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Natural Disaster Protection: 5 Ways to Prepare Your Business

Posted: 02 Aug 2019 08:03 AM PDT

Many small businesses protect themselves by incorporating. However, companies should also understand how to protect themselves from natural disasters. Forces of nature, like major hurricanes and earthquakes, can have a deadly impact on a small company. It could take weeks, months, and potentially even years for a small business to get back up and running again after a natural disaster.

My company is based in California. We've been through earth-rattling quakes and massive wildfires—all within the span of the last year. Luckily, we have been fortunate enough to stay safe, thanks to careful planning and communication.

No matter what your startup may face, here are five simple ways you can prepare your business before, during, and after a natural disaster.

1. Create an emergency operations plan

If a natural disaster struck your small business, what would happen in the days and hours that follow? Who would be in charge? Would employees be allowed to work remotely? How would you contact your team if email wasn't an option? Does anyone know where the emergency kits are stored inside the building?

If you struggled to answer any of the these questions, it’s time to establish an emergency operations plan for your company. As you draft your plan, make sure it addresses the following areas:

  • What does leadership look like during a natural disaster? Who will be in charge? How will responsibilities be delegated to employees, both on- and off-site?
  • How will the business operate if its physical space has been compromised? Will there be remote work options available?
  • Does your small business have emergency kits? Are the kits fully stocked and ready to go? Do employees know where to find them?
  • What methods will you use to communicate with employees? Outline a wide variety of options, ranging from email to phone calls to text messaging. Make sure the contact information you have with each employee is updated on a regular basis.
  • If the natural disaster occurs while you're at work, does everyone know how to safely evacuate the building? Do you conduct earthquake or tornado drills? Much like updated contact information, it's always a good idea to review these procedures with your team seasonally.
  • How will you communicate with clients and customers? What kind of messaging will you use to keep everyone in the loop about your business?

Creating an emergency operations plan also means getting feedback from your team members. Review the plan with your employees. Make sure everyone feels comfortable with the procedures outlined, understands each part of the plan, and is ready to implement it when—and if—it's necessary.

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2. Back up important data

No matter where your business is located or what season you're in, safely store important business paperwork. Store existing (organized!) paperwork in an off-site location and make copies as needed. Some basic paperwork you'll need to secure include insurance claims, payroll information, and tax forms.

Don't forget about the benefits of being in the cloud either. Create backups of electronic files by scanning, uploading, and syncing them into a cloud-based storage system. This will allow you to access the information no matter where you're at and help keep business running smoothly.

3. Meet with an insurance advisor

Earlier, I mentioned backing up your insurance claims in the event of a natural disaster impacting your small business. It's also wise to meet with your insurance advisor and review your company's existing coverage. If you're concerned about your property, look into your current policy's limits to make sure it's high enough to cover a full replacement. You may find you need to invest in additional coverage, outside of your business's general policies, depending on the area where you conduct business.

4. Maintain communication with employees, clients, and customers

Your emergency operations plan should emphasize more than what to do before a natural disaster impacts your company. It also should detail how communication will be maintained during the disaster and its aftermath.

Areas to focus on in a crisis communications plan include:

  • Communication with customers: This may include additional messaging through social media posts, emails, or press releases to inform your audience of the impact of the natural disaster on your small business. Be sure to provide customers with contact information if they have any questions. If the company has shortened hours or will be closed for an indefinite amount of time, inform customers how the delay may impact the method in which you do business, and be sure to alert them when you're back up and running again.
  • Communication with your team: Keep up with your team during and after this time. If possible, check in with each member individually to make sure they are safe, particularly if they needed to relocate. It's also recommended that you have a disaster fund set aside in the event your business is unable to generate revenue, even on a temporary basis. Having a fund like this allows you to pay your employees and keep them on payroll. Trust me: They will be grateful you thought ahead to do this.

5. Regroup in your community

Small businesses that are impacted by a natural disaster generally do not come out of it as though nothing has happened. This is especially true for businesses located in federally declared disaster areas. It may take the business longer to rebuild and prove to be a financial and emotional strain on its resources. For some small businesses, a natural disaster is enough to shutter the business entirely.

However, if your business is one of the lucky ones, and you are back to up and running, now is the time to offer a helping hand to other businesses. This will help fellow entrepreneurs to resume normal operations and will show you know how to weather the storm as a team.

RELATED: 7 Ways Business Insurance Can Save Your Company

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The post Natural Disaster Protection: 5 Ways to Prepare Your Business appeared first on AllBusiness.com. Click for more information about Deborah Sweeney.

How to Optimize Your Small Business Website for Voice Search

Posted: 02 Aug 2019 07:30 AM PDT

If you want to ensure new customers are able to find your business, then you need to know how to optimize your business for voice search, which is becoming one of the most popular ways of searching.

Voice search isn't quite taking over the search world yet—but it's getting closer. Last year, more than half (58%) of consumers used voice search to find local business information, according to BrightLocal's Voice Search for Local Business Study 2018. Almost half (46%) of voice search users searched for a local business daily; 28% used voice search to search for a local business about once a week.

Here's what you need to know about voice search trends, uses and actions, and how to boost your business in voice search results.

Who uses voice search?

People of all ages use voice search, although younger consumers are more likely to use voice search to find information on local businesses than older consumers.

  • 76% of consumers ages 18 to 34 had used voice search to find information for a local business in the last 12 months; 15% had not used voice search but said they would consider using it in the future.
  • 64% of consumers ages 35 to 54 had used voice search to find information for a local business in the last 12 months; 24% had not used voice search but said they would consider using it in the future.
  • 37% of consumers ages 55 and older had used voice search to find information for a local business in the last 12 months; 33% had not used voice search but said they would consider using it in the future.

How do consumers do a voice search?

According to BrightLocal, smartphones are the most popular tool for voice searches for local businesses, and smart speakers are the least commonly used. That's probably because almost everyone owns a smartphone and not everyone owns a smart speaker. However, people who own smart speakers use voice search more frequently—maybe because announcing your search to a smart speaker in the privacy of your home is easier than saying it on a crowded subway.

  • 74% of smartphone voice search users search for local businesses at least once per week.
  • 76% of smart speaker voice search users search for local businesses at least weekly; of those, 53% search every day.

What do consumers use voice search for?

Consumers are most likely to voice search for food-related businesses. The most common voice search industries are:

  • Restaurants/cafés (51% of consumers)
  • Grocery stores (41%)
  • Food delivery (35%)
  • Clothing stores (32%)
  • Hotels/bed and breakfasts (30%)

If you're in one of these industries, you really need to optimize your website for voice search.

Consumers use voice search for several purposes, including checking inventory, checking business hours, making restaurant reservations and even making a purchase.

  • 54% make a restaurant reservation
  • 46% find out prices of a local business’s products/services
  • 40% ask which products are in stock
  • 32% buy directly from a business

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What do consumers do after making a voice search?

Voice searches drive actions for local businesses. After making a voice search:

  • 28% of consumers call the business
  • 27% visit the business's website
  • 19% visit the business in person

How to optimize a website for voice search

Now that you know how important optimizing for voice search is, here's how to do it:

  • Get local. If you're a local business, like a hair salon or insurance agency, be sure your site is listed on Google My Business and other local search directories, and that your listing is updated, complete, and accurate. Also make sure your location, hours, and phone number are correct and visible on your website. Put location-related keywords in your website content, tags, and image tags.
  • Use multiple-word keywords. Called long-tail keywords, these have four words or more. You can use Google Keyword Planner to find them (Neil Patel has a good explanation of how to find long-tail keywords). People using voice search speak in sentences so their queries have more words than the average search. Your website content should incorporate long-tail keywords that sound like a question customers would ask. For example, a fitness studio could use long-tail keywords like "best health club for men" to capture voice searchers asking, "Where's the best health club for men around here?"
  • Use natural language. If your website content is written in a conversational tone, it's more likely to pop up in voice search results. Keep your website at an easy reading level such as eighth grade. Use short sentences and concise writing; voice search results typically look for quick answers. You can use the Hemingway app to check for readability and make sure your content is easy for everyone to understand.
  • Add questions and answers on your business's website. People using voice search ask questions like, "What pizza place has vegan pizza?" as opposed to typing in keywords such as "vegan pizza 90210." Creating a FAQ page is a good way to start developing question and answer content. However, you can also create product or service descriptions, blog posts, and other content that answers questions.
  • Optimize your website for mobile use. Mobile voice searches often take place when the user is out and about. Your site needs to load fast on a mobile device or the user will move on to the next local business recommendation. Google has a free mobile-friendly website test.

RELATED: 5 Super Simple Ways to Market Your Local Business

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