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


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


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

http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&ctype=l&strail=false&bcs=d&nselm=h&met_y=it_net_user_p2&scale_y=lin&ind_y=false&rdim=region&idim=country:USA&ifdim=region&tdim=true&tstart=-300654000000&tend=1308718800000&ind=false


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.


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

Why do you want people to go to your website?



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




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




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




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?


Elements of a website

•City or organization name

•Contact Information

•Easy to use Navigation

•Maps

•Branding

•Professionalism and Accessibility

•Downloads

•Links


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


(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


•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


•bulleted lists

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

•meaningful headlines and subheads

•writecopythatsellsbenefitratherthanfeature


Put most important information “above the fold”


The 3-click rule

Main menuclick “About Missouri Partnership”

Sub-menuclick “Mission”

Content pageMission statement page displayed


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


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)


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

http://www.seocentro.com/tools/search-engines/metatag-analyzer.html


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


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>


Use Google Adwordsadwords.google.com


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.


Email marketing


Use social media


Mobile site


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

[email protected]

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

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Saint-Louis-MO/Missouri-Partnership/116987410178

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 [email protected] or call 314.725.0949.

optimizing your website for economic development

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