Web 2.0: Your Site, SEO and Social Media Marketing

MATI | Kelli Brown | December 2010

What we do:• Social Media• Search Engine

Optimization (SEO)• Website

Development in WordPress and Joomla!

• Custom Facebook Tabs and Pages

• Consulting• Strategy• Implementation• Maintenance

Web Marketing• Building your business website• What every business site needs• Tools and skills for maintaining your site• Get found - Search Engine Optimization• Social Media Marketing

Do you need a website?• Need: Profits come from advertising• Good to have: You will benefit if:• You sell a product/service online• You marketing your product/service online• Your clients aren’t bound by geography• Your USP serves a niche market

• Optional: Your business is concrete and local

Building a website• Three options:• DIY: Build your own site – Weebly, Google Sites…• Small budget: Template-based CMS site• WordPress, Drupal, Joomla!

• Large budget: Custom look/feel, bespoke CMS• Consider: Who will maintain the site?• What is my expected ROI?

Site development process• Sitemap• Content• Template• Development• Search Engine Optimization• Launch• Analytics and ongoing updates

Your business site needs• Your own domain name• Professional branding: logo, tagline, color

scheme, typography - consistency• Marketing content: services/products

provided, target clients, company bio• Shareable content: Tips and tricks, blog posts,

videos, presentations, galleries

Business site sections• Home page: Draw viewers in – 8 second rule• Services/Products pages: Highlights the full range of

products/services offered• Clients/Partners pages: Offers testimonials and adds

to credibility of company• About page: Describes the company• Contact page: Physical and web contact info• Add a contact form to your site

• Blog: Regularly updated sharable content

Site navigation• Error on the side of too simple• Avoid flash like the plague• Cater to mobile users• Know your target market’s tech savvy• Create a sitemap before you write content• Learn from others – in market and out

Site content• Write for humans, not search engines• Be aware of synonyms – use them wisely• More than 250 words, fewer than 1000 (600)• Learn from your competition• More short pages are better than few long

ones

Site template• Conforms to W3C standards• Encourages viewers to interact/subscribe• RSS feeds, newsletters, social bookmarking

• Error on too professional• Uniform look and feel with logo, branding

Site development• Use an open source CMS• Makes updates easier

• Support all browsers (including IE6)• Pick the least complicated CMS that meets

your needs• Pay for training to maintain your own site

Before you launch• Have all content loaded• Test and troubleshoot all bugs• Test the shopping cart/contact form• Practice updating/changing content• Test it with your “target market”

Track your traffic• Install Google Analytics• Free at googleanalytics.com• Tracks visitors, keywords, content and more• Makes it easier to sell advertising• Helps track goals and determine ROI

Welcome to beta• Which keywords create most traffic?• Which pages are most popular?• Which content gets shared?• Which pages are tough to navigate?• What do clients complain about?• What are clients searching for?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)• Based on many factors:• Number of high-quality incoming links• How old the domain name is• Number of pages• Amount of unique content• Ease with which Google can index the site• Speed of site loading

SEO: Things to remember• If it’s human friendly, it’s SEO friendly• Whitehat vs. Blackhat• Never, ever try to fake it - ever• You’re a webmaster – even if you don’t want

to be – partner with the folks at Google• Google.com/webmasters

SEO – a two-part approach• Rank higher in search results• Using keywords within content and tags correctly• Having an SEO-friendly site

• Improve clickthrough rate• Add a meta description with a call to action• Keep titles clear and concise

Improving SEO• Use a CMS – plugins enable SEO-friendly features• Give good data to search engines:• Clear, concise meta titles and descriptions• XML sitemap and robots.txt files

• Keep your site SEO friendly:• Text-based navigation and breadcrumbs• Descriptive URLs and alt tags for graphic content

SEO changes in 2010• Personalized search from Google• Importance of user experience• Growing investment in real-time search• Value of incoming links from social sites• Emphasis on speed of site loading• Catering to mobile• Flash and iPhones/iPads don’t mix

What hurts SEO• Duplicate content• Very small sites – less than five pages• Untagged graphic content: pictures, video,

flash, audio (always use an alt tag)• Blackhat SEO: shadow domains• Getting kicked out of Google

Web advertising & PPC• Banner and button ads - desensitization• PPC: Pay-per-click campaigns• Show up in search results - sometimes• Placed on content-specific websites• Relevant keywords are expensive• Rarely generates a net profit• Excellent experiment for SEO keywords

Social Media Marketing• Using free, web-based tools to generate

interest and awareness in a company and its products and services

• Tools include:• Blogging and RSS subscriptions• Social networks: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter• Media networks: YouTube, Flickr, SlideShare.net

Using social media• Create sharable content regularly• Post it to your site, allow users to subscribe• Syndicate it using networks• Increase traffic to it using bookmarking• Track it using analytics• Tailor the message to convert

Social media flow

Content

Twitter LinkedInFacebook

Digg Deli.ciou.s StumbleUpon

Video Audio Pictures

Benefits of social media• Improves search engine optimization• Content is shared virally• Inexpensive (but time consuming)• Targets a specific market• Appeals to broad demographic through search

Questions?• Contact us at kelli@pixelpointpress.com• Upcoming classes:• Social Media Marketing• Search Engine Optimization• Hands-On WordPress: Build and Maintain Your

Own WordPress Website• Google Analytics• Email Newsletter Marketing• LinkedIn and Blogging for Lead Generation