optimizing your website for economic development

Optimizing Your Website for Economic DevelopmentPresented by

Leah Hill

The importance of websites

Choosing your content

How to write copy people will read

Tips for improving navigation

How to increase web traffic

The importance of websites

Why should you have a website?

•In 2012, nearly 80% of American adults said they were internet users.

http://pewinternet.org/Static-Pages/Trend-Data-%28Adults%29/Whos-Online.aspx

The importance of websites

Internet users as percentage of populationhttp://www.google.com/publicdata

The importance of websites

The importance of websites

How site selectors use your website

According to a survey by Atlas Advertising, the average ED website receives 161 visits per actual inquiry to an EDO.

Choosing your content

How do you decide what content to include on your website? Ask yourself:

Why do you want people to go to your website?

Choosing your content

How do you decide what content to include on your website? Ask yourself:

Why do you want people to go to your website? Tofindoutmoreaboutyou.

Choosing your content

How do you decide what content to include on your website? Ask yourself:

Why do you want people to go to your website? Tofindoutmoreaboutyou.

What do you want them to do when they get there?

Choosing your content

How do you decide what content to include on your website? Ask yourself:

Why do you want people to go to your website? Tofindoutmoreaboutyou.

What do you want them to do when they get there?To call you.

Choosing your content

How do you decide what content to include on your website? Ask yourself:

Why do you want people to go to your website? Tofindoutmoreaboutyou.

What do you want them to do when they get there?To call you.

Is it easy for them to get to their goal and yours?

Choosing your content

Elements of a website

•City or organization name

•Contact Information

•Easy to use Navigation

•Maps

•Branding

•Professionalism and Accessibility

•Downloads

•Links

Choosing your content

The most important element is descriptive, detailed content

•Demographics/Workforce

•Utility and telecommunications costs and providers

•Transportation access

•Tax rates & incentives

•Quality of life

•Leading employers and unionization

•Recent expansions/relocations in the area

•Educational institutions and research centers

Choosing your content

(continued)

•Sites & buildings database (LocationOne)

•Business related news/events

•Links to social media accountsFor more information on good Economic Development content, see IEDC Site Selection Data Standards website: http://www.iedconline.org/?p=data_standards

How to write copy people will read

•concise text — half the word count (or less) than writing for print

•shorter sentences and paragraphs

•one idea per paragraph

•the inverted pyramid style, putting the most importantpointortheconclusionfirst

How to write copy people will read

•bulleted lists

•highlighted text (bold or color, also hyperlinked text) for scannability

•meaningful headlines and subheads

•writecopythatsellsbenefitratherthanfeature

Tips for improving navigation

Put most important information “above the fold”

Tips for improving navigation

The 3-click rule

Main menuclick “About Missouri Partnership”

Sub-menuclick “Mission”

Content pageMission statement page displayed

Tips for improving navigation

Track website traffic using Google Analyticshttp://www.google.com/analytics

How to increase web traffic

Be included in the first page of search engine results for appropriate keywords

•Your organization’s name

•The name of your region

•The name of your region + economic development (example: missouri economic development)

•Your url (example: www.missouripartnership.com)

How to increase web traffic

Improve your search engine ranking

•Usetherelevantkeywordsyou’veidentifiedinyourwebsite meta tags (descriptive tags within links, pictures, page headers, etc.)

Meta Tag Analyzerhttp://www.seocentro.com/tools/search-engines/metatag-analyzer.html

How to increase web traffic

Have a simple web design

•Don’tusetoomuchflash

•Don’t use graphics for headers and buttons, use text

•Don’t use too many frames

•Have a site map

How to increase web traffic

Get people to link to your website

•Get people to link to your website using anchor text that contains your keywords.

•Ex: <a href=”www.missouripartnership.com”> ”Missouri Economic Development”</a>

How to increase web traffic

Use Google Adwordsadwords.google.com

How to increase web traffic

Advertising

We’ll make sure the grass is always greener.

Visit us at www.business.missouripartnership.com or scan here* to watch our new Missouri video.

Relocating your company only makes sense if you can count on the grass being greener

on the other side of the fence - year in and year out.

Missouri’s business climate is not only comfortable, it’s consistent, allowing companies to plan for growth over a long period of time.

Missouri also keeps the green in your bank account with perennially low costs for business and energy.

(They can’t always promise that on the other side of the fence.)

for lowbusiness

energy costs2

for low businesscosts, including

the cost of labor1

Pro-Businessstate for 2 years

in a row3

1 CNBC2 Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council3 Pollina Corporate Real Estate* Use any QR tag reader to scan.

We’ll make sure the grass is always greener.

Visit us at www.business.missouripartnership.com or scan here* to watch our new Missouri video.

Relocating your company only makes sense if you can count on the grass being greener

on the other side of the fence - year in and year out.

Missouri’s business climate is not only comfortable, it’s consistent, allowing companies to plan for growth over a long period of time.

Missouri also keeps the green in your bank account with perennially low costs for business and energy.

(They can’t always promise that on the other side of the fence.)

for lowbusiness

energy costs2

for low businesscosts, including

the cost of labor1

Pro-Businessstate for 2 years

in a row3

1 CNBC2 Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council3 Pollina Corporate Real Estate* Use any QR tag reader to scan.

How to increase web traffic

Email marketing

How to increase web traffic

Use social media

How to increase web traffic

Mobile site

How to increase web traffic

Update frequently!

Leah Hill

Missouri Partnership 120 S. Central Ave. Suite 1150 Saint Louis, MO 63105

T: +1.314.725.0949 Ext: 202 F: +1.314.725.0743 C: +1.314.954.9252

Leah@MissouriPartnership.com

More ways to connect with Missouri Partnership

•Twitter http://twitter.com/MOPartnership

•Facebook http://www.facebook.com/MissouriPartnership

•LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/company/missouri-partnership

•Industry Insight Blog www.missouripartnership.com/Data/Industry-Insight-Blog

Upcoming webinars (all are 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.)

•Friday, September 7th: Branding

•Friday, September 21st: Advertising and messaging

•Friday, October 5th: Pitching and media relations

•To register for the webinar(s) of your choice, please contact Erin Pettit of the Missouri Partnership’s staff via e-mail at erin@missouripartnership.com or call 314.725.0949.