Presented by Fisse Design in 2013, this was an overview for small businesses seeking to improve their online presence. The presentation covers web design basics, from outlining the potential of a website, the concept of creating goals, measurement, good design and user-centric design principles, plus managing your own website. A must for small businesses!
Maximising your website for business - an overview
1. Presented by Fisse Design - custom wordpress web design and digital strategy for Canberra & South Coast NSW.
MAKE YOUR WEBSITE
WORK FOR YOU
2. Presented by Fisse Design - custom wordpress web design and digital strategy for Canberra & South Coast NSW.
WEBSITE POTENTIALHOW SIMPLE CHANGES CAN MAKE YOUR WEBSITE PERFORM.
3. WEBSITE POTENTIAL.
• WH Y DO YOU HAVE A WEBSITE?
• For most, it’s to create revenue
• Outside of your product or service and its price,
what can you change on your website
to increase revenue?
4. • THE 5 ESSENTIALS FOR WEBSITE REVENUE:
1.Website traffic
An empty store gets no business.
2.A professional design
A good image speaks volumes and aids conversions
3.Ease of use & the content your visitor wants
If they can’t find it, they won’t be buying it
4.Performance reviews
Like an employee, assess regularly if it is performing
5.Improvements
If you have a dud employee, do you just accept it?
WEBSITE POTENTIAL.
5. • JOE’S FISHING CHARTER
WEBSITE GETS:
• 1000 website visits a month
• 20 website enquiries a month
• 5 actual sales, $200 profit per sale
• $1000 profit a month.
WEBSITE POTENTIAL.
6. • JOE’S WEBSITE NOW HAS BETTER MARKETING:
• 2000 website visits a month
(2x traffic)
• 40 website enquiries a month
(2x enquiries)
• 10 actual sales, $200 profit per sale
(2x sales)
• $2000 profit a month.
(2x profit exc. marketing cost.)
WEBSITE POTENTIAL.
7. • JOE’S WEBSITE NOW HAS A BETTER DESIGN
FOR SALES CONVERSIONS
• 2000 website visits a month
(same traffic)
• 80 website enquiries a month
(further 2x enquiries)
• 20 actual sales, $200 profit per sale
(further 2x sales)
• $4000 profit a month.
(4x original profit)
WEBSITE POTENTIAL.
8. • JOE INCREASED HIS MARKETING EFFORT AND
HE INCREASED HIS PRICES.
• 3000 website visits a month
(further 1.5x increase)
• 80 website enquiries a month
(same enquiries)
• 20 actual sales, $300 profit per sale
(1.5x profit)
• $6000 profit a month.
(6x original profit exc. costs.)
WEBSITE POTENTIAL.
9. • JOE CAPTURES CLIENTS ONLINE & PROMOTES A
LOYALTY PROGRAM VIA EMAIL.
• Unchanged website visits
• Unchanged website enquiries
• 10% take-up on email promotion
to existing clients
• 22 actual sales, $300 profit per sale
(10% increased sales)
• $6600 profit a month.
($600 for an email campaign.)
WEBSITE POTENTIAL.
10. • JOES NOW WORKS WITH FACEBOOK
• Each month, Joe shares positive customer stories /
photos / videos on 20 of his client’s Facebook walls.
• His clients then share the amazing video of them
catching a fish to 100 friends each.
• There is a large click through rate to Joes website, as it
has been shared by a trusted source (a friend).
WEBSITE POTENTIAL.
11. • JOES NOW WORKS WITH FACEBOOK
• 10% of Joes client’s friends go to the website. (200
more visitors)
• 10% of that 200 convert to actual sales.
(20 extra sales)
• 42 actual sales, $300 profit per sale.
(Up from 5 a month)
• $12600 profit a month.
(Up from $1000 a month)
WEBSITE POTENTIAL.
12. • JOES CONTINUES WITH HIS CLIENTS ON FACEBOOK
• Instead of 22 clients a month, Joe now
has 42 customer stories to share on Facebook...
WEBSITE POTENTIAL.
13. TONIGHT
• How to put a website
strategy in place...
• Effectively use marketing
• Apply user oriented design
• Aid Sales Conversions
• And measure success
14. Presented by Fisse Design - custom wordpress web design and digital strategy for Canberra & South Coast NSW.
WEBSITE STRATEGYTHE FUNDAMENTALS TO DEFINING A WEB STRATEGY.
15. WEBSITE STRATEGY
• DO YOU HAVE A WEBSITE STRATEGY?
• All businesses should have procedures in
place for sales, services and general
administration.
• Most businesses have some kind of marketing
strategy in place.
• In the same vein, your website needs a
strategy.
16. WEBSITE STRATEGY
• YOUR WEBSITE STRATEGY
• Key items you need to address in a website
strategy are...
• What is your website’s job?
Like a role description for an employee, your
website’s job can be defined.
• Who is your customer?
Define your client - age, income, location etc.
17. WEBSITE STRATEGY
• WEBSITE STRATEGY
• What are your customers supposed to do on the site?
Do you want them to see your phone number and call? Send an email?
Book immediately? Buy online? View examples of your work?
• How will they find your site?
• How will you engage with your customer long term?
• How do you measure the success of your website?
Set some goals for your website. Benchmarks, goals and ongoing testing
provide the impetus for improvement.
18. SUMMARY
TOP 5 THINGS TO REMEMBER!
• A website strategy helps
define what you do online
• Know it’s job
• Know your client
• How are you marketing it?
• With these questions
answered, you have a strong
basis to build or improve.
19. From your activity sheets, fill out
your name & business type on
Website Strategy Part 1
Describe your website’s job, your
customer and what your
customer should do on your
website.
ACTIVITY
WEBSITE STRATEGY - PART 1
20. Presented by Fisse Design - custom wordpress web design and digital strategy for Canberra & South Coast NSW.
DRIVING TRAFFICONLINE AND OFFLINE MARKETING
21. • WHAT ARE THE KEY DRIVERS OF TRAFFIC?
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
• Pay Per Click Advertising (SEM)
• Promotion on Social Media
• Email Campaigns
• Offline Marketing
DRIVING TRAFFIC
22. • SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION (SEO)
• With great SEO, your website can appear on the
1st page of search engines with the ultimate aim of
achieving the #1 position.
• This is important, as searches online now exceed
searches performed on printed Yellow Pages as of
2 years ago.
• Approx 70% of searches are performed through
Google, and 25% through Bing.
• There are over 5 billion searches performed a day
on Google.
• Click through rates and heatmaps show it’s critical
to be near the top of the page of Google and Bing.
DRIVING TRAFFIC
23. • SEO ESSENTIALS - HOW DO I RANK WELL?
• Well chosen keywords
• Great, fresh content... including video
• Links to your site from quality sites
• Google Maps, Google+ Local Listings
• Links to your site from Social Channels
• A site that is coded well for the user & SEO
DRIVING TRAFFIC
24. • SEO ESSENTIALS - KEYWORDS
• There’s lots of competition, so well thought out keyword
phrases are the way to go.
• A proven approach is to use these keyword identifiers:
• YOUR LOCALITY (E.G MORUYA)
• YOUR SERVICE (E.G PLUMBER)
• SPECIALITIES (LEAKY TAPS, BATHROOM REFITS)
• OTHER IDENTIFIERS (BEST, CHEAPEST)
DRIVING TRAFFIC
25. • SEO ESSENTIALS - FRESH CONTENT
• Search engines can be told to review your site. Initially they
glance at your site briefly & decides how it ranks based on
ever-changing parameters.
• If your site has fresh, keyword rich content on it, in the form of
new products, reviews, testimonials, general news or industry
articles that are unique - Google will notice... and delve a little
deeper into your site.
• Videos are fantastic. Host them on YouTube. Embed them on
your site. Ensure your movie file name, title, scripts & captions
on YouTube contain your keyword phrases.
• Keep it up. Within weeks, you will notice your articles & videos
are starting to rank. After a number of months, you’ll start to
notice your articles are ranked within 12 hours.
• CONTENT IS KING. Who here uses a CMS?
DRIVING TRAFFIC
26. • SEO ESSENTIALS - BACKLINKS
• Backlinks are links from other websites. The more you have, the
better.
• Facebook, Google+ and other social channels.
• Also consider getting a link to your site from:
• TrueLocal.com.au
• your local Council site
• your local Chamber of Commerce
• any industry sites & forums
• If you have a blog or news RSS feed, submit it to RSS feed
aggregator sites. Free backlinks.
DRIVING TRAFFIC
27. • SEO ESSENTIALS - GOOGLE+ LOCAL
• Google provides a service for business owners to
be listed on local searches
• With a Google account, you can add in your
business details, your service, web address
• You can optimise the listing for better results
• Google+ Local listings rank very well - a must for
SEO with a local focus.
DRIVING TRAFFIC
28. • SEO ESSENTIALS - A SITE BUILT FOR SEO
• Page Titles containing your keywords is very important.
• The Page Title on your homepage is the first to master.
• The Page Title should focus on a range of keywords that page
actually contains, and be less than 70 characters.
• The Meta Description is the opening paragraph you’ll see in
search results. Use this to lure your visitors in!
DRIVING TRAFFIC
29. • SEO ESSENTIALS - A SITE BUILT FOR SEO
• An XML sitemap generated for text and video content is
invaluable. This helps search engines locate and rank all
content.
• Your domain name and URL structure is important.
• Ideally, you’d have something like:
www.moruyaplumbers.com.au
(although the requirement keywords is slowly diminishing, with a
focus on strong brands instead)
• You can add useful keywords into the URL of pages in your site:
www.moruyaplumbers.com.au/best-value-plumbers
DRIVING TRAFFIC
30. • SEO ESSENTIALS - A SITE BUILT FOR SEO
• Search engines review whether the content coded in
the page is in a logical & navigable hierarchy for the
user.
• This includes the use of H1, H2, H3 heading tags.
• And importantly, logical placement of call to action
buttons around the content.
• Including keywords in all of the above is great.
• If you have a Content Management System, you may
have control over these aspects.
DRIVING TRAFFIC
31. • PAY PER CLICK ADVERTISING (PPC)
• Very effective!
• Choose your search keywords.
• The more popular the terms are, the more you pay.
Set your budget online. Maximum of $5 a day etc.
• Only pay for click throughs.
You get the clicks... the conversion part is up to you!
• Your business will be at the top of the page.
The best place to be!
DRIVING TRAFFIC
32. • PAY PER CLICK ADVERTISING (PPC)
• You can link to your own site, or....
• Many businesses link their PPC advertising to landing pages with a
specific offer or a service in a specific locality.
• They do this outside of their main website for a number of reasons:
• Provide a very specific offer without the distraction of other
content
• Avoiding excessive redevelopment to do this on an existing,
effective website
• Easily make ongoing changes to a single page website offer to
improve sales conversions.
DRIVING TRAFFIC
33. • SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTION
• Who’s doing it here?
• Stats show people don’t buy (YET) on Social Media,
however it can be an incredible traffic driver.
• The ultimate word-of-mouth online.
• If possible, ask to network with / befriend your
customers.
• Similarly, Like Pages or Join Circles on Facebook or
Google+ that are related to your industry.
DRIVING TRAFFIC
34. • EMAIL CAMPAIGNS
• With a well designed form, you can easily capture clients
and build databases online.
• Using promotions and incentives to return to the site,
email campaigns can increase the traffic to your site.
• We’ll go through email & social campaigns in detail later.
DRIVING TRAFFIC
35. • OFFLINE MARKETING
• Display your website address proudly on:
• Shop Fronts
• Car Signage
• Packaging
• Business Cards
• Flyers, Magazines & Newspaper Ads
• And your email stationery!
DRIVING TRAFFIC
36. SUMMARY
TOP 5 THINGS TO REMEMBER!
• Link to your site from Social Media & sites
• Try some Search Optimisation, starting with
Page Titles and keywords in your content.
• Pay Per Click advertising works!
• Update that website with fresh content,
photos and videos
• Advertise your URL in all print media
Don’t be overwhelmed. You don’t need to do it
all at once. Learn as you go along and see what
works
37. From your activity sheets,
grab
Website Strategy Part 2
Describe how you will get
traffic to your site.
ACTIVITY
WEBSITE STRATEGY - PART 2
38. Presented by Fisse Design - custom wordpress web design and digital strategy for Canberra & South Coast NSW.
SALES CONVERSIONSMAKE THE MOST OF YOUR WEBSITE TRAFFIC
39. Presented by Fisse Design - custom wordpress web design and digital strategy for Canberra & South Coast NSW.
40. Presented by Fisse Design - custom wordpress web design and digital strategy for Canberra & South Coast NSW.
41. Presented by Fisse Design - custom wordpress web design and digital strategy for Canberra & South Coast NSW.
42. SALES CONVERSIONS
• THE PERFECT USER EXPERIENCE
• There is a reason why people come to your site.
They are looking for your product or services, or information
about your business.
• Remember who they are, and think how and why they have
found your site.
• Make it easy for them to do business with you.
Step by step, you can reverse engineer what the user would
do on your site.
43. • COMMON DESIGN MISTAKES
• Too much clutter
• Consider the purpose of the page, and make the
content reflect this as simply as possible
• Text that’s hard to read
• Avoid small fonts, or very low contrast colours.
• Avoid text over clashing bright colours or high detail
photographs
(e.g text is OK over a blue sky... but not over a crowd
of people on a beach!)
SALES CONVERSIONS
44. • COMMON DESIGN MISTAKES
• No clear, call to action buttons
• No Mobile or iPad variations of the site.
Stats suggest we are near or have already achieved
parity
with Mobile vs Desktop internet usage.
• A homepage that has no purpose.
• Many homepages still feature a large image or
splash page, or lengthy “Welcome” messages.
• After a quick glance, if you do not meet the visitors
requirements within seconds, they’ll leave.
SALES CONVERSIONS
45. • DESIGN FOR OPTIMUM CONVERSIONS
• Your website needs to look professional.
Here’s some trends:
• Large font sizes, big bold headings
• Large featured photos or slideshows at full width
• Full sized photographic or video backgrounds
• One page sites that continue to load content as you scroll
• App style elements and interfaces (due to familiarity)
• Design around content, not content to fit a design.
SALES CONVERSIONS
46. • DESIGN FOR OPTIMUM CONVERSIONS
• Statistics show original video content keeps
visitors on the page longer.
• Videos keep your clients on the page for 2
minutes longer than average.
• Visitors 64% more likely to purchase with video
than without.
• People tend to be lazy. If they can watch rather
than read, great.
• There are great search ranking benefits if
implemented well.
• In your line of business, what kind of video do
you think you could use?
SALES CONVERSIONS
47. • DESIGN FOR OPTIMUM CONVERSIONS
• Ensure your key goals are met with Calls to
Action on the homepage.
• If you have a number to call, an email or
booking form to fill out - bring it up straight
away.
• If you want people to look at your products,
services or facilities in depth - provide the
means to do so.
• Buttons work better than text links.
• Buttons need to be prominent.
SALES CONVERSIONS
48. • DESIGN FOR OPTIMUM CONVERSIONS
• Be Responsive / Mobile ready.
• 40% of consumers will go to a competitor after
a bad mobile experience.
• Mobile searches related to restaurants have a
conversion rate of 90% with 64% converting
within the hour.
SALES CONVERSIONS
49. • USER EXPERIENCE: MORUYA PLUMBING
• A potential client has searched for “Moruya Plumbing Services” on Google.
• Well, they clearly need plumbing!
So when they come to the site, we can make an assumption
they will either be after....
• Plumbing Repairs - Sorting Leaks or Unblocking Pipes
• New Plumbing - for Kitchens or Bathrooms
SALES CONVERSIONS
50. • USER EXPERIENCE: MORUYA PLUMBING
• Earlier, we made a job description for your site.
• What would you think the main job description could be for
www.moruyaplumbing.com.au?
• To clearly demonstrate the services they offer
• Provide contact information
• Offer a background of the company
SALES CONVERSIONS
51. • USER EXPERIENCE: MORUYA PLUMBING
• For the website to do it’s job, and meet what the user is expecting...
• The homepage should clearly list the most popular services near the top
• A list will do. Most people know what plumbing services entail.
• An option to read more about each individual service can be provided.
• The homepage should also clearly offer a call to action near these services
• in this case, Call for a Quote, Email for a Quote or Book Now
SALES CONVERSIONS
52. • USER EXPERIENCE: MORUYA PLUMBING
• It’s also good to include a quick overview about the business, and
testimonials always help.
• These items are a lower priority to the service offering and calls to
action, and this should be reflected in the design
SALES CONVERSIONS
55. • USER EXPERIENCE: MORUYA PLUMBING
• The mobile experience
• Put yourself in the users hands... if you have
found Moruya Plumbing on Google on a
phone, what is it that you want to do?
• You will not be browsing photo or video
galleries of stormwater pipes or toilet
plungers!
• Are you going to send them an email, and
wait for them to come back to you?
SALES CONVERSIONS
56. • USER EXPERIENCE: MORUYA PLUMBING
• It is very likely you need to simply need to make a
phone call to them, or trying to find their address.
• Phone number at the top of the page with a
CALL button is paramount!
• Using the smartphone’s native ability to combine
website browsing with the ability to call
immediately is a powerful conversion tool.
• Every business will have different requirements
here.
• Who here has a mobile site? What is the emphasis
for the user?
SALES CONVERSIONS
57. SUMMARY
TOP 5 THINGS TO REMEMBER!
• Keep the visitor in mind
• Does your site make it easy
for them?
• Give them what they want
with reduced clutter
• Large clear content & giant
imagery helps
• Mobile / Responsive sites.
58. Swap with a neighbour your
Website Strategy Pt 1 sheet.
With their top 3 website jobs
in mind, sketch up a basic
layout of what should be on
the homepage.
Just a basic sketch will do!
Use the examples as a
guide.
ACTIVITY
WEBSITE DESIGN SESSION
59. Presented by Fisse Design - custom wordpress web design and digital strategy for Canberra & South Coast NSW.
CAMPAIGNS FOR SALESUSING EMAIL & SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SALES
60. • EMAIL CAMPAIGNS
• There are two key parts to email campaigns
• Building a Database
• Promoting to the Database
• Both require good design & great ideas!
CAMPAIGNS FOR SALES
61. • EMAIL CAMPAIGNS
• To build a database, you need to
• Provide a simple, highly visible form
• Offer an incentive to sign up for updates
• Potentially offer something for free
• like an information pack
• bonus information, of value, in your field
CAMPAIGNS FOR SALES
62. • EMAIL CAMPAIGNS
• With permission, you can then send emails about:
• Promotions and product releases via email (sales)
• Customer service related emails (loyalty)
• Announce social media competitions
• Loyalty programs / tell a friend
• Keep the emails to once a month maximum at the start, and make
the offer worthwhile.
CAMPAIGNS FOR SALES
63. • EMAIL CAMPAIGNS
• MailChimp.com is a fantastic service
• Upload your database
• Create your email online quickly
• Get stats, click throughs, opens etc
• Free up to 2000 emails a send, 6 times a month.
• $10 a month gets you more features, and MC logo
removed.
• Start promoting!
CAMPAIGNS FOR SALES
64. • SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTION
• Using your business social accounts, write material that is
genuinely useful or entertaining to your contacts. Occasionally
link back to your site.
• Linked-In groups are great for B2B networking.
• Post entertaining photos or videos of client enjoying your
product or service for them to share.
• Try sharing funny industry related photos or awkward staff
member photos for a caption comp. The mind boggles!
CAMPAIGNS FOR SALES
65. • SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTION
• “Like” our page, the 100th “Like” wins a free...
• Quizzes - identify this object for the chance to win....
• Invite people on your website to Like your Facebook page,
with incentives such as ongoing discounts and offers if they
do.
• Show a Facebook feed on your site, if you have an impressive
amount of people following you or large amount of activity.
CAMPAIGNS FOR SALES
66. SUMMARY
TOP 5 THINGS TO REMEMBER!
• Build a database with clear
forms & incentives
• Use MailChimp.com &
network on social media
• Promote Sales
• Promote Loyalty / Referral
programmes
• Distribute industry news for
repeat business
67. Complete the 1st section of
Website Strategy Pt 3.
Outline some promotional
ideas you could try.
ACTIVITY
WEBSITE STRATEGY - PART 3
68. Presented by Fisse Design - custom wordpress web design and digital strategy for Canberra & South Coast NSW.
MEASURE YOUR SUCCESSHOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOUR WEBSITE WORKS?
69. MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS
• HOW TO MEASURE PERFORMANCE
• To measure success, you need a goal
Are happy with your website now? What more do you want from it?
• Track Website visits & interaction with Google Analytics
Start with a benchmark and work towards your goals.
• A-B testing and performance optimisation
• Offline monitoring
70. • GOALS
• Many website owners have “set and forget” mentality
• If a website has resulted in some sales and paid itself off, it’s too
easy to just let it work in the background.
• The issue is there’s no actual measure of performance.
• If you measure performance, you have a basis for realistic improvements
over time.
MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS
71. • NEW GOALS
• Who currently has performance goals for their site?
• How many sales or leads do you get a week?
• Your website is BLUDGING! Set it some challenges.
• I want 20 more phone calls a month
• I want 10 more bookings a month
• I want 50% more of my traffic to convert
MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS
72. • TRACKING ONLINE ACTIVITY
• Who has Google Analytics?
• How do you use it?
• It’s more than just page visits.
• See what keywords are used to access your site
• See what pages visitors go to
• See how long they stay on a page
• See where pages fail (exit points)
MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS
73. • TRACKING ONLINE ACTIVITY
• Have analytics setup before any new work
• Armed with your goals and a benchmark
• See what designs are selling most
• See if SEO is working
MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS
74. • A/B & MULTIVARIATE TESTING FOR PERFORMANCE
• With website tools and analytics configured, you can
• Setup multiple variations of one page
• Each new visitor sees a different variation of the same page
• Analytics shows which variation has
• the longest visit
• the best conversions or click through rates
MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS
75. • OFFLINE MONITORING
• Keep a spreadsheet or database entry
• Ask people in store or on the phone if they’ve found
• your contact details, product or service online
• your location online
• While you’ve got them.... did they like your website?
MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS
76. SUMMARY
TOP 5 THINGS TO REMEMBER!
• Use analytics & establish a
benchmark
• Create some goals
• See what works and what
doesn’t.
• Fresh content! Don’t set and
forget!
• A/B Testing is where it’s at.
78. Presented by Fisse Design - custom wordpress web design and digital strategy for Canberra & South Coast NSW.
LOVE YOUR WEBSITESTAY ON TOP OF IT FOR RESULTS
79. SUMMARY
TOP 5 THINGS TO REMEMBER!
• Content Management
Systems are a must
• There are many CMSs your
site can be adapted to.
Wordpress is popular.
• Provide fresh material and
updates at least weekly
• Give your customers a
reason to return
• Search Engine Benefits
80. Presented by Fisse Design - custom wordpress web design and digital strategy for Canberra & South Coast NSW.
Q&A