Transcript IS1 - Websites to Attract Customers

Use Your Website to
Attract Customers
and Drive Action
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Introductions
Go Around the Room
Tell everyone:
 Your Name
 What type of business you are currently
operating
 What you hope to get out of this session
 60 seconds!
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About SCORE
• Successful and experienced
executives acting as volunteers.
• National web site,
www.score.org, provides useful
information and resources for
small business.
• Seminars and workshops
• Free Mentoring
 One-on-one
 Email mentoring
• Contact Manasota.SCORE.org
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Mentoring Locations
SCORE Office
2801 Fruitville Road Suite 280
• Manatee Chamber of Commerce
Downtown and Lakewood Ranch
• Sarasota Chamber of Commerce
• Venice Chamber of Commerce
Your Place of Business
Location convenient to you and your
mentor
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Manasota SCORE Local Sponsors
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Classroom Safety – Argosy U
Emergency
Exits
Restrooms
You are HERE
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Classroom Safety - ComCenter
Emergency
Exits
Restrooms
You are HERE
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not wander
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Workshop Agenda
What We Will Cover
 Internet Strategy for Your Business
 Key Elements of:
Effective Web Design
Website Development
Integration with Social Media
 Turning Web Traffic into Sales
 Measuring Results
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CREATING YOUR
INTERNET
STRATEGY
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Every Business Needs a Web Presence
 To inform potential customers about your business with relevant and
concise information
 To advertise and describe offerings and location
 To sell products and services
 To generate business leads
 To brand your business and provide contact information
 To be “found” by potential customers using search engines
 To build a foundation for customer interaction
(ordering, returns, feedback, etc.)
Keep in mind: 86% of Americans use the
Internet 20 hrs/week. (Center for the Digital Future
2013)
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Benefits of Having a Web Presence
Professional
Web
Presence
+
More
Eyes
Looking
At Your
Business
=
Increased
Sales
B2C (Business to Consumer):
43% of all retail sales are expected to be influenced by or
made on the Internet by 2012 (U.S. Department of Commerce)
B2B (Business to Business):
83% of businesses use the Internet to research and find
vendors (Enquirio – B2B survey)
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Does Every Business NEED a Website?
YES!
- Businesses with an online presence which includes
websites can expect to grow 40% faster than those
without
- Add credibility to your online presence – over 50%
of small businesses have a website
- Contains organized information that may not change
as much as social media
- Single point of sales for online purchases
- Gather valuable customer information via web
analytics
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Functions of a Website
•
Promote
•
Publish
your business by telling
customers about it
information that’s useful to
your customers
•
Communicate
•
Serve
with customers
customers by handling
business functions
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Goals for Your Website
What do you need your website to do?
The answers will create your Internet strategy = a measurable
plan of action using the Internet to get desired results.
Think about:
• Your business goals
• Your marketing goals
• Your target audience
• Your competition
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Target Audience and Competitors
Competitors
Target Audience
 Who are they?
 Who are they?
 What are their
characteristics (age,
income, tech savvy)?
 What do their websites
do well?
 What are they looking
for on your website?
 Do you expect them to
follow your Social Media
site(s)?
 What could they
improve on?
 What are the opportunities
for your business?
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EFFECTIVE WEB
DESIGN
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Effective Websites Are…
1. Professional
2. Consistent

With similar sites

With website usage

With your brand

Within your site

With all of your other
marketing channels
3. Simple
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Elements of Website Navigation
 Top navigation bar should
be constant across pages.
 Side navigation bars are
optional.
 Bottom bar should consist
of simple text links to your
site; it is important for
search engine ranking.
 Page body is where you
put that page’s relevant
information.
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Tips for Navigation
 Organized structure
 Keep it simple – users
should be able to get
anywhere in 2-3 clicks
 Keep important links,
content, etc. “above the
fold”
 Use white space to simplify
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How Users Scan Sites: Hot Spots
“F- Pattern”: Focus user’s attention

USERS DON’T
READ – they scan!

Put most important
elements in places
where eyes naturally
go.
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Using Color, Graphics, and Text
 Use colors that work well together
 Keep colors consistent with
your brand
 Keep text size readable
 Keep text and background color
readable
 Use high-quality photographs
 Avoid sound unless that is your
business
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What Is Web Content?
“Content” refers to any written material on your
website, including:
 Titles
 FAQs
 Headlines
 Product names
 Customer service information
 Articles
 Product descriptions
 Blogs
 “About Us” page
 Online Store
 Help page
 Info / links for your Social Media
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Writing Effective Web Content
•
Know your target audience
•
Keep it short and simple
Headings 8 words or less
Paragraphs 40-70 words
•
Write active content
•
Write for how people search
•
Keywords
Google and Bing offer Search-Based Keyword Tools
•
Edit and proofread
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WEBSITE
DEVELOPMENT
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Your Website
Your website is
(or will be) a collection
of web pages, images,
videos or other digital
assets that are addressed
to a particular, and unique,
domain name.
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What Functions Does Your Website Need?
A website doesn’t have to be complicated. Here are some
components different types of businesses might want to
include:
 Restaurant or Retail Store: Address, photo of location, product
photos, menu, phone and e-mail contacts, map, hours, online
reservation tool
 Consulting or Accounting Business: Most of the above plus
photos/bios of key personnel, explanation of services provided, client
list, appointment scheduler, articles or tips from owner
 E-commerce Business: Product photos/descriptions, online
ordering and payment, frequently asked questions/help, shipping
policies and costs
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Step 1: Get a Web Address
Check to see if the business’s name is taken:
 GoDaddy.com Hover.com Register.com DomainNames.com
A web address (domain name) only costs about $10 per year
.com – global standard for businesses
.net – great alternative to .com, fairly established
.org – global standard for nonprofits
.us – for organizations that highlight American pride (like
veterans orgs)
.biz – newer for businesses, not as widely used or as credible
as .com or .net
.tv – newer, used for web videos
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Step 2 – Outline Your Site
• Enticing blurbs summarizing the key sub-pages
Home
•
•
•
•
Payments
Checkout
Product &
Services
Why Us?
Help Us
• What you offer
• Benefits of key
• Your
features
discriminators • Common for
not-for-profits
• Pricing and
• Testimonials
delivery
• Ask the Experts • How to donate,
etc.
• Organize wide, not
deep
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About Us
Management background
Email addresses
Map & directions
Contact form
Help
Yourself
• FAQ’s
• Social Media • Draft meta tags
for each page
• Installation
• Title
Videos
• Description
• Helpful Links
• Keywords
• Samples/spec
s
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Integration with Social Media
• Social media may be part of your strategy to find and retain
customers
• Information will be different on different sites, but should be
consistent if it used in multiple places – Website,
Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc
• Website links should lead to Social Media sites
• Social Media sites should point to the website
• Attend our Workshop: Web Marketing and Social Media!
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Exercise 1 – Web Design Planner
• What are your website goals?
What is the main purpose for the
website? What action do you
want visitors to take after visiting
your website?
• Who is your target audience
(income, interests, gender, age,
technical savvy)? Try to create a
profile for each.
• What websites do you like that
you might use for ideas?
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Step 3: Build Your Site
DIY
Make it
yourself with
templates
CONTRACT
Hire an
individual
• PROS: Easy,
inexpensive, fast
• PROS: More tailored
site, able to work
closely with someone
• CONS: Less able to
tailor, less
advanced site
• CONS: May not
include support/
maintenance
COMMERCIAL
Hire a
company
• PROS: More
support, more
options
• CONS: May have
less control over
content and hosting,
could be very
expensive
Best Practice – YOU contract for the web hosting , not your contractor
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Could I Do it Myself ?
First Impressions Count
•
•
75% of web users admit to making judgments about the credibility
of an organization based on the design of its website
68% of US online shoppers say they distrust a site that doesn’t
have a professional appearance
Time
•
Stay focused on the critical issues for the business and delegate
other tasks to employees or contractors
Technical Requirements
•
•
Troubleshoot bugs and cross
browser compatibility
Professional software and training
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Do It Yourself Development
 WordPress, GoDaddy.com, Wix.com ,
Weebly.com, 1and1.com, and AT&T provide easy
drag & drop design templates
 Wix & Weebly develop in HTML5

important for mobility
 Low Cost for Development
 Guarantees a Low Rate of Down Time
 Wordpress, Wix & Weebly are mostly free
 GoDaddy & 1and1 & AT&T charge $10-20/mo.
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Choosing a Web Team to Build / Maintain
Web Developer / Programmer –
Helps you to determine the page layout, graphics, text location
and colors of your site, as well as the navigation and how
pages will cross-link to one another
Graphic Designer –
Creates the graphics for the site, including page layout, colors,
etc. Think of this person as the "visual artist" for your site.
Internet Marketing Consultant –
Helps you to determine how your website fits into your overall
marketing strategy, and how to get more traffic and sales
from your website.
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Cost & Legal Considerations
How much will it cost?
-

Payment terms
Overall estimate
Have written contract covering:
-
Price
Schedule
Support and Service Level Agreement
Detailed Scope of Work
Documentation
Release of copyright
Portability to new Web host
Content and Technology Ownership
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Step 4: Create Content
- Your developer does NOT create content – YOU do!
- Don’t start from scratch!
Use business plan, email to friend, even record a conversation
and play it back to get ideas for what to write
- Stick to 300 max words per page and 50 words per
paragraph more than that is harder to read
- For photos, if you can’t afford a photographer, use your
smart phone or purchase some stock photos. Something
is better than nothing.
- Use good SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practices
i.e. keywords in your content; Appropriate SEO content
on EACH page
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Step 4: Create Content
SEO
- Best
Practices
Your page
title should
ALWAYS include your keywords.
(Preferably closer to the beginning of the title for better prominence)

Meta Tags
- Every page on your site should have a description meta tag which
includes a description of the page content including use of your keywords
- KeyWord meta tag should include a list of your keywords specifically for
the page
Right click on a web page and
click View Source to see the page HTML code
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Step 4: Create Content
Test the content
Show it to friends, family who are not familiar with the
business
Ask them if the flow of the information / organization is
easy to understand and use
Find out if there is content that is not clear or if parts
should be improved
Modify as required to get ready to Publish
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Step 5: Publish and Promote
Contractor or commercial company
Checklist or sign off process . . .
Client is / is not happy with the site
Fix it - Then - publish it.
You need a mobile version of the site to deal with small screen size
• Automatically takes viewer to correct version based on device used
• Many “do it yourself” builders include this automatically or as an
option.
• Some other features to look for/consider:
– Click to call,
– Clickable map to get directions,
– Click to make a reservation
– You get the idea!
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Choosing the Right Hosting
Consider:
 Tech Support
 Cost
 Space and Bandwidth
 Email Accounts
 Multiple Data Center Locations
 Control Panel
 References
Best Practice – YOU contract for the web hosting , not your contractor
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TURNING WEB
TRAFFIC INTO
SALES
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Getting the Attention to Creating Interest in Your Business
Attract Customer’s Attention and Create Interest by Using
the Following Technology Techniques:
• Leverage the power of your website &
give customers a good reason to
come visit
•
In addition to your physical address
and telephone number, include web
and email address on all collateral
•
Use online newsgroups and mailing
lists
•
•
•
Purchase web advertising
Use industry-linking web pages
Use web search engines that index
the web
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Moving from Interest to Desire

Desire is about connecting with
your customers in a way that
makes them want or desire
what you have to offer.

Just knowing about your
business is not enough.

Activate your customers desire
to patronize your business.

Use appropriate Social Media to
draw new customers and
enhance relationships
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Call to Action
Call to Action:
•
Hurry in Today
•
Buy Now
•
Call Now
•
Visit Now
•
Click Here Now
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Create Your Own Call To Action
Think about a web-ad that you are thinking of running,
or a website that you are about to create and answer
these questions:
Why are you running this ad, or creating this webpage?
Is it to:
- Generate leads?
- Create a database?
- Get your brand/company name out in the market?
- To get people to buy from you?
- Be the landing page from a Social Media link?
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Exercise 2 – Call to Action
• What action(s) do you want
visitors to take when visiting your
website?
• What type of content will you use
to attract interest?
• What “enticement” will you offer
to get customers to return?
10 minutes
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MEASURING
RESULTS
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Your Site Is Up - Now What?
A successful website generates measurable results for
your business.
To get the most from your site, follow this 3-step process:
1. Know your goals for the website
2. Continually adjust site as needed – including frequent checks
for “broken links” on your site that are dead ends for
customers
3. Measure results
All major search engines (Bing, Google and Yahoo) offer
sophisticated free analytics tools to help you track and
benchmark your website results.
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Understanding Web Analytics
Web Analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis
and reporting of internet data for the purposes of
understanding and optimizing web usage.
Two main approaches:
1.Log File Analysis - web hosting company tracks the
number of visitors, which pages viewed, when they
visited, where they are locate, etc.
2.Page Tagging - assigns a unique identifier (a cookie)
to a visitor, to identify them when they visit your website.
Indicates what site components attract visitors and
where most visitors will enter / leave your site.
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What Should You Measure?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Number of site visitors
Individual page
impressions
Average visit length
Most/least popular pages
Most popular site entry
pages
Where users come from (sites or search engine phrases)
Number of inquiries, leads or sales generated
Conversion rates
Total sales volume online
Average purchase per online customer
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Web Analytics Terminology

Hit: A hit is a request for a file from a server. A hit is registered for every
file that is requested, whether it is an HTML file, an image, a CSS file,
or a JavaScript file. Hits are in no way a measure of the number of
visitors that view a website.

Page View: A page view is a request for a file that is defined as a page
in an analytics program.

Visit: A visit is a series of requests from the same uniquely identified
client within a given time period. This is usually set to 30 minutes, so
that if a user waits an hour between requests, the server will register
two visits.

Unique Visitor: A unique visitor is essentially an individual coming to
the website based on their IP Address.

Repeat Visitor: A visitor that has made at least one previous visit to a
website.
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Module In Review
Summary & Questions?
 Internet Strategy for Your Business
 Key Elements of:
Effective Web Design
Website Development
Integration with Social Media
 Turning Web Traffic into Sales
 Measuring Results
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Do You Have A SCORE Mentor?
• Fill out the online request for free, one-onone mentoring.
– Right after this session!
– manasota.score.org – click the
Mentoring tab
– A mentor will be assigned in about a
week
– Mentor will call you to setup a
mentoring appointment
• Ongoing phone and/or face-to-face
guidance to aid completion improvement
plans
• Mentor will be available for an ongoing
relationship
Take advantage of this free service to help you make the
best decisions as you grow and improve your business!
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SCORE Workshops
Simple Steps for
Starting Your Business
• Start-up Basics
• Business Concept
• Marketing Plan
• Financial Projections
• Funding Sources / Next Steps
Specialized Workshops
• Building Your Business Plan
• Websites to Attract Customers
• Internet Marketing and Social Media for Business
Visit manasota.score.org for Schedules and Registration
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Help Us, Help You
Please fill out the
workshop evaluation
form
Your feedback is
important to help us
improve our
programs!
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