use the internet to grow your business
TRANSCRIPT
Use the internet to grow your business
Barry Adams & Rachel MurphyPierce Communications
Web: http://www.piercecommunications.co.uk
Twitter: http://twitter.com/PierceComms
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Piercecomms
Barry Adams
• Senior Digital Marketer at Pierce Communications
• Built my first website in 1995, started my career in all things online in 1997
• Specialisation in SEO
• Dutch (yes, really)
• Previous employers include: Philips Electronics
Honeywell
Quotezone
Independent News & Media (Belfast Telegraph et al)
Rachel Murphy
• Masters in Marketing from University of Ulster
• Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and Chartered Management Institute
• Been working in Online Marketing for 7 years
• Previously employed by Bank of Ireland (sorry) and looked after their 39 websites as well as microsites that were developed for Dragon’s Den and Leinster Rugby
Agenda:
• What makes a good website?
• What drives traffic to a website?
• Introduction to Search Engine Optimisation
-- BREAK --
• How can you use Social Media effectively?
• How blogging can help your business
• Web strategy – tying it all together
What makes a good website?
First impressions matter
• The “look and feel” of a website has the greatest impact on users’ credibility assessments, with professional site designs heavily influencing credibility perceptions
• Once users have seen a web page, it is difficult to overcome the first impressions they form based on the professional appearance of a page’s design.*
*Source: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/people/merrie/papers/WebCredibility_CHI2011.pdf
Key Aspects of good web design
• Your site’s purpose need to be instantly evident
Don’t make users look for the purpose of your site
Strong headlines, clearly named navigation, images
• Your site needs to be easy to use
Uncluttered layout, good supportive images, works in all browsers
• Tell users what you expect them to do
Use calls-to-action to guide the visitors to therelevant conversion page
Web Development best practices
• Standards-based
W3C compliance is not a must, but should be worked towards
Cross-browser compatibility• Internet Explorer 7,8,9 / Firefox / Google Chrome
Limit 3rd party plugins• avoid Flash, Silverlight & QuickTime
• JavaScript is OK, within limits
Content Management
• Open Source systems are a good choice
Easily portable so you’re not dependent on a single web developer
Constantly upgraded with security fixes & functional improvements
Most are based on standards and will generate compliant websites
Many plugins & extensions available for extra functionality
• Examples: Wordpress, Magento
What drives traffic to a website?
Traffic Sources
Search Traffic
• Search traffic is the biggest traffic driver for most websites
Search encompasses both organic search and paid search advertising
Increased traffic via organic search is achieved via Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Increased traffic via paid search advertising is done via Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising on Google AdWords
Search Engine Results Page*:
*SERP
Organic search results:
Paid search advertising:
Other Traffic Sources
• Referral traffic
Clicks from other websites on to yours
Social Media can be a big driver of referral traffic
• Campaigns
Email marketing
• Direct traffic
Bookmarks / Favorites
Clicks from external (non-browser) tools like Outlook, Lotus Domino, etc.
What is Search Engine Optimisation?
Definition of SEO:
Wikipedia: Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the "natural" or un-paid ("organic" or "algorithmic") search results.
Getting more relevant traffic to websites via search engines' organic results.
Search Engine Optimisation
Why is SEO important?
Search Engine Usage
89% of all online purchases in the UK begin with a search
95% of all UK Internet users choose Google as their preferred search engine
Organic search results receive over 75% of all clicks
91% of users do not look past the first page of search results
Worldwide Internet Usage
2 billion users online
Dec 2009: 131 billion searches (that’s more than 49,000 searches/second)
51.4 milion users (82.5% of the population)
In April 2010, Google received 4.1 billion search page views in the UK
The UK internet economy is worth £100 billion = 7.2% of UK gross domestic product
UK Internet Usage
Clickthrough rates (CTR) on search engine results:
SEO is about two things:
Keywords Links
Keywords match a search query to a webpage.
Links determine which webpage ranks highest.
The SEO process:
KeywordResearch
On-Page Optimisation
Linkbuilding
Find the right keywords to optimise for
Implement those keywords on the website Make the website search-engine friendly
Build links to the website to increase its authority
The Long Tail of search words
Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/illustrating-the-long-tail
Google Adwords Keyword Tool –http://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
On-site Optimisation
Title tags
Meta Description tags
Headlines and paragraph structure
Body text
Image alt attributes
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URLs
Internal links
Sitemap (HTML and XML)
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Elements to be optimised:
On-Page Optimisation
<title>Pierce Communications - Design,
Marketing, Digital, Print</title>
• Put your focus keywords in your title, and include your brand name (use separators like hyphens – and pipes | )
• Keep it short – 65-70 characters
• Unique title for every page on your website
Title tag+
On-Page Optimisation
<meta name=‘description’ content=‘Pierce Communications is a
leading marketing services agency based in Belfast,
Northern Ireland. Services include print design, web
design & build, SEO, PPC.’>
• Not a ranking factor – but a very important click-through factor
• SERPs only show 150 characters – but no guarantee they’ll actually show your description.
• Try to include the focus keyword once
Meta Description tag+
On-Page Optimisation
<H1> headline
<H2> subheader
<H3> subheaders
<p> paragraphs
• Allows SEs to understand the content and its context
Headlines and paragraph structure+
On-Page Optimisation
• Link from top to bottom
• Link sideways & diagonally
• Use keywords in the link
Wrong:To read more about wedding rings, click here.
Right: Read more about wedding rings.
• Use breadcrumb links:
Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/diagrams-for-solving-crawl-priority-indexation-issues
Internal links+
Linkbuilding
• Links determine a page’s authority
• Higher authority = higher ranking on SERPs
• More links = higher authority
• Not all links are equal
1 valuable link from a high authority website > 100 links from low-quality sites
• Link text is very important
Branded link: Pierce Communications
Keyword-rich link: Web Design Belfast
How to build links?
Directory Submissions
Press Releases
Article Marketing & Guest Blogging
Linkbait
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Want to learn more about SEO?
• Training (Digital Marketing Institute)
• Read SEO books
The Art of SEO
• Read SEO blogs:
Search Engine Land
SEOmoz
State of Search
Search News Central
• Hire a professional
[15 minute break]
How can you use Social Media effectively?
What Is Social Media?
“Social media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio”
http://www.wikipedia.org
What Is Social Media?
More simply put:
Social media is
people having
conversations online
Powered By Tools Such As...
YouTube Facebook Twitter
Flickr MySpace Blogs
What Is Social Media?
It’s all about the C’s
• Community
• Communication
• Connected
• Collaboration
• Creative
Advantages Pitfalls
• Places higher demands
on your time
• Places higher demands
on your talent
• Lose some control of
your marketing effort
• Delay on your Return
on Investment
• Reach customers that
traditional marketing
misses
• Build brand loyalty
• Learn how to improve
your products and
services
• Learn more about your
target audience
Stay Or Go?
• Some companies just don’t “get it” yet
• People are not just demographics anymore, to connect with them you need to understand that relationships are more powerful than marketing
• That is why social media is not a fad...it’s a new way of communicating!
Stay Or Go?
The old communication model was a monologue
• Only 18% of TV ad campaigns generate positive ROI
• 90% of people who can skip TV ads, do
• The average person is exposed to 3000 advertising messages a day...only 14% trust them
• 78% of people trust the recommendations of other consumers
Nielsen “Trust in Advertising” report, October 2010.
What Can It Do For ME?
It’s not a magic bullet! But over time it can give you:
• Visibility- by engaging in daily conversations with your audience you are at the forefront of their mind when they need your service
• Brand yourself as a Resource- All that visibility and sharing means that you become the go-to resource and a voice that people trust in your industry
What Can It Do For ME?
• Help you get speaking gigs- Conference organisers want people in their industry who are both trusted and visible.
• Build a community- By making yourself available and sharing information you strengthen your community.
• Highlight your service- SM offers an additional avenue to show off and talk about your services in an informal way.
• Find new projects and clients- you can receive leads and referrals as a result of your social media presence
• Hang out with other Influencers- Social media lets you be friends with the people your clients most look up to.
What Can It Do For ME?
• Tell your company’s story- People like to conduct business with companies they know.
• Be a Mentor- Sometimes you’re the person they are trying to meet and the person they’re learning from
• Improve your writing skills- Want to be a better writer? Enter the world of social media!
• Develop better ideas- Armed with blogs, forums and social discussions you’ll be able to try and get feedback on ideas before you develop them
• Network faster- This morning, through twitter, I had a conversation with one of the top social media experts in the world- you can’t buy access like that
What Can It Do For ME?
• Find partners- An offshoot of networking you may be able to find future mentors or people to share resources with
• Get answers faster- When you get involved in SM you build up a network of people who can help you answer questions or point you to resources
• Create a resource depositary- Every time someone tweets an article that is useful save it!
• Develop your company culture- It forces you to pin down who you are and what you want your brand to be
• Better hires- Using SM can help you to hire smarter and faster. It helps you cut through the clutter and find the most talented gems
So You Want To Start...
• Choose the appropriate channels
• Get your content right
• Build up a list of permissions- just because the tool is free does not mean that the channel is free!
The Appropriate Channel?
• LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are the most established channels but each has a different tone and function
• LinkedIn is very much a business tool
• Facebook reaches people in their social time
• Twitter easily straddles both
The Right Content?
This depends on your goals:
• If your aim is to win new business, the focus needs to be on providing good know-how or industry insight, which is of use to clients and demonstrates quality of thought within your firm
• Conversely, if your objective is to market the firm to future trainees, you might talk about interesting work completed by the firm
So Should You?
Yes, if you are willing to put in the time and energy that this channel requires to be successful.
If you build it, they probably won’t come. If you look after it, they’ll start arriving.
How blogging can help your business
What Is A Business Blog
What it’s not:
• A place where you keep and report a diary of your company’s activities. This is more along the lines of a personal blog
• A business blog is much more part of your online marketing toolkit
Others Do It, Why Should You?
• Differentiating your business and services
• Attracting prospects and developing new business opportunities
• Helping to enhance and build your visibility and brand
• Positioning yourself as an expert
• Improving internal communications
• It will act as a central element to SEO
Ok, But What Are The Advantages?
• Develop your position and reputation as an expert
• Create a real dialogue with those who matter
• Lead generation
• Brand Awareness
• Educational marketing
How Do I Start?
How do I start?
• What do you want to do with your business blog?
• Who is your target audience?
• What results are you looking to achieve?
• How will it integrate with your other marketing activities?
• Who will be blogging and how often?
Final Thought
• Legal profession already has a strong blogging community, so the appetite for it is there
• If you’re going to do it, do it properly
• Keep it fresh, keep it regular, keep it interesting and it will become a great tool.
Web Strategy – tying it all together
SOSTAC®
Start with setting goals & objectives
• What do you want your website do deliver for your business?
Don’t be online just for the sake of it
Have a clear goal in mind, and focus your online activities on achieving that goal
Identify your core online channels
• What traffic source will lead to you achieving your objective in the most effective way?
SEO + PPC + Email + Social
Usually a mix of channels works best
• If unsure, start small and try things out
Don’t give up too soon
• Persist – especially with long term activities such as SEO and Social Media
• Acquire expertise
Either in-house or agency
• See what your competitors are doing
Don’t simply copy, but be inspired and original
Measure
• Use web analytics like Google Analytics to measure the result of your online activities
Track conversions and attach a value to them
• (Re-)Focus on those channels that deliver the biggest ROI
Questions?
http://www.piercecommunications.co.uk
02890 371010
Thank you for your time & attention