Building an AWESOME Website! plus other general advice for marketing your business
Step 1: Take a step back
Know thyself
What is your value statement? Why should potential customers buy from you? What makes your company different?
What are your goals for your site? (beyond the universal goals)
Looks professional Loads fast Tells our story Shows up in search engines
Interaction with customers? Sell product? Resources for employees?
Spy on your competitors Look at other sites in your industry – what do they include? What do you like or not like?
Who are your site audiences? Businesses? Consumers? Customers? Employees? Investors? Potential Employees? What Industries?
What are they looking for? What content do you need to serve them?
Choose your main level navigation Between 5 and 8 of the most important? About Us? Contact? Services? Products?
Develop your site map – a basic outline of every page in your site Home About Us • History • Staff
Services • Web Design • Portfolio
This determines page count (and usually cost)
If Search Engine Optimization is important – choose your top five: Choose 5 – 10 top key phrases you want your site to show up in results for Be REALISTIC – not just “engineer” but rather “huntsville engineer” List variations of these too such as engineer in huntsville, huntsville engineering company, engineering company huntsville
Write your content Use your top 5 SEO key phrase list and make sure you use these statements on almost every page within your content – at least once but don’t overdo it Keep it simple - short text sections broken up by sub headers; bullet lists are great
List what needs to be on your home page Logo, contact info, a brief intro to your company, navigation bar Identify a few main places in your site you want to make sure visitors go to What else needs to be on your home page? News? A log in screen? Twitter feed?
Make a list of any applications you want
Photo gallery Calendar Password Protected log in Facebook or twitter feed Videos Blog Etc. Etc.
STOP! Now decide: Will you hire someone to do the design and programming for you? Will you build your site yourself? Everything we covered up to now will help you get a realistic price from a programmer
If you design your site: Design a home page layout and one or two interior pages to determine overall look and navigation behaviors Think through what elements need to be on your home page Make sure contact info is on every page – or a prominent link to contact info is available Keep things consistent throughout the site
Decide how your site should be programmed
HTML Sites (Dreamweaver, GoLive, FrontPage)
PHP/ASP sites – database driven
Content Management System (CMS) sites - RECOMMENDED
Questions you need to ask:
Where will it be hosted?
Make sure it is a reputable company Backup/recovery, tech support Check ratings (search for “web host ratings” or “(your host name) reviews” in Google Some CMS sites need to be hosted with a specific company
Questions you need to ask:
Who will program your site?
Don’t let your uncle’s neighbor’s son’s girlfriend do it – you have options!
Ad Agencies/Web Development companies, Freelancers (will they be there for you after it is built?)
You!
Content Management Systems
GREAT tools for building web sites Allow you to maintain your own site without buying software Can be completely custom or based on templates Usually come packaged with applications
Content Management Systems
Opensource CMS systems (Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal) – you will need a programmer
Hosted CMS systems – you can build your own
Low budget? Look at “build your own” Web Sites
smallbusiness.yahoo.com, 3dcart.com, Homestead.com, Officite.com
Benefit: low cost and can include applications like photo galleries
Drawback : depends on your time and writing skills, cookie-cutter design
Look for Industry Specific CMS Sites
Search for “(your industry) websites” in Google (ex. “church websites”)
Examples: •
ChurchSites.com
•
SchoolSites.com
•
AdvancedAccess.com (real estate)
Add 3 party tools to your site rd
Calculators
Hotel Reservations
Membership management Look around and see what’s available for your industry
Once your site is built Test it on various browsers – Internet Explorer 6, 7; Mozilla Firefox; Macs and PCs Go live – point your web address to your new server (Go Daddy, Network Solutions etc.) MARKET IT! MAINTAIN IT!
Search Engine Optimization 101
Put search words and phrases in your content
Make a list of 10-20 search phrases
Use these (and variations) throughout site, combine with location
Put in page headers and image ALT tags (don’t go overboard)
Other things you can do:
Use bullet lists <ul><li>
Use <H1> title tags
Get as many sites as possible to link to your site
Association listings
Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Create a Google Maps Listing
Create a Google Maps Listing Go to Google and search for your town, state and industry. Example: Decatur, AL web design Does this have Google Map listings at the top? Are you listed? If not: Create a Google Account Create a Google Map Listing for your organization Select up to 5 categories for your listing
See if there are free industry directory sites and create a listing Search for “your industry” huntsville al (ex. Attorney huntsville al) Look through the search results on pages 1-3 for any site results that look like directories Go to these sites and look for a link to create a free listing
Pay per Click (AdWords) You can set your own budget You can determine how long and how often you run your campaign Ability to target specific customers through location and keywords Often has a positive impact on organic Google search results
Pay per Click (AdWords) Trackable results, ability to modify the campaign at any time – integrates with Google Analytics Needs to be actively monitored by tracking results and adjusting campaign Create landing pages to increase conversion rates and (sometimes) lower cost of campaign
Understand how your site is used: Google Analytics You will need a Google Account http://www.google.com/analytics Sign up for a free Analytics account and integrate the provided code into your site programming
Permission-Based Email Newsletters 101
Permission-Based Email
NOT spam! 18-month rule Dangerous to use Outlook GREAT, easy to use tools • •
ConstantContact.com MyEmma.com
Permission-Based Email
Permission-Based Email
How to use your newsletters:
News/events/progress updates School closings, emergency information Software updates, new products Restaurant/Retail customer rewards
LINK BACK TO WEB SITE!
Trackable down to individual users
Social Media 101
What is Social Media? Blogs Wikis Online Communities such as Facebook, MySpace, Linked In Online media sharing such as YouTube, Flickr Twitter
Social Media Facts (according to Nielson – March 2009 Report)
Two-thirds of the world’s internet population visit a social network or blogging site Social media networking now accounts for 10% of all time spent on the internet Member communities (social networking and blogging sites) are now more popular than personal email
Member Community Website Facts (according to Nielson â&#x20AC;&#x201C; March 2009 Report)
Social Media Marketing Basics Best parts of using Social Media: • Engages wide audience in a personal way • Builds positive brand recognition and equity • Shows you LISTEN
Not the core of any marketing initiative but adds a personal touch and reaches many you wouldn’t otherwise reach
Social Media Marketing Basics Advertising becomes a conversation – not the tradition information push model Costs are more related to time invested vs. advertising funds invested Viral in nature
Blogging More frequent than e-newsletters Short articles – very personal, conversational – your thoughts on your business, your industry, your life Cross link with all other social media and your website
Blogging comScore MediaMetrix (August 2008) Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US
Universal McCann (March 2008) 77% of active Internet users read blogs
Twitter
Twitter grew 1,928% in the US from June ’08 to June ’09, now reaching a total of 21 million monthly unique visitors. (Nielson)
LISTEN to what is being said about your business, your community, your industry
Learn about new trends and resources
COMMUNICATE: Post tweets to communicate or drive traffic to your site, a white paper, a link, etc.
Facebook Statistics More than 250 Million Active Users More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college The fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older More than 8 million users become fans of Pages each day
Facebook Business Pages Integrate Twitter into status lines Post comments, news, resources that encourage interaction with fans Facebook builds a community for your business you can interact with in a very personal way Run targeted advertising by location, age range, etc. and set daily budgets
MySpace Basics A younger audience More about entertainment – music, videos, games More about personal expression – highly customizable profiles Global Audience: 81 Million (Nielson)
LinkedIn.com An interconnected network of professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries. Find, be introduced to, and collaborate with qualified professionals that you need to work with to accomplish your goals. Monitor trends in your industry through groups and LinkedIn questions.
Linked In Statistics ď&#x201A;§ LinkedIn has over 43 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the world. ď&#x201A;§ Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members
Ping.fm ď&#x201A;§ Post once to Ping.fm and it automatically updates all of your social media sites with your message.
Publish presentations online And white papers, and brochures, etc. Integrate with your website and cross link to all of your social media Announce new publications through online media Red Sage uses Issuu.com but there are others
Thank you! (256) 560-0098 www.redsageonline.com Ellen Didier edidier@redsageonline.com