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Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?
1 – Google says that the secret of SEO success is that your most important page is not terrible.
According to Google, if the most important page on your website is not top-notch quality, then the site as a whole is unlikely to rank well. Pages with low-quality content can drag down the performance of the entire domain, although experts at Google do not specify an exact percentage or figure. (Source: Digital Information World)
Why this is important for your business:
“Here’s an example: if the most important page of a site (e.g. homepage) is “terrible” (in the sense of any algorithm), that’s a pretty big deal. If the same site has a random archived page that is “terrible” is, not a big deal,” John Mueller, a senior search analyst at Google wrote on Mastodon. “There is no absolute “page-percentage” number for this, I would see it more as “what would the avg user think when they go through / see your site.” By the way, if you want 57 other good tips from Mueller for the To improve your site’s search results, see this summary here.
2 – “Buy Now Pay Later” has taken over holiday shopping.
This holiday shopping season, ‘Buy Now Pay Later’ (BNPL) is increasingly popular. According to Cardify’s recent study, BNPL is the third most popular option for buying gifts, with more than 45 percent of consumers choosing it as their main payment method for this holiday shopping season. The top choice went to debit cards with 65.7 percent of users choosing this method, 54 percent said they would use credit cards, and 31.1 percent chose cash as a payment method. (Source: Consumer Affairs)
Why this is important for your business:
The good news is that BNPL offers another financing option for customers to use to purchase your products. The bad news is that BNPL is often misunderstood by some consumers, especially younger buyers. It is a short-term loan with large penalties if the debt is not paid. So do yourself and your customers a favor and make sure they are fully aware of the pros/cons before making their purchase.
3 – Amazon has a new drone for 30-minute urban deliveries.
Amazon will have a new, small, quiet drone ready to go in 2024, with the potential to make consistent deliveries in major cities by 2030. The hexagonal drone weighs 80 pounds and measures about 5.5 feet in diameter. According to reports, the drone is agile enough to fly in densely populated cities like Seattle, Atlanta and Boston. (Source: Axios)
Why this is important for your business:
Here’s yet another way Amazon will compete for your business—by cutting costs and improving delivery times with drones. My prediction is that, like its other technologies, Amazon will license this technology to other businesses that want to take advantage, for a fee, of course.
4 – What is the AI chatbot phenomenon ChatGPT and could it replace humans?
Dialogue-based AI chatbot prototype ChatGPT has the ability to understand natural spoken language and create an accurate written text similar to that of a human. The system is trained by machine learning and AI, can answer questions, and provide information via its “conversational interface.” The newest AI chatbot comes from OpenAI, an independent research foundation founded by Elon Musk. (Source: The Guardian)
Why this is important for your business:
As AI-powered chatbots improve, businesses will use these applications to create written content that is as good as if an actual human wrote it. Compared to my stuff, probably better.
5- NRS launches a B2B ecommerce platform for independent retailers.
National Retail Solutions (NRS) recently rolled out a B2B ecommerce platform. The new platform is specifically aimed at independent retailers who connect with suppliers, wholesale distributors and owner-operated tobacconists, liquor stores, bodegas and convenience stores that use NRS’s Point-of-Sale (POS) system. (Source: Pymnts)
Why this is important for your business:
The new solution allows distributors and suppliers access to independent retailers who were previously unable to meet minimum order requirements or deal with logistical issues.
