Mike Linville emphasizes the changing landscape of web development and the urgent need for small businesses to have an online presence. Despite the high internet usage, many small businesses lack websites or effective marketing strategies, affecting their growth. He offers a solution through five key pillars—affordability, maintainability, trackability, effective planning, and leveraging opportunities—to help these businesses thrive in the current economy.

2. Mike Linville Owner/Chief Project Manager Black Dog Studios Black Dog Education *Self Employed Business Owner for 13 Years

3. Remember When...? Web development used to be a highly specialized trade. HTML CSS PHP Perl MySQL Javascript

4. Remember When...? Highly specialized = Highly Paid

5. Remember When...? If you wanted a good web designer, you had to pay for it! Highly specialized = Highly Paid

6. The Big Shift 2007-2008 the economy drastically changed. Housing market. Banks imploded. Recession began.

7. The Big Shift Small business owners have been hit HARD!

8. Nowadays… Internet usage is more prevalent than ever!

9. 65 % of Americans spend more time on their computers than with their spouses. Kelton Research

10. Social Media is exploding!

11. 1 in 9 people in the world have a Facebook profile. Approx. 200 million users. 35 hours of video is uploaded every minute.

12. Nowadays…

13. Nowadays… The need for small business owners to be online is greater now than ever before!

14. BUT!

15. Studies Have Shown… 50% of small businesses do NOT have a website. Half of those that DO have a site, do not track their marketing efforts. Nearly 80% of all Google Analytics installations were either incorrect or incomplete. 5% of small businesses are doing things right.

16. The Truth Is Small business owners are struggling to stay afloat. They have stopped marketing to save money, yet… The key to growth is marketing!

17. Small Businesses Are Struggling

18. No Marketing Budgets Lack of Time Don’t Know Where to Start Overwhelmed with the Options Underwhelmed with the Talent

19. The Solution The Five Pillars

20. The Solution A combination of qualities and philosophies needed for small businesses to not just survive but THRIVE in this economy [or any other].

21. Affordable Don’t spend all of your money on web development. You should save some for marketing!

22. Maintainable If you can maintain your own site, there is no need to pay a developer for small changes and there is a faster turn around.

23. Trackable You have to to understand your numbers. We want your site to generate positive ROI, A.S.A.P!

24. Pareto’s Principle [80/20 Rule] Leverage

25. Philosophy Crawl => Walk => Run

26. Crawl > Walk > Run Philosophy Create a Website Master It Work Deeper

27. Action Plan Hosting & Domain Go Daddy, Network Solutions, etc. CMS [Content Management System] Installation Joomla Drupal WordPress  Black Dog Recommends Plugins Used to extend the functionality of your website. Thousands of FREE plugins to choose from.

28. Action Plan Analytics Create a FREE Google Analytics account to track the results and increase the effectiveness of your website. Build Site Choose your template, write content and build your own website. Marketing Use social media, high value and free content, etc. to promote your website.

29. The Wrap Up We all know how bad the economy is right now. We’re sure you or someone you know has been affected by it.

30. The Wrap Up Peter Drucker, the father of modern management. “ Business boils down to two activities: marketing and innovation.”

31. The Wrap Up Ask Yourself: Am I getting the most out of my web presence? Am I thriving or just surviving? What is stopping me?

32. You Can Do This! Remember why you started your business in the first place: Family Time Security Financial Success

33. You Can Do This! Stop investing in your web developers dreams, and start investing in YOURS!

34. Any Questions?