Business News

Wed Oct 25

GotU Roadside Assistance

Written by Claire Bonney

CALL FOR NEW WAY TO LOOK AT ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE LOUDER THAN EVER WITH MORE THAN HALF OF AUSSIES NOT BEING ABLE TO RECALL WHO THEIR PROVIDER IS

It’s no surprise millennials, young professionals and families want their roadside assistance to keep up with the times, but new research conducted for gotU by Allianz Global Assistance reveals Australian consumers are less informed than ever when it comes to annual memberships.

A recent survey of almost 400 Australians aged 18 – 35 revealed more than half the population who hold a current annual roadside assistance membership can’t recall who their provider is, and just 17 per cent of members can remember calling on roadside assistance in the past 12 months.

While disinterest seems an obvious culprit for consumers’ disengagement with this necessary element of life admin, gotU believes there’s other factors at play.

“Consumers expect their roadside assistance to keep up with how they live their life,” gotU General Manager, Brendon Dyer, said.

“We are a pay-as-you-go society and the tired model of paying for a year-round membership for roadside assistance just doesn’t fit savvy consumers anymore, especially when the average Australian requires roadside assistance just once every three years.”

gotU’s ‘roadside rescue’ model was developed in 2016 to address just this; offering Australians in metro areas roadside help on an ad hoc basic from $69* for any service.

“It’s roadside rescue just when you need it – no annual memberships, no additional call-out fees, no hidden costs,” Brendon said.

The service has proven a hit with consumers, with users touting its flexibility and reliability as the must-have millennial accessory – and some even taking advantage of the low $69* fee for ‘rescues’ of other nature, like getting your car towed home from a big night of partying.

With services available in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast, gotU is showing no signs of slowing down, with expansion plans into other cities on the forecast.

“The recent research showed nearly 30 per cent of surveyed participants couldn’t remember using roadside assistance in the past year,” Brendon said.

“Australians are literally paying for memberships they don’t need, amounting to thousands of dollars every single year.”

Brendon said he expected to see many other businesses adopt a ‘just when you need it’ model in time.

“It seems silly we don’t have more options available, but in the coming years we’ll see more and more of this kind of model that offers consumers true value versus inflated memberships – they aren’t the only way to protect yourself on the road anymore, and we’re so excited Aussies now have better options to choose from.”

*Visit gotu.com.au. T&Cs apply. $69 price available in metro Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne areas

Tue Oct 24

How to Use Search Engines to Find the Best Images for Your Website

Written by News Feature Team

The images you use on your website serve a couple of purposes. First, they give your visitors an idea of what your company does. For instance, a baker may have images of cakes and cookies on their website whereas, if you go to the website of an auto parts dealer, you’re likely to see images of carburetors, brake pads, and all of the other parts necessary to make a car run safely and efficiently instead.

Secondarily, the images you choose can help you better establish your brand. Through the emotions and feelings they elicit, your customers are able to get a better feel for who you are and what you stand for. It helps them get to know you, which is one of the keys behind true marketing success.

While some website images may be taken by the company itself, sometimes it’s easier to find an image that someone else has already taken and use that instead. This reduces the need of hiring a professional photographer to find just the right shot, a huge savings that can mean a lot to a small business that’s just starting out.So how can you use search engines to help you find the best images possible?

Think About the Image You Want

Before you can even think about doing an online search for images for your website (or any other marketing materials for that matter), you must first consider the words you’ll use to find the exact images you want. This may be relatively easy if you have an idea in mind, such as a doctor talking to a patient for your medical consulting site or a woman getting a massage for your health and wellness spa.

If you’re not sure what type of images would go best for your particular website, check out what your competitors have on theirs. While you don’t want to copy them, they may spark an idea or two, making it easier to find the right pictures for yours.

Perform a Search

The next step is to perform the search. Fortunately, there are many search engines that can connect you with quality images for your website, but one tends to stand out more than others: Google Images.

A top search engine image supplier , Google makes finding the pictures you want a simple process. Just type in words you’d use to describe the type of image you want to find (such as a woman working on a laptop or a child flying a kite) and hit enter.

Ask Yourself How the Image Makes You Feel

Once you have your results, you want to ask yourself how the individual images make you feel. Ideally, you want to choose one that will elicit the same emotional response you want your customers to have when they visit your website. This may require going through several pages of images or altering your search words so you find an image that is more consistent with the emotions you want to create.

Your images should also be consistent with your brand, which means that they should help your customers feel toward you however you want them to feel toward you. For instance, if you’re a security company, you may want your images to help your customers feel safer by choosing you. Your images should reflect this.

Pay Attention to Image Copyright

Finally, before you use any image that you find via a search engine on your own website, you need to ensure that you have permission to use it. If you don’t, you could wind up spending thousands (or more) in legal fees because you’ve violated the photographer’s or source’s copyright.

Fortunately, some search engines offer a solution. For example, Google Images gives you the opportunity to filter the images you search based on whether they’re protected by copyright or available for public use.By doing this type of advanced search, you’re less likely to infringe on someone else’s work in a way that could place you in court.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that copyrighted images are off limits though. It just means that you need to get permission from the photographer or source before you can use them on your own site.

Using search engines to find images for your website doesn’t have to be difficult. Follow these basic guidelines and it won’t be, enabling you to create a top notch site for all of your customers to read, shop from, and enjoy.