WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK: Checking emails outside of work can be bad for business

A new study from Harvard Business School has found that when workers were actually told to stop checking their emails one day a week – their productivity actually improved.

They were more excited to come to work, they achieved more on the job and, what’s more, they were actually more likely to stay with the company over a longer period of time.

The problem with combining work and life with smartphone usage is that productivity can actually decrease in the workplace. This study seems to suggest that stopping the night-time email reading can actually have a benefit.

It’s impossible to tell your workers to stop reading their emails. But you can certainly recommend it. Give a few suggestions or guidelines about having an email-free night or two, and you may find the productivity level in the office begins to rise.

Get on the “higher web”

A new survey from the Boston Consulting Group has found that businesses integrating their business with the internet have experienced much higher growth than others who haven’t – to the tune of 22%.

The study, which surveyed workers at more than 15,000 companies around the world, divided companies into four categories – high-web, low-web, medium-web and no-web.

These “high web” companies were more likely to have a national and international customer base, as opposed to just selling locally. And high-web companies increased employment more than their medium-web and no-web counterparts.

The report also found the internet economy will reach $4.2 trillion by 2016.

The legitimacy of the internet as a business vehicle has been clear for some time, but this report does a great job in justifying why your business needs to be digital-savvy as soon as possible.

If you’re not using the internet for your business, you’re missing out. Even if you’re a start-up and don’t think you have the need, think again. Brainstorm and find ways you can make the internet work for you.

Google will punish overuse of SEO – make your content relevant

Google made a fascinating comment this past week – search team member Matt Cutts said at the South by Southwest conference that Google would actually start punishing companies that overuse their SEO.

That’s initially a frightening comment for any business using SEO techniques to help their rankings in Google. But when you delve a little further, there’s not much to be afraid of.

What Cutts is talking about here are these sites that overuse backlinks and other types of SEO techniques in order to help improve rankings, instead of doing what Google likes best –producing regularly updated, relevant content.

If you’re doing that, then there’s no reason to worry. But if you’ve used the same SEO techniques for years, and are relying on backlinks bought on dodgy sites, then you need to update what you’re doing.

Produce relevant content for your readers, and Google will reward you.

Group buying on the decline

New figures from Quantium research this week showed that group buying is on the decline, with revenue growth falling from its peak in August 2011 to a low in January.

This is no surprise. The industry has been crazy for quite a while now and, as analysts rightly point out, the market can’t support such high levels of growth for a long period of time.

But there’s a key lesson here, especially if you’re considering getting on board with a group buying site to promote a deal – think twice about how you go about it.

While deals may have been going crazy over the past year, as the industry matures consumers will start thinking more and more about the deals they buy. They won’t be so eager to buy something just because it’s a discount.

Think about your strategy. If you want to use group buying and think you’ll get a great result, then go for it – just be aware of the industry’s current state.

Auction scams on the rise

By now, every small business operating online should know the basics, but there are still plenty that get wrapped up in scams.

This week the ACCC released figures on scams, and found that auction scams are growing, taking up 6% of all total scams, or 5012 reports.

These occur when you buy an item over an auction site and then never receive the purchase or it’s different from what you expected.

There’s not a lot to learn here – just avoid buying items through dodgy sites. If it looks dodgy and doesn’t operate correctly, then it’s not to be trusted. Stick to the main websites, especially if you’re buying items for your business. You don’t want to get ripped off and then have that affect your livelihood.