use the internet to grow your business

Use the Internet to

Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Use the Internet to grow your business

CPD Seminar

Barry AdamsPierce Communications


Barry Adams

• Digital Services Director at Pierce Communications

�Started as senior digital marketer

• Built my first website in 1995, started my career in all things online in 1997

• Specialisation in SEO


• Specialisation in SEO

• Dutch (yes, really)

• Previous employers include;� Philips Electronics

� Honeywell

� Quotezone

� Independent News & Media (Belfast Telegraph)

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


• 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 the relevant 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


�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


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


� 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;


• Campaigns;�Email marketing

• Direct traffic;�Bookmarks / Favorites

�Clicks from external (non-browser) tools like Outlook, Mail.app, Thunderbird, 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.

Search Engine Optimisation


� Getting more relevant traffic to websites via search engines' organic results.

Why is SEO important?

Worldwide Internet Usage

� Over 2 billion users online

� 150 billion searches a month (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

UK Internet Usage


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

� In April 2010, Google received 4.1 billion search page views in the UK

� The UK internet economy is worth £121 billion = 8.3% of UK gross domestic product

Clickthrough rates (CTR) on search engine results:


SEO is about two things:

Relevance Authority


Relevance & Authority:

Keywords Links

� Keywords match a search query to a

webpage.

� Links determine which webpage ranks

highest.


webpage. highest.

The SEO process:

Keyword

Research

On-Page

� Find the right keywords to optimise for

� Implement those keywords on the website


On-Page

Optimisation

Linkbuilding

� 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

+

+

+

Elements to be optimised:


Body text

Image alt attributes

+

+

URLs

Internal links

Sitemap (HTML and XML)

+

+

+

On-Page Optimisation

<title> Pierce Communications - Design,

Title tag+


<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


<H1> headline

<H2> subheader

<H3> subheaders

Headlines and paragraph structure+


<H3> subheaders

<p> paragraphs

• Allows SEs to understand the content and its context


• Link from top to bottom

• Link sideways & diagonally

• Use keywords in the link

Wrong:

Internal links+


Wrong:To read more about weddingrings, click here.

Right: Read more about wedding rings.

• Use breadcrumb links:

Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/diagrams-for-solving-crawl-priority-indexation-issues

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


� 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

1

2

3


Article Marketing & Guest Blogging

Linkbait

3

4

Want to learn more about SEO?

• Training (Digital Marketing Institute)

• Read SEO books;

� The Art of SEO

• Read SEO blogs;

� Search Engine Land


� Search Engine Land

� SEOmoz

� State of Search

• Hire a professional

[15 minute break]


How can you use Social Media effectively?


What is ‘social media’?

Wikipedia:

“Social media includes web- and mobile-based technologies which are used to turn communication into interactive dialogue among organizations, communities, and individuals.”


Social media is about conversationsconversationsconversationsconversations online about shared interests & ideas.

The old model:


BroadcastBroadcastBroadcastBroadcast

The new model:


ConversationConversationConversationConversation

Real conversations with real people

• People expect to be spoken to as if they are people

• Impersonal & robotic corporate communication is unacceptable


Authentic tone of voice

• Every company has a personality

• That personality should power the engagement with people on social media

• Stay true to your corporate personality

� ‘Fake’ personalities are easily spotted and ridiculed


� ‘Fake’ personalities are easily spotted and ridiculed

The user is in control

• Having conversations mean engaging with your users

• Conversations happen on the user’s terms

� You are ‘intruding’ in their social space, so you need to make sure the conversation is worthwhile to have

• The old adage ‘customer is king’ is 100% true


• The old adage ‘customer is king’ is 100% true

� On social media, the user is king

So what’s in it for me?

• Conversation – not broadcast

• Be authentic and true to your corporate personality

• It happens on the user’s terms


So why would we do social media at all?

Because that’s where your customers are

• Facebook:Facebook:Facebook:Facebook:

� 900 million users

� 3.2 billion likes & comments every day

� On average users spend over 5 hours/month on FB

• Twitter:Twitter:Twitter:Twitter:


• Twitter:Twitter:Twitter:Twitter:

� 550 million users

� 4o0 million tweets a day

• Others:Others:Others:Others:

� LinkedIn: 150m users

� Google+: 170m users

Be realistic

• Social media are social spaces;

� Commercial messages are rarely welcome

• Understand what each social media site is good at;

� Use what works for each specific platform

• Establish clear goals & objectives;


• Establish clear goals & objectives;

� What is it you want to achieve?

� What platforms should you use for that?


Source: Go-Gulf.com, May 2012

Facebook

• The biggest social network by far and the most mature platform for businesses;

� Facebook Pages

� Facebook Advertising

• Highest engagement levels of all social media platforms


• Highest engagement levels of all social media platforms

� More time spent on Facebook than on any other site.

Facebook Pages

• A Facebook Page is the primary presence of a business on Facebook

• All corporate activity on Facebook has to happen via its Page

• On average only 16% only 16% only 16% only 16% of your page’s fans will see your post

� Solution: promoted post:


� Solution: promoted post:

Facebook Advertising


Twitter

• Used to send 140-character messages;

� Very good engagement levels

• Limited advertising opportunities;

� Sponsored tweets are expensive

� Paid-for tweets by celebs need to be declared


� Paid-for tweets by celebs need to be declared

• Great viral potential;

� Twitter Retweets are more powerful than FB likes

� Media pay more attention to what happens on Twitter

Twitter tools

• Main Twitter account

• Hashtags: #paralympics #justinbieber #followfriday

• Following the right people

• Engage with followers

• Average half-life of a tweet: 18 minutes****


• Average half-life of a tweet: 18 minutes****

**** Source: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/when-is-my-tweets-prime-of-life

LinkedIn

• The most popular ‘business’ social network;

� Users create profiles which are more or lessextended CVs

� Connect with (former) colleagues & business associates

� Share updates


� Share updates

� Get recommendations & recommend others

• 150m users (May ‘12)

• Primarily used for business networking;

� Groups

� Events

• A popular tool for recruiters

LinkedIn for business

• Company page;

� Showcase products & services

� Add employees

� Post updates

� Advertise jobs


� Advertise jobs

� Get recommendations

• Advertising;

� Targeted ads

Pinterest

• Social image/video sharing network;

� You can upload (‘pin’) photos & videos


� Like & Re-pin others

� Comment on pins

• 23 million users (Aug ‘12)

� 97% are female

How blogging can help your business


What Is A Business Blog?

What it shouldn’t shouldn’t shouldn’t shouldn’t be;

• Dull corporate news

• Press releases

What it should should should should be;

• Interesting articles about your industry


• Interesting articles about your industry

• Background about current affairs relating to your industry

• Stories about the personalities in yourorganisation

• Write-ups of events you attended

• Resources you want to share

• Etc…

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


• 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


• Educational marketing

How do I start?

• What do you want to do with your business blog?

• Who is your target audience?

� Make it local

• What results are you looking to achieve?

� Reputation / brand awareness


� Reputation / brand awareness

� (Online) Enquiries

• How will it integrate with your othermarketing activities?

• Who will be blogging and how often?

� Content calendar

Corporate blog examples:

• Denman:http://www.denmanbrush.com/ownyourstyle/

• GCD Technologies:http://www.gcdtech.com/blog/

• Brix Workwear:


• Brix Workwear:http://www.brixworkwear.com/uk/blogger/

• Emo Oil:http://www.emooil.com/category/blog

• Pierce Communications:http://www.piercecommunications.co.uk/blog

Legal blogs:

• Baby Barista:http://www.babybarista.com/

• Law Actually:http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/


http://lawactually.blogspot.co.uk/

• Charon CQ:http://charonqc.wordpress.com/

And many, many more…

Final thoughts on blogging

• Legal profession already has a strong blogging community, so the appetite for it is there.

• If you’re going to do it, do it properlydo it properlydo it properlydo it properly.

• Keep it fresh, keep it regular, keep it interesting and it will become a great asset.


become a great asset.

Web Strategy – tying it all together


Four Steps to a Successful Digital Marketing Strategy

1. Goals & Objectives

2. Audience, channels, and tactics

3. Activity Calendar

4. Measure & Analyse

Goals& Objectives


4. Measure & Analyse

Audience, Channels,

Tactics

Activity Calendar

Measure &Analyse

Goals & Objectives

• What are you trying to accomplish?

� More sales?

� More brand awareness?

� Better bargaining position?

• How do you define success?

Goals& Objectives

Audience, Channels,

Tactics

Activity Calendar

Measure &Analyse


• How do you define success?

� Website visits?

� Number of Likes/Followers?

� Engagement (comments/likes/retweets)?

� Online enquiries?

• Determine KPIs and targets

Audience, Channels, and Tactics

• Who are you trying to reach? - Audience

� End customers? Retailers?

� Define your target market

• How can you best reach them? - Channels

� Research your target audience

� What online channels do they use?

Goals& Objectives

Audience, Channels,

Tactics

Activity Calendar

Measure &Analyse


� What online channels do they use?

• How to best engage with your audience – Tactics

� Select the channels that match your audience & targets;

�SEO

�PPC

�Email

�Social

�Etc…

Activity Calendar

• Optimise existing digital assets;

� Website / blog

� Social media accounts

� Multimedia (video, images, etc)

• Create content to engage your target audience;

Goals& Objectives

Audience, Channels,

Tactics

Activity Calendar

Measure &Analyse


� Find out what they like & respond to, and do that. Lots.

� Ensure recurring engagement

� Keep your target KPIs in mind but don’t get too pushy

• Regular content calendar to ensure constant activity;

� Schedule posts in advance (weekends, holidays)

� Align with offline marketing activities

� Product launches, store openings, etc

Measure & Analyse

• Analytics to determine what works &what doesn’t.

• Web Analytics;

� Google Analytics

• Social Media analytics;

� Facebook Insights

Goals& Objectives

Audience, Channels,

Tactics

Activity Calendar

Measure &Analyse


� Facebook Insights

� Twitter metrics (Twittercounter/Tweetstats)

• Business analytics;

� Sales

� Brand perception

• Use these insights to optimise your campaigns

Questions?

Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012Copyright. All Rights Reserved Pierce Communications. 2012

Questions?

[email protected]://twitter.com/badamshttp://www.piercecommunications.co.uk

use the internet to grow your business

Technology