7 Secrets to Web Success

1. 7 Secrets to Web Success Marketing Your Business in Cyberspace November 2009 Pennsylvania presented by Jan Zimmerman Author, Web Marketing for Dummies, 2nd ed. Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing www.watermelonweb.com 4614 Sixth St. NW Albuquerque, NM 87107 info@watermelonweb.com 505-344-4230 © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

2. What You’ll Learn Today • Planning & Building a Marketing Effective Web Site • Importance of Updating Content • Value of Using Video & Audio on Site • Free Online Marketing Techniques • Integration with Offline Marketing • The Magic Key to Web Success © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

3. 7 Secrets to Web Success • Get online and observe • Define audience, goals, objectives • Plan your Web project • Evaluate plans for repeat visit value • Create/optimize your site • Plan your Web promotion • Monitor & analyze results 7 3 © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

4. 1. Get Online & Observe • See what competitors, customers, and vendors are doing • Review which sites you like/don’t like • Learn which sites generate sales • Find out where your audience is online • Do online market research © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

5. 2. Define the Essentials • Audience & Segmentation • Goals • Quantifiable Objectives © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

6. Audience & Segmentation • Who is your market? • demographics, geographics, psychographics • What other sites do they visit? • What else do they buy? • When do they go online? Avoid "clicky-loos" © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

7. Enhance company brand Provide company background & info Improve service & support Take orders for offline sales Bring customers to store or event Display samples or product info Sell online Sample Goals © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

8. Quantifiable Objectives • Traffic • Leads • Sales by volume or dollar amount • ROI © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

9. 3. Plan Your Web Project • Establish realistic schedule & budget • Assess in-house skills • Find qualified support • Think long-term: content; staff, updates, maintenance, site promotion • Integrate with other marketing © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

10. May Need Professional Help • Graphic/Web Designer • Web Developer (may need special skills) • Photographer/videographer/animator • Copywriter • Merchandising Expert • Search Engine Optimization • Marketing, PR, & Online Advertising © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

11. Inexpensive Web Presence Alternatives • Create a blog (blogger.com) with own domain name (can combine with below) • Sell elsewhere • amazon, eBay, etsy.com, cafe press, craigslist, imagekind.com, many other sites • Profiles on social media • facebook, linkedin, twitter, myspace, etc. © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

12. Embrace the Worms When you turn over the Web rock.... the business worms crawl out….. © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

13. An Appealing Site Does 3 Things... • Attracts new viewers • Keeps users on the site • Draws repeat visitors 3 © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

14. 4. Evaluate Your Site/Plan for Repeat Visit Value • Interactive Elements • Build Communities • Rich Media • Video, Audio, Flash • Up-to-date Content © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

15. Videoblackhorsefarmcarriages.com © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

16. Updating Content Is Critical! • Affects search engine results • Simple ways to update online • Blogs, wikis, product reviews on site • Automated data feeds • quotes, dates, tickers, news (RSS) • Content management systems • Open source, e.g. drupal, jumla • Contribute or Proprietary solutions © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

17. Using a CMS for UpdatesMSLresort.com © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

18. 5. Evaluate Your Site or Plan • Concept • Content • Navigation • Decoration • Marketing Efficacy © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

19. Concepthideawaygolf.com © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

20. Contentmonroehistorical.org © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

21. Calls to Action Move Visitors Through Site • A Four-Letter Word beginning with F • Request a Quote • Sign Up for Savings • Call Now • Book Now • Add to Cart F © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

22. Optimize Web Content for Sales Y • Sell Benefits, Not Features • Marketing's 3-Letter Word O U © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

23. Navigationpoconowomen.com © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

24. Organize Your Site • Linkable site index or map • Outlines the site © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

25. Decorationcamelbeach.com © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

26. Marketing Efficacyskysthelimit.net © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

27. Easy as Pie.... • Keep navigation consistent on all pages • Check all links, pages and forms • Make it easy to contact the company on all pages • Make it easy to pay • Tell people what to do © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

28. Time for Action! • Please arrange yourselves into groups of 4-5 for the team exercise © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

29. Team Exercise: Site Evaluation • Each group will receive 2 screenshots of a Web site to evaluate (home page & 1 interior page) • Appoint someone to act as spokesperson/record-keeper. • You have 15” to come up with a group analysis. • Random groups will be asked to report their evaluation & explain why in 3” or less. • Did team members agree or disagree? • What’s the most important criterion for judging Web success? © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

30. 6. Plan Your Web Promotion • Set aside 25-30% of your initial development budget for marketing • Budget ongoing marketing expense • Have a realistic timeline for results © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

31. Why Market Online? © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

32. Why Market Online? © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

33. Why Market Online? There’s no point having a wonderful web site if no one can find it... © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

34. The Conversion Funnel People Who See a URL • Only 2- 4% of Visits Convert • In other words: It takes 1000 impressions to make a sale! 5% of Those Visit a Site Prospects Qualified Leads Buyers or Callers © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

35. How Users Discover Sitesmetagroup.com /Social Networks © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

36. What You Already Know Is Right! • Don’t put all the marketing eggs in one basket -Web is only part of marketing • Guerrilla Marketing: target 1 market at a time • A better mousetrap is not enough • Measure results & adjust © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

37. 4 Ways to Promote a Site in Cyberspace • Guerrilla Marketing • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) • Social Marketing • Paid Online Advertising FREE FREE FREE © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

38. Guerrilla Marketing Techniques • Email • Signature block • Yahoo & Google Groups • Newsletters (may have a fee) 38 © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

39. Search Engine Jargon • Search Engine Optimization (SEO) • adjusting sites, keywords, and pages to gain better placement • Natural or Organic Search • results from review of unpaid submissions • Paid Search • fee paid for appearance or for pay-per-click ads • Spiders, Crawlers, or Robots • automated programs used to index content of web sites © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

40. The Search Engine Maze: Only 3 DIY Must-Have Sites • google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl • search.yahoo.com/info/submit.html • bing.com/docs/submit.aspx • you can do yourself • don’t need 100,000 search engines • don’t need monthly resubmits © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

41. Choose Search Engines by Audience Google Gets 80% of B2B Searches © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

42. “Natural” Search Engine Ranking • Need to be on 1st page of results to be noticed • You can try on your own, but may need help • Different search engines have different rules • Different keyword-based engines weigh things differently • Keywords & tags for Yahoo & Bing • Inbound links and page rank for Google © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

43. Basic Approach (except Google) • View>Source on high-ranking competitors • Select search terms • Wordtracker.com, Google Keyword Tool, or others • Write metatags • Optimize pages and Web site • Check position, tweak & re-submit if needed or when add new content © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

44. Inbound Linking for Google • Find audience online • Check links on high-ranking competitors (linkpopularity.com) • Remember directories, maps, yellow pages • Send email request or form • Be selective about reciprocal links © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

45. Social & Viral Marketing - Huh? community creativity interactivityinput communication site linkscollaborationuser participation information sharing © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

46. Social Marketing Adds Value & Presence • Boosts new visits • May increase search engine visibility • Cost-effective marketing when budgets are tight • Many techniques exist on 3rd-party sites • Posting on others’ sites can provide inbound links • Clients can do themselves, but time-consuming • Pick only 1-2 techniques © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

47. Criteria for Choosing Social Networks • Are your target markets there? • Does content type match goals/objectives? • How much time will be needed? • What does it cost? • Do you have the skills & interest? © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

48. What is Social Networking? • Applications that allow members to interact online • Users control their own activity • For most, you create a profile and then post frequent updates • In most cases, users sign up to “follow” or become fans • Not for “hard sell” © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

49. Social Media Demographicssocial-media-optimization.com/2009/08/social-networks-demographics © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing

50. More Demographicstomuse.com/social-networking-demographics-who-has-smartest-and-wealthiest-users © 2009 Watermelon Mountain Web Marketing