is your website working hard enough?

“Is Your Website Working Hard Enough?”

2011 VANHA Spring Conference

6/8/11

Ron Fink

Today’s conversation:

• Web is the center of the universe

• Importance of optimization

• Website assessment checklist

• Helpful tools

• Key takeaways

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Audience Poll

• Mkting. for a community?

• Mkting. to a community?

• Satisfied with website performance?

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20 years ago

More change in next 10 yrs. than last 100

Shift in customer behavior/expectations

– Empowered

– Educated

– Internet savvy

– Collaborate using WOM and social media

– 85% of consumers shop online

(Forrester Research)

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The “New Marketing”

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• No shouting, interrupting or repeated advertising

– Prior to the web, attract attention by advertising and media PR

– Now the web has changed these rules.

Everyone is the media, Everyone is a publisher

– Technology has enabled connections/removed barriers

– Can reach prospective buyers directly

– Buyers can speak directly to you

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Why has this happened?

– Avoid interruption and intrusion

– Consumer wants more control

– No one wants to be “sold”

– Informed Engaged

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It’s not about how muchadvertising you do…

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It’s all a matter ofTRUST

Consumers trust each other more than they do marketers

Web Is At the Hub

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In the Beginning…

• Digitized print documents w/o functionality

• Mid-90’s HTML brought life todigital text (links, navigation bars)

• Technological advances/higher utility

• Higher consumer expectations

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…Now a Necessity for Every Business

• Most powerful vehicle for marketing/communications

• Fast/easy/timely communication with millions

• Transformed the speed of company/brand growth

• Building the site is easy; measuring yoursuccess and taking action on it is harder

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Web Is At the Hub

• SEO/SEM

• Email

• Content

• Mobile

• Video

• Social Media

• Analytics

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The Web Strategy

• Provide relevant information

– Attract visitors

– Nurture to become a lead

– Convert leads to customers

– Use content to optimize website

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Growing a Successful Web Presence:

– Invest in search– manage SEO (links, listings, keywords, content)

– Invest in social– after you are found, promote your expertise with what others say about you

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8 Point Website Assessment Checklist

• Website goals

• Define audience personas

• SEO

• Content creation

• Social media

• Offers & landing pages

• Lead nurturing

• Measurement & analysis

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Establishing Website Goals Checklist Point #1

• What do you want it to say?

• How do you want to communicate it?

• Who are you trying to reach?

• What action(s) do you want them to take?

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Take a Look At Your Website

• Does it read more like an ad than a helpful resource?

• Focus less on your company. . . and more on the problems and needs of the people you are trying to reach

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What are you selling?

• Physical– Location

– Room sizes

– Furnishings

– Dining services

– Amenities

– Pricing

• Emotional Well Being– Credentials

– Expertise

– Reputation

– Brand promise

– Problem solving capabilities

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Who is your audience? Checklist Point #2

• Prospective residents

• Caregivers

• Influencers

• Each audience has a persona

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Buyer Personas

• Name

• Age

• Gender

• Family info

• Company role

• Hobbies

• Job frustrations

• Marketing Mary

• 40-45

• Female

• Married, 2 kids

• Marketing Director

• Reading, Tennis

• Lack of marketing budget

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Website Pyramid Trifecta

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Analyze

Convert

Get Found

Step 1---Getting Found

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Analyze

Convert

Get Found

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Checklist Point #3

– On-Page

• Modifications to the pages on your website

– Off-Page—

• Links from external sources

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On-Page SEO—(25% of the equation)

• Keywords– Right ones?

– Where are they being used?

• Images– Too many? Too few?

– Use of Alt tags

• Internal links– Reference other website pages & resources

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Off-Page SEO (75% of the equation)

• Organic search– Your relevant content enables people to find you

• Paid search– Putting your name/description around other’s content

– Pay per click when visitors go to your website

• External links – Online recommendations

– Organizations, business partners, social media

• Directory listings (free and paid)

• Pages indexed in Google

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Content Is King Checklist Point #4

• “anything created and uploaded to a website” (Content Rules)

– Words, images, photographs, videos, webinars, blogs, white papers, ebooks, podcasts, tools

– Outposts off the website—such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and You Tube

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3 Ways To Deliver Content

• Paid media--advertising inserted next to another’s content.

• Owned media--brand-created content

• Earned media-- getting someone else to provide content about a brand

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More and more businesses are blogging

– Businesses are now in the minority if they do not blog. From 2009 to 2011 the percentage of businesses with a blog grew from 48% to 65%.

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Blogs are generating real customers

– 57% of companies using blogs reported that they acquired customers from leads generated directly from their blog

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Online Video On the Rise

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• 20% inc. from 2009

• Grow another 24% thru 2015

Video Over Text

• Powerful communication vehicle

• Effective for SEO

• Websites with video are 53x more likely to appear on the first page of Google and can increase click-through-rate up to 200% (Forrester Research)

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Nature’s Edge Assisted Living, Port St. Lucie, FL

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Interactive Conversational Video

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Number of Smartphone users will rise by nearly 50%

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• 1 in 4 in US use a Smartphone

• 15% of 55+ use a Smartphone(Nielson Company)

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Mobile-Web Integration

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Get Serious About Social Media Checklist Point #5

• Social media is the use of web-based and mobile technologies

to turn communication into interactive dialogue.

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SM Is the Rage

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Over 600 million users. 22% increase in unique visitors over 2010.

Over 75 million usersTweeting about 140 million times/day

Over 90 million users.22% increase in unique visitors over 2010

$1.2 billion = 2011 social media marketing spend

28% = increase over 2010Forrester Research, Inc.

Usage Is Projected to Grow

• 67% of Americans w/ Internet access are projected to be using social networks at least once a month by 2013 (Emarketer)

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Social Media and the Seniors Market

• Boomer caregivers are more reliant onsocial media than boomers in general (Pew Research)

– 50+ 47% use SM (22% last year)

– 65+ 26% use SM (fastest growing segment

WHY?)

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Step 2---Convert Visits-Leads-Customers

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Analyze

Convert

Get Found

Create the offer Checklist Point #6

• Providing something of value in exchange for contact info/interest/sale

• Match offers to stage of sales funnel– Initial—10 questions to consider…

– Middle—Selling your home resource kit, prize for touring

– Advanced—2 months free rent for signed leases by…

• Initiated from CTA on the home page

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Offer Example

Create the landing page

• Where they arrive to request the offer

• Must convince the user on the value of the offer

• Page should “go naked” (no links or navigation)

• Keep the form short and simple

• Don’t make the user think

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Landing Page Example

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Create a Lead Nurturing Strategy Checklist Point #7

• Follows Home Page Offer>CTA>Landing Page

• Series of emails to your leads

• Automatically triggered by prospect’s previous requests

• Up to 5 over 60 days after initial action taken

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Lead Nurturing is a progression

• Email flow should pull leads through the sales funnel

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Step 3----Analyze Results and Adjust Checklist Point #8

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Analyze

Convert

Get Found

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Website Performance Metrics

• Track sources of traffic (direct, organic, referrals, social media)

• Initial actions taken (Opens, page views, click throughs)

• Converted to desired CTA ( leads & sales)

• Lead nurturing success tracking

• Track the success of your blog

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Some Helpful Tools

• Website Traffic Calculator

• Google Analytics/HubSpot– Website Grader

– Keyword Grader

– Page Grader

– Lead tracking/nurturing

• Blog Analytics

• Social Media monitoring

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Some Helpful Tools

• Website Traffic Calculator

• Google Analytics/HubSpot– Website Grader

– Keyword Grader

– Page Grader

– Lead tracking/nurturing

• Blog Analytics

• Social Media monitoring

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Key Takeaways

• Consumer interface has changed

• Web strategy marketing focus

• Use content to promote expertise

• Social media, mobile & video are web enhancers

• Create offers and follow up

• Establish measurement analytics

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Ron Fink

Call me: 804.968.5131 Email me: ron.fink@strategicdriven.comWebsite /blog: strategicdriven.comConnect with me: facebook.com/ronfink1

facebook.com/strategicmarketingsolutionsNetwork with me: linkedin.com/in/ronfink1Tweet me : @sms_ron

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Obtain copy of presentation at:www.slideshare.net/RonFink1

or email:ron.fink@strategicdriven.com