2. What We'll Cover Today
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Understanding what you want to accomplish
Importance of a Domain
Selecting a Hosting Service
Analytics that Matter
3. Define Your Goals & Objectives
• Take the time to ask yourself why you want a website &
what you want it to do for you:
• Drive your customers into your store
• Sell your products online (eCommerce)
• Provide helpful information to your visitors
• Define how you are going to measure success
4. Questions You Should Ask Yourself
• Why is it important for you to have a website?
• What are your objectives?
• Define 1 to 3 clear objectives
• Post them where you can see them!
• How will you measure success?
• Who are you building your site for – understand your customers
• What do you want your visitors to gain by visiting your website?
• What do you want visitors to do after or while they are on your website?
5. Your Domain is Important!
• Definition: a name owned by a person or organization used as an internet
address to identify the location of particular web pages
• Supports Brand
• Chicken/egg factor
• Builds Trust
• 110 million.com
• 15 million.net; 10 million .org
• Professional email addresses
• SEO Value – in question
• Exact Match Domain (EMD)
6. Keys to Selecting a Great
Domain
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Brand Match
Memorable
Unique = avoid generic
Short = < 15 characters
Avoid Hyphens
Top Level Domains – buy to
protect, not promote
(.net,.biz,etc)
7. A Few Examples
• Good Example
www.bonfe.com/
www.deansplumbing.com/
• Needs Work
www.jaketheplumbercompany.com/
www.axis-plumbing.com/
8. Tips Before You Buy Your
Domain
• Be diligent and research your domain name first
• Shop around – and look beyond
•Cost is $10 - $15/year
•Credible Supplier
•Additional Services
9. Web Hosting
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Definition: a service that provides storage space for Web sites and Web pages.
Typically hosting is purchased through a service provider that charges a monthly
fee.
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Considerations when selecting a provider
• Reliability and Speed
• Bandwidth and Storage
• Rich features - do they offer an Analytics Tool?
• Ease of Transfer
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Keep in mind
• Registration ownership
• Back-up information – creative, content, etc…
10. The Groundwork is Done, Now
What?
• If you are just starting out – you are ready to begin design & laying
out your website
• If you already have a site:
• It’s time to improve – understand what is happening on your site!
• Dive into the analytics
11. Some Stats You'll Want to
Understand
Is your site's purpose to sell?
•You will want to track your sales
•Total Visits – how much traffic are your marketing campaigns/SEO
driving?
•Return Visitors – this will help you determine how often you need to
refresh your site
•Conversion Rate – Orders/Total Visits
•Average Order Size (AOS) – are you getting enough of your customers'
wallet share?
12. Some Stats You'll Want to
Understand
Is your site's purpose to drive customers to your store or
provide information?
•Total Visits
•Return Visitors – will help you determine how often you need to
refresh your site
•Engagement:
• Time spent on your site
• Clicks on advertising space
• Store locator/directions/contact us
13. Understand your numbers
• First off, don’t panic! If you are new to analytics, take time to
understand your customers’ behavior
• Take a month to determine what the “norm” is for your site
• Talk with others in your industry to understand & gauge what numbers they are
seeing
• Once you have an understanding, determine what is working and
what you may need to dig into further
• Example: Are your sales lower than you expected?
• Is your value proposition clear?
• Are your prices too high?
• Are customers not getting to your end goal easy enough?
14. In Conclusion
• Have fun with it!
• Always remember, it’s not your website – IT IS
YOUR CUSTOMERS’ WEBSITE
Ok, this is not the sexiest part of building your Digital World – but it’s a very important first step that will make your lives a lot easier as you move through your Digital Journey!
Chicken & Egg: Research has shown that more and more business are now searching for a Domain first and then branding their business around it.
Additional Services: Compare what is offered
Design and build: you will learn valuable information on how to do this from our other presenters – User Experience, SEO and Social
Time Spent on Site: are your customers finding your information useful or do they depart quickly?
Clicks on ad space: if you monetize your site by selling advertising space, you will want to make sure visitors are engaging
Store Locator – are you driving traffic to your store
Value Proposition Clear – why should that visitor stop and shop with you? What makes you better than your competition
Prices too high – conduct a competitive analysis of your industry – where do you fall?
Getting to end goals – is your site design and flow causing any hurdles for your customers?
Have fun with it: There is so much information out there – articles, blogs, etc….. It’s enough to make you wan to pull your hair out. DON’T!!! Step back, breath and remember to have fun with it.
Customers’ Web site: Talk about gettington.com example.
Understanding your customer will bring you more cusotmers
