Imagining Your Next
Web Site
10 Ideas to Engage Your Audience

Three Observations
! Web 1.0 Web 2.0: Authority expands beyond company
websites to include individuals who are influential to both
small and large groups
! Single website to multi-channel: Expectations are rising
regarding where users expect to find information and the
quality of the experience that they will have
! Website needs to move from being passive to being
active content: Website optimization is moving beyond
SEO to Social Media Optimization

Web 1.0 Web 2.0
Online Brochure Online Business
Hyperlinks Distribute Content
Text & Images Video, Chat, Real Time
Read Only Comment, Blog, Rate

1. Use a Content Management System
to Repurpose Content
! THE PAST: A CMS used to replace HTML editors
for content maintenance
! TODAY: A CMS makes it easier to repurpose
content across the site using tags and modular
blocks
! Once inside a section, users tend to navigate by
content not by the site’s navigation

2. Develop an SEO Strategy from the
Ground Up
! A little planning and on-going maintenance will
make vast improvement in search rankings
! Check analytics reports on current site for key
search keys
! Structure content around these search terms
! Create URL structure around search terms

Over 50% of Visitors Come Via Search
25%
55%
20%

Despite the Social Networking Hype
Search Still Dominates
70
60
Daily Internet
60
Activities
50
49 (% Internet Users)
39
40
% who do this on
a typical day
29 30
30 28
20
13
10
0
Visit Social Surf Web Research Check Check Search
Email
Networking Site For Fun Hobby Weather News Engine
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project

3. Develop a Video Content Stream
! 73% of Internet users watch videos
! US Internet users watched 11.5 billion videos in
March 2008
! Up 64% since March 2007
! In 2008, 84 million people watched 4.3 billion
videos on YouTube

3. Develop a Video Content Stream
! Authenticity is crucial. Use an interview approach
with a loose outline.
! Provide tools to share videos.
! Posting a video to Facebook results in
comments and sharing.
! Repurpose existing videos: edit down to less
than 2 minutes

4. Fast access to content through
local search
! Google has set the bar high for quality of search
results
! People want to go directly to content
! Search replaces site map

! Faceted search
! Structured data –
content with specific
attributes
! Segmented search
results
! Unstructured content in
different categories
! Whitepapers, press
releases, catalogs, etc.

5. Use Social Media to Pull and
to Push Content

6. Manage Your Brand and Identity in
Web 2.0 Channels

7. For Mobile – Segmentation is Key
! Segment content – what is most
useful on a mobile device?
! Think about a mobile application
vs. a mobile version of your
website
! Real-time notification
! Tie in with social media

8. Engage Through Commenting in
Blogs
! Blogs are the place to create “online events” for
audience interaction
! Through RSS, blogs are an efficient way to
distribute content and updates
! Blogs provide a less formal atmosphere and
provide a place for transparency
! Blogs are place to test new ideas

9. Provide a Path and Reason
to Connect
! Sign-up
! Follow
! RSS Subscribe
! Become a fan
! Become a member

10. Think about Experience and
Completing Tasks
• Find Most Up-to-Date Content
“Marketing” • Get an answer to specific questions
Completing • Complete a transaction
the
Tasks • Get in touch with you offline
“Experience”