has forever changed service by making customer records easily and quickly retrievable. This process just goes to show that with new technologies, new things and new ways of doing them are suddenly possible.

Creating a New Class of Business

Digital transformation is creating entirely new classes of business. Companies of all sorts are coming up with practical, clever, and new ways of leveraging technology. It all begins with understanding the potential of technology and how it can work to your favour in your business. The question is how you can adapt your business and process to make the most out of technology investments.

Technology in Customer Service

Digital transformations have reshaped how businesses approach customer service. The old models were to wait for customers to find you, but with the rise of social media advertising, marketing, sales and customer service have changed. Most companies now embrace social media and use it as a chance to extend their service or products by meeting customers on the platforms of their choice. As you can see, adapting your offerings on social media is another excellent example of digital transformation.

But don’t stop there. As mentioned earlier, digital transformation encourages companies to reconsider everything, and this can even mean knocking down walls between your internal departments. Your digital presence can encompass service and marketing, tied together with a digital platform that can capture customer information, send customer questions to your service agents, and create personalized journeys for your customers.

Does Your Business Need a Digital Transformation?

Signs may start appearing across different parts of your organization when your business is in need of a digital transformation. Signs to watch out for include not getting the referrals you used to, repeat business isn’t repeating as it did before, your promotions are no longer generating leads or a lack of collaboration and information sharing among your team members.

Companies should start with an internal assessment to identify any problems or gaps where they may be experiencing difficulties. This should help make the path to digital transformation clear while remembering that you’re building for the future. Depending on the business, that could mean more employees, more revenue, or both.

Working with experienced partners can help companies in situations where they need a digital transformation. At Unwired Web Solutions, our team can help with various services such as website design, content marketing, and more. By partnering with our experts, you can ensure that experience and industry expertise across many different fields will be provided along with best practices. Contact us to get started today!

Is A Progressive Web App Right For Your Business?

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Software development for apps may have just taken a surprise turn. With the majority of people using apps every day in some shape or form, they have proven to be extremely useful. No matter if you are checking your email, grabbing a ride to meet friends, or checking the weather, chances are, you are using an app. 

Our experts on mobile development in Kitchener are informing clients about a recent change in apps and how it may affect their business. Regular apps are the ones that most people are currently downloading and using, but many people don’t understand the way they work or how they can be improved upon.

Short for applications, “apps” refer to programs that are downloaded and installed onto your phone or other mobile devices. These apps rely on available storage space on your system to run successfully. 

Who Uses PWAs?

Progressive web apps (PWA) are the newest mobile development that many businesses are turning to, including Starbucks, Instagram, Uber, and Tinder. PWA’s are stored on a server and are always available as long as the server is up. This new type of app acts just like a mobile app, and users shouldn’t even be able to tell the difference. 

Exceptional User Experience

The goal of a PWA is to deliver the best possible user experience. This means that no matter if a customer views the app on the latest iPhone or a much older one, it will always work the same. Some of the features of a well built PWA include:

  • PWAs load instantly, meaning there is no downtime
  • They act just like the standard app, complete with the same functions
  • They can be installed on the user’s home screen without having to install through an app store
  • PWAs are quick to respond to a user’s input
  • They have smooth scrolling and animations
  • They can take advantage of web push animations. 

How a PWA Can Help Business

Perhaps one of the best things about PWAs is that they can help small businesses or those in a start-up phase tap into a much larger audience. By utilizing a PWA instead of a native app, users on multiple types of devices can be reached. These apps can allow businesses to showcase what they want to display using their preferred devices instead of a specific one. This means that the content can be accessed by people in a crowd, sitting at the office, or travelling on a plane. 

Users of PWAs don’t need to worry about extra storage as these apps are not downloaded. Research has shown that 25% of users delete apps to install new ones on their devices. If yours isn’t a PWA, you may run the chance of being deleted. 

Your customers will never miss out on the latest version since PWAs do not need to be updated by the user. Nobody likes having to update an app when opening it to use. But with PWAs, are like websites, so they always stay up to date. 

For smaller businesses and start-ups who don’t yet have a loyal customer base willing to download an app, a PWA means that customers just need to find the website and immediately interact with your business. 

The Right Digital Presence
To compete in your marketplace and gain your customers’ attention, you need the right mobile digital presence. For mobile development in Kitchener, the experts at Unwired Web Solutions can help make sure your business has the app best suited for your needs. Contact us today to learn more about our services and what we can offer.