Whether you’re a small business or a marketing company, you always have to be prepared for change. As an online marketing company, change is an everyday occurrence. Everything we do for our clients is based on what is working, and what is not working, when it comes to online marketing.
For most of us marketers that have been in the industry for a while, we a know a few things that always hold true:
- Not everything we do will work the way we want it too.
- Google and other search engines main goal is to drive traffic to paid ads, not organic listings. (You don’t make 20+ billion a quarter on organic searches.)
- No matter how you slice it, content is king and has always been the #1 deciding factor.
Is Alexa the New Google?
Let’s be honest, Alexa is beating Google Voice by 4 to 1! It is estimated that Amazon has sold over 20 million Alexa devices and Google is under 5 million. That is a minimum of 15 million people using Alexa as their new search engine, instead of Google. If one person searches on average 10 times a day, 300 a month, and 3600 times a year, times 15 million, that is an amazing amount of searches that are not being done on Google.
I don’t know about you, but I do at least 30-40 searches per day on Google on my desktop, then maybe another 10 plus on my phone. I am still old school, and physically type in my searches in lieu of talking to a device, but I could change my old fashion ways!
Getting Your Company to the Top of Alexa Searches
With Alexa being one of the newest platforms for marketers, I am sure there are a few different ways out there that many of us have never heard of. Since I personally have overlooked Alexa as the next great search engine until my kids got the Echo Dot for Christmas, I am a little behind the curve.
The great news is that by asking Google the right questions, we can all be pointed in the right direction! So, in a way, Google will have itself to blame for losing market share in the voice-controlled home devices! Right now Amazon has 70%, and I am sure this will increase as time passes and marketers learn to master the art of top rankings on Alexa searches.
The Secret to Marketing Your Clients, Alexa Skills?
The great thing about companies like Google or Amazon, is they want you to use their search engines or operating systems. Not only do they want you to use them, they want to help you develop new products, new apps and anything that will help drive the masses to their device or service.
This is why Amazon has developed workshops for tech guys, and even marketers, that are savvy enough to understand how important the Alexa search engine is for growing their client base and helping new clients grow their business as well.
What Are Alexa Skills?
Alexa skills enable the Echo to access various apps, services and websites, which allow you to fully customize your Echo or Echo Dot device. This way Alexa can interact with your smart home, check transportation options like Uber or bus routes, read the headlines from your favorite website or news outlet, and find the best service company in your area for whatever you are in need of.
The good news, is that it is pretty easy to become an Alexa Skills Developer, and they even offer free classes throughout the United States. They have teamed up with Galvanize and now offer free courses in eight different locations.
What’s the Conclusion for Marketers?
Amazon is a serious threat to any internet based company out there. Voice interaction with devices is still in its infant stages. Right now there are only two real competitors, Google Voice and Amazon’s Alexa. Amazon has 70% market share and the use of voice-activated devices is only on the rise.
To think that understanding Alexa, and how to leverage her to work for your marketing clients is just leaving money on the table. Is Google going away? Not a chance. Although, like many businesses in the US, Google will be playing catch up to compete with Amazon in the voice search applications.