Skill Build:using the internet for business

by Samantha Deakin

theweb.co.uk

Agenda/Topics To Be Covered• Where do I start?• Creating a website• Which social media sites should I be using for my business?• How do I monitor my impact on social media sites?• What is Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?• How do I monitor my website traffic?• Recommended reading list• Some interesting reports

Right here, right now

Where do I start?At the beginning, of course...• Get an SEO friendly domain name

– ‘florists sheffield’– www.floristssheffield.co.uk– www.sheffieldflorist.co.uk

• Get yourself a website orblog.

Creating a website• Types of website

– Static HTML– Content managed– E-Commerce– AVOID FLASH

• Make sure you keepit up-to-date.

What is Search Engine Optimisation? (SEO)• Making your site relevant to search engines• Choose the right keywords/keyword phrases• Content

– Meta Tags:• Title• Description• Keywords

• Yahoo and DMOZ• Building links

Which social media sites should I be using for my business?• Twitter- one for all• Facebook- great for news sites and special offers• MySpace- going out of fashion, but still popular

with bands... and...er...emos, mainly.• LinkedIn- professional network• YouTube- The world’s 2nd biggest search engineCan’t I just use all of them?Well, yea. But you’ve got to maintain them all too.Better to do a couple well than all of them badly.

Twitter• Pretty much for everyone• Customer services, news updates, special offers, brand recognition

• Don’t tweet mindless rubbish. Be generous. Mentions. Retweets.• Post articles and information that links back to your site• Promote your witter account outside of Twitter!?! Surely not.

Facebook• News sites and things you can become

a fan of• Offer free stuff• Think about your audience• Post events/information/articles• Promote your Facebook Fan Page• Skittles • Pringles

LinkedIn• Professional network. For businesses and professionals• Add your CV• Get recommendations• Add content such as blogs, slideshows, presentations, etc.• Create groups• Advertise jobs• Build your network• Contributes to the marketable brand of the individual

YouTube• 2nd largest search engine in the world!• YouTube Channels• Video quality• Promoting your YouTube channel• Nike use YouTube extremely well...• Some of Nike’s video have had 10m views• This next video has only had about 80k• But has had five video responses

YouTube

How do I monitor my website traffic?• As a start up business, you’re probably using social media to try

and drive traffic back to your website• Get Google Analytics• How much traffic?• Traffic Source• What are people typing in?• Referring Sites• How long are people staying?• What’s a Bounce Rate?• GOOGLE ANALYTICS IS FREE!

Recommended reading list• http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/• http://blog.hubspot.com/• http://mashable.com/• http://www.digtheweb.co.uk

• Look out for free webinars and e-books. A lot of companies offer these for free to get their brand recognised.

• Always check your information though as a lot of digital marketing is opinion and changes on a daily basis.

Some interesting reports• The State of Inbound Marketing Report• Burson-Marsteller Fortune Global 100 Social Media Study• Small Business Success Index™• ROI from Inbound Marketing through Implementing HubSpot

Software