dg group - active or passive website

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Do You Have An

or

Web Strategy?

How Will Customers How Will Customers FindFind You?You?

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Active or Passive Web Active or Passive Web StrategyStrategy

• In this presentation we are going to:1.Review some history and

important details about the web2.Explore the types of activities

that define an “Active” Web Strategy

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First Some Detail & First Some Detail & HistoryHistory

What Is A Website?World Wide What?

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What Is A WebsiteWhat Is A Website• A website is a collection of

pages created in HTML, containing text, images, tables, etc. stored on a networked server and read by compatible software

• The World Wide Web was created in March 1989 by this man…• Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee

OM KBE FRS FREng FRSA.

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The First Ever Web SiteThe First Ever Web Site

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How Has The Web How Has The Web Developed?Developed?

What Has Happened In The Last 20 Years?

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How Has The Web How Has The Web Developed?Developed?

• There are estimated to be more than 108 million websites globally1

• 43% are commerce sites2

• 18% are corporate sites2

• 10% are content sites2

• 29% classify themselves as “other”2

• gov, org, search engine marketers etc…

• This equates to almost 30 BILLION web pages!1

• THOUGHT: How Can A Business Get THOUGHT: How Can A Business Get Noticed Noticed On-Line?On-Line?

1 - Source: Netcraft, Feb 20072 - Source: netapplications.com, Dec

2007

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The Need For Search EnginesThe Need For Search Engines

• Because of this growth people needed to find pages quickly and easily

• So Search Engines were born

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Search Engine Market ShareSearch Engine Market Share

• Today the Search Engine market is dominated by one provider

Source: StatCounter, June 2009

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To Create An “Active” Web To Create An “Active” Web Site…Site…

…You Also Need To Understand How Search Engines

Work

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How Search Engines WorkHow Search Engines Work

• Originally Search Engines were human-based

• But eventually the task became too monumental

• Automated “Crawlers” or “Spiders” were invented and that’s when SEO was born!

• Let’s look at how a search engine actually works

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How How Search Search EngineEngines Works Work

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What We SeeWhat We See<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-

transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <title>Marketing Company | Marketing Consultants | Internet Marketing Company | Online Marketing Company | Search Engine Marketing Company - The DG Group</title> <meta name="Description" content="Home page for The DG Group: a marketing company with extensive expertise across a wide range of marketing services. Our marketing solutions include website design, web application development, SEO and pay-per-click management, while our design services include logo design, brochure design, advertising design and other print design. We also provide specialist services such as professional copywriting, photography and packaging design services. In short, no matter what your needs are, The DG Group can handle it all!" /> <meta name="Keywords" content="marketing company, marketing companies, marketing consultants, internet marketing company, online marketing company, marketing consultancy, internet marketing consultant, marketing consulting, search engine marketing company, online marketing companies" /> <meta name="Owner" content="The DG Group" /> <meta name="Copyright" content="The DG Group" /> <meta name="robots" content="index,follow '" /> <meta name="revisit-after" content="7 '" />  <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <link href="stylesheet.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <style type="text/css"> </style> <script type="text/javascript" src="jquery-1.3.2.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> $(document).ready(function(){ //Hide (Collapse) the toggle containers on load $(".toggle_container").hide(); //Switch the "Open" and "Close" state per click $("h2.trigger").toggle(function(){ $(this).addClass("active"); }, function () { $(this).removeClass("active"); }); //Slide up and down on click $("h2.trigger").click(function(){ $(this).next(".toggle_container").slideToggle("fast"); }); });</script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="ddaccordion.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> ddaccordion.init({ headerclass: "expandable", //Shared CSS class name of headers group contentclass: "categoryitems", //Shared CSS class name of contents group collapseprev: true, //Collapse previous content (so only one open at any time)? true/false defaultexpanded: [], //index of content(s) open by default [index1, index2, etc]. [] denotes no content. animatedefault: false, //Should contents open by default be animated into view? persiststate: false, //persist state of opened contents within browser session? toggleclass: ["", "openpet"], //Two CSS classes to be applied to the header when it's collapsed and expanded, respectively ["class1", "class2"] togglehtml: ["none", "", ""], //Additional HTML added to the header when it's collapsed and expanded, respectively ["position", "html1", "html2"] (see docs) animatespeed: "fast", //speed of animation: "fast", "normal", or "slow", oninit:function(headers, expandedindices){ //custom code to run when headers have initalized }}) </script> <style type="text/css"> .arrowlistmenu{ width: 207px; /*width of accordion menu*/ font-size: 10px; color: #ffffff; font-family:"Century Gothic"; text-decoration: none; background-color:#f3f3f3;} .arrowlistmenu .menuheader{ /*CSS class for menu headers in general (expanding or not!)*/ display: block; width: 207px; height: 23px; background: url("images/btn-leftnav.gif") no-repeat 0 0; padding-top:8px; padding-left:7px; text-transform: uppercase; cursor: pointer; font-size: 12px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-weight: normal;} .arrowlistmenu .menuheader:hover{ /*CSS class for menu headers in general (expanding or not!)*/ background-position: 0 -39px;} .arrowlistmenu .openheader{ /*CSS class to apply to expandable header when it's expanded*/ background-image:url(images/leftmenu-bg.gif); } .arrowlistmenu ul{ /*CSS for UL of each sub menu*/list-style-type: none;margin: 0;padding: 0;margin-bottom: 0px; /*bottom spacing between each UL and rest of content*/ } .arrowlistmenu ul li{ color: #a40016; padding-bottom: 10px; /*bottom spacing between menu items*/ padding-left:10px;} .arrowlistmenu ul li a{ color: #a40016; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-decoration: none; background-color: #f0f0f0; width:207px; padding-right: 10px;} .arrowlistmenu ul li a:link{ color: #a40016; outline: none;}…

What Search What Search Engines SeeEngines See

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SERP – Click Through % By SERP – Click Through % By PositionPosition

Source: Yahoo, 2007, Month Unknown

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So what does all this mean?So what does all this mean?

And How Does It Affect Your Business?

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What Does It All Mean?What Does It All Mean?

• A website should be a key element of your overall marketing strategy

• Creating a website is only ¼ of your website strategy

• To be effective you need to:

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10 Steps To An Active 10 Steps To An Active Website?Website?

1.Start with an effective web design strategy.

2.Implement SEO to get ranked 1 – 5 on page one of the major search engines.

3.Implement applicable Search Engine Marketing

4.Publish articles/press releases or get listed in news stories.

5.Implement a social media strategy for both relationship and link building.

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10 Steps To An Active 10 Steps To An Active Website?Website?

6.Use Email Marketing effectively and build a responsive opt-in email list.

7.Run co-marketing & referral programs.

8.Run contests, giveaways and surveys via your web site.

9.Run off-line to on-line bridging campaigns in local press/radio that actively bring people to your site.

10.Build a plan for getting there and focus on doing what you CAN do, not what you CAN’T

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SummarySummary• The web is THE most powerful business promotion

tool today• Only a small fraction of businesses use it to its full

potential• An active web strategy will propel your company to

the fore-front of your field• Going “cheap” will cost you money in the long-run• If you have a poorly created site, dump it and get a

better one• If you have not implemented SEO then you probably

should.

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QuestionsQuestionsFor More Information Contact:

Franco De [email protected]

Mark [email protected]

T: 01 835 8800

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1 – Effective Web Design 1 – Effective Web Design • USE A PROFESSIONAL!!!• NEVER embed text in graphics• Site should be easy to navigate

• Every page accessible from every page

• Use Flash if desired, but overall site should be HTML• Implement a sitemap (preferably XML)• Use researched Keywords and Descriptions• Do NOT write the content yourself!• Site should be compelling, but NOT annoying• Implement analytics on the site• Use domain names that are linked to your keywords• Create landing pages/micro-sitesBenefit: You will have a professional site design that works

visually but is also optimised for Search Engines.

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2 - Implement SEO, But What Is 2 - Implement SEO, But What Is It?It?

• Search Engine Optimisation is:• Fully researching your keywords to find the most effective to

generate traffic• Reviewing the usage of these keywords throughout your site• Reviewing your main domain and sub-page naming to

ensure they match your keywords• Running a link exchange program with compatible sites

across the world

• Additional, highly successful activities:• Writing articles to publish on your site and on other

professional sites• Blogging on and off your site• Creation of RSS Feeds from your site

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2 – Implement SEO2 – Implement SEO• Wait at least 3 months after site goes live, then review

performance against keywords• You will almost certainly need some level of on-page and

off-page SEO• USE A PROFESSIONAL!!!• Specific keywords will be researched against competition• Ask for expected ranking on the chosen keywords• Be patient – SEO takes 3 – 6 Months to start seeing

results• And up to 12 months to bed in

Benefit: Your site’s ranking will jump up bringing many more potential customers to you.

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2 – Implement SEO2 – Implement SEO• SEO can cost as much as your initial site cost.• This seems like a lot, but needs to be balanced against

return• Example

• Owner created website which cost €500• In 12 months website generates 30 leads• Cost per acquisition = €16• Owner spends €6,000 on SEO• After SEO complete site generates 1,200 in 12 months• Cost per acquisition = €5

• These are only rough numbers, but you need to do the same analysis before you run your SEO campaign

• You also need to compare this with traditional promotional activities

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3 – Implement SEM3 – Implement SEM• SEM can be tremendously effective• But the benefit is gone when you turn it off• It is highly targeted

• Ads appear when people are looking for what you offer• You only pay when someone clicks on your ad to visit your site

• It is completely flexible• There can be a lot of competition in certain sectors• USE A PROFESSIONAL!!!• Define a budget• Use researched keywords• Craft the ads carefully

Benefit: You can achieve instant traffic to your site by highly targeted potential customers.

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4 – Publish Articles/Press Releases 4 – Publish Articles/Press Releases

• You should aim to make your company a source of helpful information

• So write articles and host them on your site• But they can also be hosted on generic

information portals• Try to get your local newspaper to carry them also• Every sector also has hundreds of relevant

news/information websites that are constantly looking for content

Benefit: You will be recognised as an authority in a given subject/s while increasing your site ranking and visitors.

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5 – Implement Social Media Strategy5 – Implement Social Media Strategy

• Sign-up to a blog engine and feed it into your site

• Sign-Up to Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook (dependent on target market)

• Get instruction on how to use Social Media effectively

• Include links to pages on your site and other pages of interest to your customers

Benefit: You will be recognised as an authority in a given subject/s while increasing your site ranking and visitors.

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6 – Email Marketing6 – Email Marketing• Implement a sign-up system through all electronic

communication• Via website and your emails to customers

• Include an option where they can also opt-in for “Partner Emails”• Work with local businesses to share databases

• But control the data and content carefully!• Write monthly (or quarterly) email shots• Make them informative and interesting• Include an offer• Do NOT just try to sell to them• Include an unsubscribe link• Write your content very carefully – distance yourself from Spam

Benefit: Your customers will be regularly reminded of your presence with helpful and informative content, plus offers.

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7 – Run Co-Marketing & Referral 7 – Run Co-Marketing & Referral ProgramsPrograms

• Work with local complimentary businesses• Define some special combined offers• Combine your funds and create ads/flyers

• This can either reduce your cost or deliver greater reach

• Start a business/customer referral program• Provide special discounts on any confirmed referrals

• Make sure all communications lead customers to a specific landing page

Benefit: You will save money or extend your reach while also increasing site traffic and ranking.

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8 – Run Contests/Surveys Via Your Web 8 – Run Contests/Surveys Via Your Web SiteSite

• This can work exceptionally well for some business sectors• Especially consumer

• Create contest pages that are updated every month• To enter the contest the person needs to provide their email address

• If your site doesn’t generate enough traffic run it on a site that does

• Make the prize relevant to your sector or you’ll just get free-loaders

• Implement a survey engine on your site• Let the local press/trade journals/other sites know about

your contest and survey resultsBenefit: You will increase your site visitors and add a significant

amount of contacts to your email database.

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9 – Run Off-Line To On-Line Bridging 9 – Run Off-Line To On-Line Bridging Campaigns Campaigns

• Where possible drive people to your site from print ads/articles• To redeem vouchers• To get a discount code• To participate in a contest

• Alternatively they can send you an email• Now you have their email address!

• But the offer/prize needs be large enough to justify the extra hoop they must jump through

Benefit: You will increase your site visitors and add a significant amount of contacts to your email database.

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10 – Build A Plan And Do What You Can 10 – Build A Plan And Do What You Can

• Even the largest of organisations would find it difficult to do everything on this list

• Work with a professional to define what the right balance of activities is for your business based on:• Your resources• Your funds• Your capabilities

• Target 2 – 4 activities that will deliver the best return for you

• Create a plan to deliver those• Don’t kill yourself over the activities you can’t

deliver.