Website design can be a complicated and extremely technical project to take on. Without the expertise, careful planning and commitment to see it through, you run the risk of ending up with an incomplete website…or one that ultimately doesn’t give you what you need.
Join us as we reveal some tips and tricks based on our own experience aimed at any business looking to redevelop (or even create their very first!) website that takes their offering to the next level.
Whether you're a freelancer or an agency, scoping eCommerce projects can be tough. If you do it wrong, you could lose all your profits. Here is the key data to collect, while scoping.
Whether you're a freelancer or an agency, scoping eCommerce projects can be tough. If you do it wrong, you could lose all your profits. Here is the key data to collect, while scoping.
High level overview of designing website for ecommerce to improve conversion rates, build traffic with SEO, track data with web analytics and improve brand exposure with social media websites.
Elad goldenberg: How to Develop your eCommerce StrategyElad Goldenberg
How to Develop your eCommerce Strategy
The 3 verticals of strategy:
1 - The Offering: What?
2 - The Experience: How?
3 - Marketing Channel: To Whom and Where?
Newest strategies, leading companies and useful tips.
Enjoy,
Elad
Why the best B2B buyer experience wins - Louis Jonckheere CPO - ShowpadB2B Marketing Forum
Our consumer experiences and expectations are influencing our behaviour as a B2B buyer. Most sales reps however have not adapted their way of working to this shift in buyer expectations.
For simple purchases, B2B buyers increasingly prefer ecommerce with no salesperson involved. Complex sales on the other hand still requires sales intervention.
As consumers we shop online and use apps, e.g. Amazon, Netflix, and Booking.com, and we expect to find the information we need when we want it. Sales reps play no role or a minimal role in this process. As the current sales practices aren’t in line with B2B buyer expectations, many sales reps are boring their buyers.
How can you stop boring your buyers and start delivering a better buyer experience?
Free eBook - Websites For B2 B Technogy CompaniesKim Walowsky
A complete and cost-effective web design, build and maintenance service designed to meet the specific needs of high-tech companies operating in B2B markets
Top 5 Barriers to World-Class Digital MarketingDemand Metric
Digital marketing is changing faster and faster and cataclysmic changes loom on the near horizon. If your marketing department can’t adapt quickly to the changes from cross-channel marketing, personalization, marketing automation, and new analytics then your customers will find you obsolete and irrelevant. It really puts marketing in the position of adapt or die.
Interviews with almost 100 top-level digital marketers reveal five common barriers to building world-class digital marketing. But, for every one of these barriers there are proven ways to get over, under, around or through them.
To obtain this document, visit us at http://www.demandmetric.com/register
Startups, get the basics on how to launch your marketing efforts with tips on branding and design, content, websites, email marketing and social media!
The Importance of Facebook Pixels | StrategiQTom Cox
What is a Facebook pixel and why is it important to have one on your website? My presentation The Importance of Facebook Pixels explores the impact pixel installation can have on measuring and optimising campaigns as well as obtaining a better understanding of your audience journey.
WSI Lebanon provides all the internet marketing services that Lebanese companies need in order to leverage the power of the internet in order to achieve their business goals.
Hear, ask your questions and learn from Tenego on: how to identify what it takes to partner with giant software companies; how to manage a giant partner; alternatives to partnering with large companies and more.
What You Will Learn?
• What does it take to partner with the global giant software solution companies and System Integrator?
• What do the Giants look for in the product partner companies? How do they evaluate partners?
• How are these companies structured? Can they be truly global partners for your business?
• How do you manage a giant partner?
• How do you evaluate if the giants are the right path for your business?
• What are the alternatives and often better/ faster routes for your business?
• Can the attributes you seek in the giants be found in smaller more agile, more manageable partners?
Who it is suitable for?
CEOs, Alliances Development, Channel Development and Senior Business Development staff of Software Companies or Cloud Based Solutions with existing partners or that want to have partners in the future.
Your competition now matters: Building a SaaS Company Isn't What it Used to B...Price Intelligently
Growth and software luminaries have preached for decades that "your competition doesn't matter...focus on your customers." While true in theory, Hiten Shah in his presentation at Price Intelligently's SaaSFest 2016, shows us that in the second wave of SaaS, your competition now matters. The shift took place because software is relatively easy to build now with infrastructure and marketing advances. You need to think about your customer first, but if you're not aware of your competition or doing things to circumvent them, you'll get left behind.
Improving the Success of Your Website presentation delivered by Shane Fell of Top Floor Technologies at the 2013 Mid Am Horticultural Trade Show at Navy Pier in Chicago.
Katherine Mancuso from Tech Liminal provides an introduction to Google Analytics for the East Bay WordPress Meetup in April 2014: why you need Analytics, how to install the tracking code, what sessions are, how to set up goals and events.
Preparing to Manage Social Media in a Crisis
Social media has changed crisis management exponentially. It has become the primary source for news as it breaks, to maintain a connection to the crisis, and to reach out to ask questions, comment, or get support. Consumers flock to find the ‘official’ page of the business within search, and their official channels on Social Media. This presentation from Matt Lynch explores best practice across Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media for the Crisis Management Leaders Summit, Perth 2015 #gocrisis #voriantraining
High level overview of designing website for ecommerce to improve conversion rates, build traffic with SEO, track data with web analytics and improve brand exposure with social media websites.
Elad goldenberg: How to Develop your eCommerce StrategyElad Goldenberg
How to Develop your eCommerce Strategy
The 3 verticals of strategy:
1 - The Offering: What?
2 - The Experience: How?
3 - Marketing Channel: To Whom and Where?
Newest strategies, leading companies and useful tips.
Enjoy,
Elad
Why the best B2B buyer experience wins - Louis Jonckheere CPO - ShowpadB2B Marketing Forum
Our consumer experiences and expectations are influencing our behaviour as a B2B buyer. Most sales reps however have not adapted their way of working to this shift in buyer expectations.
For simple purchases, B2B buyers increasingly prefer ecommerce with no salesperson involved. Complex sales on the other hand still requires sales intervention.
As consumers we shop online and use apps, e.g. Amazon, Netflix, and Booking.com, and we expect to find the information we need when we want it. Sales reps play no role or a minimal role in this process. As the current sales practices aren’t in line with B2B buyer expectations, many sales reps are boring their buyers.
How can you stop boring your buyers and start delivering a better buyer experience?
Free eBook - Websites For B2 B Technogy CompaniesKim Walowsky
A complete and cost-effective web design, build and maintenance service designed to meet the specific needs of high-tech companies operating in B2B markets
Top 5 Barriers to World-Class Digital MarketingDemand Metric
Digital marketing is changing faster and faster and cataclysmic changes loom on the near horizon. If your marketing department can’t adapt quickly to the changes from cross-channel marketing, personalization, marketing automation, and new analytics then your customers will find you obsolete and irrelevant. It really puts marketing in the position of adapt or die.
Interviews with almost 100 top-level digital marketers reveal five common barriers to building world-class digital marketing. But, for every one of these barriers there are proven ways to get over, under, around or through them.
To obtain this document, visit us at http://www.demandmetric.com/register
Startups, get the basics on how to launch your marketing efforts with tips on branding and design, content, websites, email marketing and social media!
The Importance of Facebook Pixels | StrategiQTom Cox
What is a Facebook pixel and why is it important to have one on your website? My presentation The Importance of Facebook Pixels explores the impact pixel installation can have on measuring and optimising campaigns as well as obtaining a better understanding of your audience journey.
WSI Lebanon provides all the internet marketing services that Lebanese companies need in order to leverage the power of the internet in order to achieve their business goals.
Hear, ask your questions and learn from Tenego on: how to identify what it takes to partner with giant software companies; how to manage a giant partner; alternatives to partnering with large companies and more.
What You Will Learn?
• What does it take to partner with the global giant software solution companies and System Integrator?
• What do the Giants look for in the product partner companies? How do they evaluate partners?
• How are these companies structured? Can they be truly global partners for your business?
• How do you manage a giant partner?
• How do you evaluate if the giants are the right path for your business?
• What are the alternatives and often better/ faster routes for your business?
• Can the attributes you seek in the giants be found in smaller more agile, more manageable partners?
Who it is suitable for?
CEOs, Alliances Development, Channel Development and Senior Business Development staff of Software Companies or Cloud Based Solutions with existing partners or that want to have partners in the future.
Your competition now matters: Building a SaaS Company Isn't What it Used to B...Price Intelligently
Growth and software luminaries have preached for decades that "your competition doesn't matter...focus on your customers." While true in theory, Hiten Shah in his presentation at Price Intelligently's SaaSFest 2016, shows us that in the second wave of SaaS, your competition now matters. The shift took place because software is relatively easy to build now with infrastructure and marketing advances. You need to think about your customer first, but if you're not aware of your competition or doing things to circumvent them, you'll get left behind.
Improving the Success of Your Website presentation delivered by Shane Fell of Top Floor Technologies at the 2013 Mid Am Horticultural Trade Show at Navy Pier in Chicago.
Katherine Mancuso from Tech Liminal provides an introduction to Google Analytics for the East Bay WordPress Meetup in April 2014: why you need Analytics, how to install the tracking code, what sessions are, how to set up goals and events.
Preparing to Manage Social Media in a Crisis
Social media has changed crisis management exponentially. It has become the primary source for news as it breaks, to maintain a connection to the crisis, and to reach out to ask questions, comment, or get support. Consumers flock to find the ‘official’ page of the business within search, and their official channels on Social Media. This presentation from Matt Lynch explores best practice across Search Engine Optimisation and Social Media for the Crisis Management Leaders Summit, Perth 2015 #gocrisis #voriantraining
A look at the various online advertising options available to businesses regardless of budget. Broken up into three sections, we cover everything from Facebook business pages and online local listings to PPC campaigns and direct buy advertising. This presentation was originally delivered at the Hawthorne Hotel in Salem, MA on March 25, 2014 as part of Salem State's Enterprise Center business workshop series. Originally presented by Tom Stirling, Brian Hanna and Chris Paganelli, employees of Stirling Technologies, a Wincester, MA based web consulting and web design firm.
Conversion Rate Optimization Workshop by Ali Raza Ali Raza
A brief Conversion Rate Optimization Workshop by Ali Raza with various factors being discussed which includes
Introduction to Conversion Rate Optimization
Why CRO is Important for your website and Business?
Understanding Visitors Psychology
How to create a compelling and clear value proposition? [Working on your Unique Competitive Edge]
How User Experience Can Differentiate ‘CRO’ for Your Business?
How Event Based Promotions Increase the ‘CRO’ for Your Business?
How Much Important ‘Urgency’ Factor in Your Creatives?
How Important is Emotional Resonance?
Communicate Value - Why Pay?
Testimonials - Case Studies - Proof’s how they can help your business.
Remove distraction - Consumer is Lazy!
What is A/B testing?
How to do A/B testing to determine what is working best for your business?
Landing Page A/B Testing Samples
Several Case Studies Discussed.
Different tools which can help you with Conversion Optimization, A/B Testing and how you can record
User Behavior on your website.
You can visit my blog at http://aliraza.co
Regards
Let’s get straight to the point: SEO-unfriendly web development can cost you your business.
It goes without saying that this is bad news for marketing managers. As web builds become more and more complex, technical SEO is becoming increasingly important – and even small technical slip-ups can have catastrophic effects on your search engine performance and bottom line.
First Things First: Building and Effective Marketing Strategy
Too many companies (and marketers) jump straight into activation planning without formalizing a marketing strategy. It may seem tedious, but analyzing the mindset of your targeted audiences and identifying the messaging points most likely to resonate with them is time well spent. That process is also a great opportunity for marketers to collaborate with sales leaders and account managers on a galvanized go-to-market approach. I’ll walk you through the methods and tools we use with our clients to ensure campaign success.
Key Takeaways:
-Recognize the critical role of strategy in marketing
-Learn our approach for building an actionable, effective marketing strategy
-Receive templates and guides for developing a marketing strategy
Financial curveballs sent many American families reeling in 2023. Household budgets were squeezed by rising interest rates, surging prices on everyday goods, and a stagnating housing market. Consumers were feeling strapped. That sentiment, however, appears to be waning. The question is, to what extent?
To take the pulse of consumers’ feelings about their financial well-being ahead of a highly anticipated election, ThinkNow conducted a nationally representative quantitative survey. The survey highlights consumers’ hopes and anxieties as we move into 2024. Let's unpack the key findings to gain insights about where we stand.
Monthly Social Media News Update May 2024Andy Lambert
TL;DR. These are the three themes that stood out to us over the course of last month.
1️⃣ Social media is becoming increasingly significant for brand discovery. Marketers are now understanding the impact of social and budgets are shifting accordingly.
2️⃣ Instagram’s new algorithm and latest guidance will help us maintain organic growth. Instagram continues to evolve, but Reels remains the most crucial tool for growth.
3️⃣ Collaboration will help us unlock growth. Who we work with will define how fast we grow. Meta continues to evolve their Creator Marketplace and now TikTok are beginning to push ‘collabs’ more too.
In this presentation, Danny Leibrandt explains the impact of AI on SEO and what Google has been doing about it. Learn how to take your SEO game to the next level and win over Google with his new strategy anyone can use. Get actionable steps to rank your name, your business, and your clients on Google - the right way.
Key Takeaways:
1. Real content is king
2. Find ways to show EEAT
3. Repurpose across all platforms
Is AI-Generated Content the Future of Content Creation?Cut-the-SaaS
Discover the transformative power of AI in content creation with our presentation, "Is AI-Generated Content the Future of Content Creation?" by Puran Parsani, CEO & Editor of Cut-The-SaaS. Learn how AI-generated content is revolutionizing marketing, publishing, education, healthcare, and finance by offering unprecedented efficiency, creativity, and scalability.
Understanding
AI-Generated Content:
AI-generated content includes text, images, videos, and audio produced by AI without direct human involvement. This technology leverages large datasets to create contextually relevant and coherent material, streamlining content production.
Key Benefits:
Content Creation: Rapidly generate high-quality content for blogs, articles, and social media.
Brainstorming: AI simulates conversations to inspire creative ideas.
Research Assistance: Efficiently summarize and research information.
Market Insights:
The content marketing industry is projected to grow to $17.6 billion by 2032, with AI-generated content expected to dominate over 55% of the market.
Case Study: CNET’s AI Content Controversy:
CNET’s use of AI for news articles led to public scrutiny due to factual inaccuracies, highlighting the need for transparency and human oversight.
Benefits Across Industries:
Marketing: Personalize content at scale and optimize engagement with predictive analytics.
Publishing: Automate content creation for faster publication cycles.
Education: Efficiently generate educational materials.
Healthcare: Create accurate content for patients and professionals.
Finance: Produce timely financial content for decision-making.
Challenges and Ethical Considerations:
Transparency: Disclose AI use to maintain trust.
Bias: Address potential AI biases with diverse datasets.
SEO: Ensure AI content meets SEO standards.
Quality: Maintain high standards to prevent misinformation.
Conclusion:
AI-generated content offers significant benefits in efficiency, personalization, and scalability. However, ethical considerations and quality assurance are crucial for responsible use. Explore the future of content creation with us and see how AI is transforming various industries.
Connect with Us:
Follow Cut-The-SaaS on LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and Medium. Visit cut-the-saas.com for more insights and resources.
10 Video Ideas Any Business Can Make RIGHT NOW!
You'll never draw a blank again on what kind of video to make for your business. Go beyond the basic categories and truly reimagine a brand new advanced way to brainstorm video content creation. During this masterclass you'll be challenged to think creatively and outside of the box and view your videos through lenses you may have never thought of previously. It's guaranteed that you'll leave with more than 10 video ideas, but I like to under-promise and over-deliver. Don't miss this session.
Key Takeaways:
How to use the Video Matrix
How to use additional "Lenses"
Where to source original video ideas
Most small businesses struggle to see marketing results. In this session, we will eliminate any confusion about what to do next, solving your marketing problems so your business can thrive. You’ll learn how to create a foundational marketing OS (operating system) based on neuroscience and backed by real-world results. You’ll be taught how to develop deep customer connections, and how to have your CRM dynamically segment and sell at any stage in the customer’s journey. By the end of the session, you’ll remove confusion and chaos and replace it with clarity and confidence for long-term marketing success.
Key Takeaways:
• Uncover the power of a foundational marketing system that dynamically communicates with prospects and customers on autopilot.
• Harness neuroscience and Tribal Alignment to transform your communication strategies, turning potential clients into fans and those fans into loyal customers.
• Discover the art of automated segmentation, pinpointing your most lucrative customers and identifying the optimal moments for successful conversions.
• Streamline your business with a content production plan that eliminates guesswork, wasted time, and money.
When most people in the industry talk about online or digital reputation management, what they're really saying is Google search and PPC. And it's usually reactive, left dealing with the aftermath of negative information published somewhere online. That's outdated. It leaves executives, organizations and other high-profile individuals at a high risk of a digital reputation attack that spans channels and tactics. But the tools needed to safeguard against an attack are more cybersecurity-oriented than most marketing and communications professionals can manage. Business leaders Leaders grasp the importance; 83% of executives place reputation in their top five areas of risk, yet only 23% are confident in their ability to address it. To succeed in 2024 and beyond, you need to turn online reputation on its axis and think like an attacker.\
Key Takeaways:
- New framework for examining and safeguarding an online reputation
- Tools and techniques to keep you a step ahead
- Practical examples that demonstrate when to act, how to act and how to recover
The Forgotten Secret Weapon of Digital Marketing: Email
Digital marketing is a rapidly changing, ever evolving industry--Influencers, Threads, X, AI, etc. But one of the most effective digital marketing tools is also one of the oldest: Email. Find out from two Houston-based digital experts how to maximize your results from email.
Key Takeaways:
Email has the best ROI of any digital tactic
It can be used at any stage of the customer journey
It is increasingly important as the cookie-less future gets closer and closer
Everyone knows the power of stories, but when asked to come up with them, we struggle. Either we second guess ourselves as to the story's relevance, or we just come up blank and can't think of any. Unlocking Everyday Narratives: The Power of Storytelling in Marketing will teach you how to recognize stories in the moment and to recall forgotten moments that your audience needs to hear.
Key Takeaways:
Understand Why Personal Stories Connect Better
How To Remember Forgotten Stories
How To Use Customer Experiences As Stories For Your Brand
How to Use AI to Write a High-Quality Article that Ranksminatamang0021
In the world of content creation, many AI bloggers have drifted away from their original vision, resulting in low-quality articles that search engines overlook. Don't let that happen to you! Join us to discover how to leverage AI tools effectively to craft high-quality content that not only captures your audience's attention but also ranks well on search engines.
Disclaimer: Some of the prompts mentioned here are the examples of Matt Diggity. Please use it as reference and make your own custom prompts.
The Secret to Engaging Modern Consumers: Journey Mapping and Personalization
In today's digital landscape, understanding the customer's journey and delivering personalized experiences are paramount. This masterclass delves into the art of consumer journey mapping, a powerful technique that visualizes the entire customer experience across touchpoints. Attendees will learn how to create detailed journey maps, identify pain points, and uncover opportunities for optimization. The presentation also explores personalization strategies that leverage data and technology to tailor content, products, and experiences to individual customers. From real-time personalization to predictive analytics, attendees will gain insights into cutting-edge approaches that drive engagement and loyalty.
Key Takeaways:
Current consumer landscape; Steps to mapping an effective consumer journey; Understanding the value of personalization; Integrating mapping and personalization for success; Brands that are getting It right!; Best Practices; Future Trends
The digital marketing industry is changing faster than ever and those who don’t adapt with the times are losing market share. Where should marketers be focusing their efforts? What strategies are the experts seeing get the best results? Get up-to-speed with the latest industry insights, trends and predictions for the future in this panel discussion with some leading digital marketing experts.
Come learn how YOU can Animate and Illuminate the World with Generative AI's Explosive Power. Come sit in the driver's seat and learn to harness this great technology.
Most small businesses struggle to see marketing results. In this session, we will eliminate any confusion about what to do next, solving your marketing problems so your business can thrive. You’ll learn how to create a foundational marketing OS (operating system) based on neuroscience and backed by real-world results. You’ll be taught how to develop deep customer connections, and how to have your CRM dynamically segment and sell at any stage in the customer’s journey. By the end of the session, you’ll remove confusion and chaos and replace it with clarity and confidence for long-term marketing success.
Key Takeaways:
• Uncover the power of a foundational marketing system that dynamically communicates with prospects and customers on autopilot.
• Harness neuroscience and Tribal Alignment to transform your communication strategies, turning potential clients into fans and those fans into loyal customers.
• Discover the art of automated segmentation, pinpointing your most lucrative customers and identifying the optimal moments for successful conversions.
• Streamline your business with a content production plan that eliminates guesswork, wasted time, and money.
Top 3 Ways to Align Sales and Marketing Teams for Rapid GrowthDemandbase
In this session, Demandbase’s Stephanie Quinn, Sr. Director of Integrated and Digital Marketing, Devin Rosenberg, Director of Sales, and Kevin Rooney, Senior Director of Sales Development will share how sales and marketing shapes their day-to-day and what key areas are needed for true alignment.
Videos are more engaging, more memorable, and more popular than any other type of content out there. That’s why it’s estimated that 82% of consumer traffic will come from videos by 2025.
And with videos evolving from landscape to portrait and experts promoting shorter clips, one thing remains constant – our brains LOVE videos.
So is there science behind what makes people absolutely irresistible on camera?
The answer: definitely yes.
In this jam-packed session with Stephanie Garcia, you’ll get your hands on a steal-worthy guide that uncovers the art and science to being irresistible on camera. From body language to words that convert, she’ll show you how to captivate on command so that viewers are excited and ready to take action.
Unknown to Unforgettable - The Art and Science to Being Irresistible on Camer...
Building a Business Website - Lessons Learned
1. Building a Business Website
Lessons Learned from A Knight’s Tale
Victoria Cole – Marketing Manager
Disclaimer: Idonot ownanyof thephotographspertainingto themovie “AKnight’sTale” andtheseareownedbythecreatorsof this movie.
Please notethat allimages arebeingshownunderthe“fair use”guidelinesfor commentaryandparody purposes.
2. Victoria Cole
Marketing Manager, Vincents
7 years experience in professional services marketing
Journalism background as well as marketing – I enjoy the written word
immensely
Storytelling is my passion. There is raw human emotion hiding behind
everything in business - you just have to find it and reveal the magic.
Fan of the movie A Knight’s Tale. Relevance will quickly become
apparent.
vcole@vincents.com.au or (07) 3228 4069
2
A bit about me
3. Website design can be extremely complicated – it’s
imperative you plan, plan plan your attack.
If you’re going to be your company’s champion
website fighter, I will take you through five battle tactics
to help you achieve a satisfying victory (otherwise
known as a go live date).
BUT if you take ONE thing away from
today it’s that the attack is never truly over, because
a successful website is a FLUID beast.
Ever changing, ever evolving…
Today we’re going into
battle together.
4. 01
TACTIC ONE:
KNOW YOUR END
GAME
Website purpose,
mission statements
and USP’s.
02
TACTIC TWO:
KNOW YOUR
COMPETITION
Industry trailblazers
and SEO leaders.
03
TACTIC THREE:
KNOW YOUR
WEAPONRY
Content Management
Systems (CMS)
04
TACTIC FOUR:
KNOW YOUR
SQUIRES
Website Developers
05
TACTIC FIVE:
KNOW YOUR
BATTLEFIELD
Site Architecture
Preparing for battle
6. Decide what role your website is going to play in your end game:
Static; Shopfront; or
Virtual marketer (blogs and
lead generation/automation).
Every small business website is different because every business is
on a unique mission.
6
Know your end game.
Why are you building this website?
7. What does your
company do?
Do your plans for this
website align with :
• your mission statement
• and your USP (unique
selling proposition);
and
• your company values?
Incorporate
these into
your website
design to
achieve
clarity
7
Know your end game.
Mission statements, USPs and Values
11. • We all compare – and we all have our favourite competitiors out there in our
respective business niches that we’d like to get that one-up on.
• Who is capturing your attention out there in your market?
• Why? i.e. social media presence? video marketing? thought leadership?
How are they trailblazing out there?
• Study these websites and look at what they are doing that is out of the
ordinary. Are they storytelling? Are they offering a lot of value add material?
Is there contact with their audiences constant?
11
Know your competition.
Industry trailblazers
12. • Just as important as looking at
competitors that inspire you is
examining the cold hard SEO
(Search Engine Optimisation) facts
on who is leading your field.
• SEO is the process of getting traffic
from search results on search
engines – i.e. Google.
• Paid vs. Organic
12
Know your competition.
SEO leaders and tracking
Paid
result
Organic
result
13. • Tracking competitors’ search rankings, content, social mentions, emails, and
anything else they do to boost business is actually not as creepy as it
sounds…
• Some great free tools exist out there (in addition to a stack of ones you pay
for) for those keen to embrace their inner spy:
– Google Keyword Planner – finding keyword opportunities - FREE
– Google Alerts – brand mentions or keyword alerts – FREE
13
Know your competition.
SEO leaders and tracking
15. • When choosing the back end for your website, you need to consider the range
of CMS systems out there and select one that will be the easiest for your
business to be able to maintain on an ongoing basis post launch.
• Think of your website as a “fluid” marketing tool. This was the “ONE THING”
that I empowered you to take away from today.
• Your website should always need to be updated, should always be moving –
and is something that therefore needs weaponry with the ability to evolve as
your business does.
15
Know your weaponry.
Content Management Systems
16. Ideal CMS systems are those that
have the ability to set up:
User
permissions
Security groups
Editing, approval
and publishing
rights
Customisations/
Plugins
API (the ability
for the website
to talk to other
software
programs).
16
Know your weaponry.
Content Management Systems – the Wish List
17. • Can be a good fit for companies looking
to stay relatively small in size and to
only use a few plugins.
• Easier to learn
• High quality templates
• Limited customisation and API code
freedom
• Outgrowing them a possibility
17
Know your weaponry.
Wix and Squarespace
18. • Solid CMS platform upon which to build
your website empire
• Not as easy to pick up as Wix and
Squarespace – due to a lot more features
• Vast collection of plugins and themes
available – but due to the volume, not all of
them will be as high quality as the smaller
library of Wix/Squarespace ones
• Great setup for user permissions
• Works with API codes and plugins and is
more friendly for customisations
• Beware of the lure of customisations…
18
Know your weaponry.
WordPress
20. • Most businesses will need to outsource at least a portion of the website
development to a website developer.
• Assess internally what skills your company would benefit the most from
outsourcing to developers, and what parts may be able to be covered in-
house.
• For example, you may have a graphic designer employed, or already have
visual branding and content in place that you don’t want to change the look of
– but need help with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), hosting and CMS
(Content Management System) endeavours.
20
Know your squires.
Website developers
21. • Go to market – collect more than one tender in the process
• Local Digital agencies – high cost but usually high quality product
• Offshoring – do the potential positives (cost) outweigh the potential negatives
(difficulties in face time/communication, sometimes a lower quality product
without the right guidance).
• Whatever you choose, ensure that you are project managing and not them –
they may have the technical expertise but you have the unique insight into
your business that they do not.
• Engage your professional but work alongside them closely from start to finish.
21
Know your squires.
Website developers
23. • The way different levels of pages are designed and the order that they follow
is known as IA (information architecture).
• Good websites are very well organised and follow specific IA.
• They are easy to navigate, uncluttered and above all professional and eye
catching.
• Work closely with your web developers and key stakeholders in your
organisation to ensure that the IA you choose will satisfy all areas of your
business and the products you are pushing.
23
Know your battlefield.
Information Architecture (IA)
24. 24
IA tactic 1 – browsing our
offering through a specialties
drop down menu
25. 25
IA tactic 2 – seeing our
offering through business unit
icons and browsing based on
a smaller amount of
information first
26. 26
IA tactic 3 – seeing our
offering through call-to-action
questions (for the user that
may not know specialty names
but knows their pain points)
27. 27
IA sub menus – make the
navigation experience as easy
as possible for the user
Marketing Manager, Vincents
7 years experience in professional services marketing
Journalism background as well as marketing – I enjoy the written word immensely
Storytelling is my passion. There is raw human emotion hiding behind everything in business - you just have to find it and reveal the magic.
Fan of the movie A Knight’s Tale. Relevance will quickly become apparent. For those that aren’t fans – I apologise in advance. Also RIP Heath Ledger – gone but not forgotten.
My contact details are as follows – reach out to me on LinkedIn too – always happy to gab about anything website or marketing in general.
Website design can be extremely complicated – it’s imperative you plan, plan plan your attack.
If you’re going to be your company’s champion website fighter, I will take you through five battle tactics to help you achieve a satisfying victory (otherwise known as a go live date).
BUT if you take ONE thing away from today it’s that the attack is never truly over, because a successful website is a FLUID beast.
Ever changing, ever evolving…
Every small business website is different because every business is on a unique mission.
Before you dive into the process – whether that be starting your first business website or redeveloping an existing website – you need to decide what role this website is going to play in your company’s’ future.
It may be fairly static (i.e. after initial content is set up on service lines there are not blogs or frequent changes made to the homepage) and simply exists to provide more information to potential clients about your services and credentials if they want to check you out online. Personally I think if your website only plays this passive role then you will miss out on a lot of opportunities to help grow your business.
Another role your website could play could be to sell products and services directly online.
Hopefully though, in addition to these first two, your end game is to use it as a virtual marketing platform to ease your business development load – it could provide articles or information you've written to provide useful information to clients and potential clients. You may even choose to start a blog to interest and engage potential customers as part of your overall social media strategy – with automation options in place and calls to action to take you up on offers. The possibilities are endless with this option!
The most important thing you must do is convey – right from the word go on your homepage - what your company does. This may seem obvious to you but will it seem that way to your customers? Don’t make visitors to your website trawl around for precious minutes to discover if your company can do what they need doing. Users leave websites when they don’t get what they expect or want.
Really drill down into what your company does - do you have a clear mission statement? What is your point of difference in the market? What are the values that guide you on your journey?
Your values should be more than just words to you – they should help you make the many choices that you face in your business each day.
Thinking about how these core values, selling proposition and mission statement can be incorporated into your website design (through imagery, words, tools, resources and the way you showcase your products and services) will all go a long way to ensuring your website acts as an effective ‘silent ‘marketer and that visitors to your site eventually convert into clients, champions/supporters, business partners or even employees!
Everyone knows to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, you should keep track of your main competitors.
Success is often determined by a company’s ability to respond to changing market conditions - so understanding your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses is necessary to improving your competitive edge.
We all compare – and we all have our favourite competitiors out there in our respective business niches that we’d like to get that one-up on.
Have a think about who is currently capturing your attention out there in your market?
Often this attention is captured through a social media presence that points the user (like you) back to the company’s website, as well as video marketing and thought leadership.
Study these websites and look at what they are doing that is out of the ordinary. Are they storytelling? Are they offering a lot of value add material? Is there contact with their audiences constant?
Take note of the aspects of each site that appeal to you (as well as those that don’t!) and discuss with your developer (or as I refer to them your squire – more on that later!) to determine how these findings could be incorporated into your own website development without losing what makes your business unique.
Just as important as looking at competitors that inspire you is examining the cold hard SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) facts on who is leading your field.
For those that don’t know, Search Engine Optimisation is the process of getting traffic from search results on search engines – mainly Google. All major search engines have primary search results – where websites and other content like videos and local listings are shown and ranked based on what the search engine deems most relevant to the user.
You can have paid results ( in google these appear up the top of the search results with a little Ad icon next to them or what’s called your ‘organic’ results (with a green tick icon next to them that follow the ad items).
It all depends on the user, but as a searcher my eyes tend to go straight to the top of the organic listings because I know those have credence to them and are more likely to be ranked due to the relevance of their content and not the price they’ve paid. I therefore spend more time on getting good SEO in place on our website rather than paying for Google Ad Words – but both are very useful tactics to help you stay front and centre of search results.
Tracking competitors’ search rankings, content, social mentions, emails, and anything else they do to boost business is actually not as creepy as it sounds… In fact it’s very important to remain competitive.
Some great (and free!) tools exist out there (as well as a lot you do have to pay for!) for those keen to embrace their inner spy and use that intel to help boost their website project:
Google Keyword Planer - This is without doubt the most well known keyword research tool. Provided by Google for Adwords (as we saw on the previous slide where you can pay for a keyword in search engines to place your website up the top of search results), the Keyword Planner is pretty straight forward. You can search by individual terms, group by keyword topic, set filters against specific locations and more. Most people use it for regular keyword research, however you can also enter in a competitors URL and do a reverse lookup to see what keywords Google thinks relate to the site itself. Definitely a tool that you should be using if you’re involved in SEO.
Google Alerts - Have you ever wondered where and how your competitors might be getting exposure on the web? Well wonder no more. Google Alerts allows you to monitor any phrase you want – and as it’s picked up on the web by Google, they’ll email it straight to your inbox. How cool is that? This is a great way of monitoring your competitors brand, or target keywords that you might be interested in ranking for. It’s also a great content marketing tool, especially if you’re wanting fresh up to date content on a certain topic for curation purposes.
When choosing the back end for your website, you need to consider the range of CMS (content management systems) out there and work with your developers (or as I refer to them later, your ‘squires’) to select one that will be the easiest for your business to be able to maintain on an ongoing basis post launch.
Think of your website as a “fluid” marketing tool – This was the “ONE THING” that I empowered you to take away from today.
Your website should always need to be updated, should always be moving – and is something that therefore needs weaponry with the ability to evolve as your business does.
So let’s check out what weaponry we’ve got on offer…
Unless you want to outsource all website changes on an ongoing basis (which can be quite costly), the ideal CMS system for a business would be one that has the ability to set up user permissions and security groups for editing, approval and publishing rights.
This way the content can easily be kept current and pertinent to differing business needs.
You also need a website to ideally be malleable – meaning you can add in lots of customisations if you need to (but more on why that is and isn’t such a good idea later) as well as incorporating API code (the ability for the website to talk to other software programs – similar to plugins and customisations).
Platforms like Wix and Squarespace can be a good fit for companies looking to stay relatively small in size and to only use a few plugins.
They’re relatively easy to pick up
Their templates are of high quality
– but customising them is difficult and very limited.
There’s also difficulty with API code freedom in these programs.
If you ever outgrow them, transferring all of your site content to a new host can also be difficult.
WordPress is an example of a solid CMS platform upon which to build your website empire, with a vast collection of plugins and themes available to users that make future expansion easier.
Not as easy to pick up as Wix and Squarespace – due to a lot more features – but worth the learning investment
Vast collection of plugins and themes available – but due to the volume, not all of them will be as high quality as the smaller library of Wix/Squarespace ones so be wary of this and look at them carefully.
Great setup for user permissions and security settings
Works with API codes and plugins and is more friendly for customisations
Finally, be wary of making too many customisations to existing themes that have been chosen in your respective content management systems – as these often require coding to maintain and therefore are not as easily actioned as the rest of the changes in the back end of the system (and also therefore costly if your developers need to take care of it). Try to avoid too many of these where possible – needing a lot of them may mean that you need to work with your developer to choose a theme that caters more to your needs. Lots of customisations can also slow down your site speed.
Once you have a clear goal in mind, most businesses (unless they have a full scale marketing team in place) will need to outsource at least a portion of the website development to a professional to get the support they need. I call these professionals squires – and they are more commonly known as website developers.
Assess internally what skills your company would benefit the most from outsourcing, and what parts may be able to be covered in-house.
For example, you may have a graphic designer employed, or already have visual branding and content in place that you don’t want to change the look of – but need help with SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), hosting and CMS (Content Management System) endeavours.
I can’t stress enough the importance of shopping around – go to market and get a range of quotes to consider!
With your Local Digital agencies – be aware of the high cost but consider if it’s worth the investment – you usually get a high quality product - i.e. what you pay for…
Offshoring – do the potential positives (cost) outweigh the potential negatives (difficulties in face time/communication, sometimes a lower quality product without the right guidance)? Don’t discount the value in face to face planning meetings – these are so vital to get you and the developers on the same page. Will you achieve that same vision alignment if you pursue an offshore option?
Whatever portion of the process you decide to outsource, it is crucial that a member of your business be in contact at key points throughout the redevelopment – because as much as the expertise of professionals should be taken on board, they will not have the unique insight into your business that you do.
Work with your developers to create a perfect link between your industry know-how and theirs.
The way different levels of pages are designed and the order that they follow is known as IA (information architecture).
Good websites are very well organised and follow specific IA.
They are easy to navigate, uncluttered and above all professional and eye catching.
Work closely with your web developers and key stakeholders in your organisation to ensure that the IA you choose will satisfy all areas of your business and the products you are pushing. If your IA is too intricate and visitors need to navigate too many pages in order to get the answer they are after, they will lose interest and leave. Instead, grab their attention – stir their emotions – and easily give them what they need!
Once your website goes live, take the time to really enjoy all that you have accomplished – but remember that your journey is far from over!
There is certainly no doubt that your business will have made a significant and rewarding first step – and for that you should be well pleased.
A company’s website, however, is never really complete.
As mentioned before, you need to think of it as a fluid marketing machine- and the key to continued success is to constantly add or enhance the elements and content within it.
Stay on top of developments in SEO, web applications and mobile design changes/responsivity.
Above all, always remember to keep adapting your website offerings (and for that matter, all your business offerings) to meet the changing market needs of your clients.