web marketing basics for small business: it\'s time to know what you don\'t know

$: Web Marketing Basics For Small Business: It\'s Time to Know What You Don\'t Know$
Web Marketing Basics for Small Business

It’s Time to Know What You Don’t Know

Jay Lane, Jay Lane MediaLouisville Small Business Development Center

September 24, 2009


Today, we’ll be discussing…

• Why you should consider Web marketing• Things to consider before beginning a campaign• Web Site basics• Web site tracking (Web analytics)• Email marketing• Search engine marketing

– PPC vs. SEO

• Social media marketing• Resources worth checking out• Final thoughts• Q & A


What is Web marketing?

Web marketing is the process of: 1) Creating/managing an online presence (Web site,

Blog, Facebook page, etc.)2) Driving visitors to a Web site, blog, etc. 3) Engaging visitors with compelling content4) Converting visitors (prospects) into customers5) Tracking/measuring everything and making

improvements as needed


“On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”


Why should you consider Web marketing?

1. You can make an impact without a huge budget– The playing field is more even– If you do it right, you can have an advantage over your competition

2. Generates a greater return on investment– Has shown an increased ROI vs. traditional marketing because of efficiency in

targeting users

3. Provides instant communication, feedback and flexibility– Quickly learn what’s working and what’s not

4. Can generate transactions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

5. Offers instant accountability – Real-time tracking and reporting

6. Flexibility– Can make changes on the fly with little cost (compare to updating TV spots or

other traditional media)


• Affiliate marketing – Selling your product through other Web sites or e-mail lists by paying the site or list owner for each sale

• Analytics – Taking traffic data and other information about your web site, analyzing it, and then providing insight

• Blog – Short for 'web log'. Web site where contributor(s) post short entries and visitors can post comments

• Content Management System (CMS) – Application that allows users to manage Web site content without HTML knowledge

• Conversion rate – The number of sales, leads or other desired actions that occur on your web site, compared to the total number of visitors

Commonly used terms you should know


• Domain name – The address of your web site (i.e. www.yourcompanyname.com)

• Dynamic web site – Web site generated using a web application and a database

• Flash – An animation and interactive platform that lets you create very complex movement on a page

• Hit – Any one file downloaded from your site one time. A single page of a web site, viewed once, may generate 30 or more hits. Commonly misused as a Web analytics metric

• Page view – Any one page of your site completely loading any one time


http://www.yourcompanyname.com/


• Registrar – The service you use to reserve a domain name (i.e. GoDaddy, Network Solutions, Register.com)

• RSS – Stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” A type of text file that delivers a list of headlines and content directly to feed readers and other software

• Unique visitor – Any one visitor coming to your site any number of times in the time period. If a visitor comes to your web site 30 times in a month, he/she still only counts as one unique visitor

• Visit – Any user visiting your site any one time



Things to consider when getting started

• Proper planning is key– Define your goals/objectives in advance

• Make sure you have a good Web site• Your time and resources– Don’t take on too much

• Hire a professional or DIY?• Track/measure everything!


Don’t put the cart before the horse!

cart = Web marketinghorse = Your Web site


It is important to consider the following before building your Web site:• Set goals/objectives

– You need to know what you’d like to do with your Web site before you build it

• Pick a simple and memorable Web site address• Planning is key:

– Develop a sitemap – A flow chart/blueprint outlining the Web site’s architecture and structure including the home page, navigation, secondary pages, etc.

• Key performance indicators (KPIs)– How will you measure success?

Web Site Basics > Planning & Strategy


• Complex navigation systems– Should never have more than 1-2 levels of navigation

• Flash-animated introduction pages/splash pages– Slows down visitors being able to access your Web site

• Developing a site completely in Flash– Negative impact on SEO / Hard to update / Can be

difficult to navigate• Blind links • Scrolling or flashing graphics / Self-playing music/videos

Web Site Basics > Things to avoid having on your site


• Things to consider when hiring someone to build your site– Development budget & ongoing maintenance budget– Timing – how quickly do you need the site built?– Do your research

• Check references• Request portfolio• Understand what you’re paying for

– Who’s going to update the site?• Content management system (CMS) vs. no CMS

• Is Web site proprietary? Who owns the design/content?– Is vendor willing to give you all files/assets at anytime?– Don’t let vendor hold your files/assets hostage

• Do as much planning as possible upfront to save yourself money

Web Site Basics > Who’s going to build your site?


Google offers some really useful (and free) tools:• Gmail – email service• Google Analytics – Web analytics• Feedburner – RSS feed for your blog• Webmaster Tools – To improve your site’s SEO• Google Docs – Free alternative to Microsoft Office• Google Reader – RSS reader

Web Site Basics > Use free tools from Google


Web Analytics > Overview

Web analytics is the foundation of Internet success because you can’t improve your Web site and Web marketing tactics unless you know what’s working and what’s not


Web Analytics > Overview

• Web Analytics allows you to:– Track Web site visitor activity: # of visitors, popular pages,

time spent on site, referring Web sites, etc.– Determine where visitors enter and exit your site– Track conversions– Attribute sales/conversions to specific marketing tactics and

calculate ROI– See how your site visitors found you– Learn about what keywords visitors typed into the search

engines to find you

• Check out Google Analytics (FREE)


Email Marketing > Overview

• Email marketing is a great non-intrusive way to establish a relationship and stay in touch with your customers and prospects

• Things to consider:– CAN-SPAM Act (Stands for “Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act of 2003)

– List participation – Look at open rates and clicks – Conversions– Traffic to Web site


Email Marketing > CAN-SPAM

• You can send commercial email as long as you comply with the three types of compliance defined in the CAN-SPAM act:– Unsubscribe Compliance

Offer the ability for recipients to unsubscribe from email list – Must be honored within 10 days

– Content Compliance Accurate “from” lines (Your name and email address) Non-deceptive subject lines Your physical mailing address is listed within the email

– Sending Behavior Compliance Messages cannot be sent through open relay Cannot send to harvested email addresses


• Using Microsoft Outlook is a bad idea because:– It’s not very efficient– You can’t track email activity– There isn’t a way to automatically manage subscriber lists– The emails aren’t CAN-SPAM compliant

• Why you should use an email service provider (ESP):– Highly trackable – can track opens, clicks, forwards, etc.– Accountability – CAN-SPAM compliance built in– Deliverability – more emails will be delivered– Ability to send HTML emails (graphics vs. straight text)– List management – Unsubscribes are automatically managed– Personalization – Can easily insert subscriber’s name into email

Email Marketing > How do you send your emails?


• E-Offers – Offer a discount or an incentive to buy something. Could include a promo code for tracking

• E-Newsletters – Value-added content sent to subscribers on a regular basis. Sales pitch (if any) should be very soft

• Email Autoresponders – Recipients receive a single automated email or a series of automated emails to learn about a particular topic (i.e. How to choose a digital camera). Can be triggered by a sign-up or an action on a Web site (Ex. sign up for a whitepaper)

• Email Signature – A great way to add a branded marketing message to the end of any non-commercial email

Email Marketing > Tactics


• Constant Contact – www.constantcontact.com• My Emma – www.mailchimp.com• iContact – www.icontact.com• Electric Mail – www.electricmail.com• MailChimp – www.mailchimp.com• YesMail – www.yesmail.com

Email Marketing > Some ESPs to Consider


Search Engine Marketing > Overview

• Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a form of Web marketing that seeks to drive traffic to a Web site by increasing its visibility in the search engine result pages (SERPs)

• SEM includes the following:– Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC)– Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Paid inclusion


Search Engine Marketing > What’s the difference between PPC and SEO?

Pay-Per-Click (PPC or Paid Search) is an advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and other content Web sites (online newspapers, blogs, etc.). Advertisers can set their own daily budget and only pay when someone clicks on their ad and visits their Web site

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of attempting to improve one’s Web site ranking in the “organic” (unpaid) search results


SEM > Example Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

12 3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

PPC (Paid)Up to 11 on a page

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

SEO(Unpaid)Typically have 10 results per page


• Search engines drive traffic– 91% of Internet users use search engines– 80% of Internet users sessions begin at search engines– 55% of online purchases are made on sites found through search

engines– Google (~62%), Yahoo! (~21%), MSN (~9%), Everyone else (~8%)

• SEO is 6 times more effective than banner ads• SEO can potentially help you increase your organic ranking – if

you don’t show up in the first 1-3 SERPs, you may not be found• It’s basically free – you do not pay the major search engines

anything

Search Engine Marketing > Why SEO is important


• Incorporating desired keywords into site content (i.e. headlines, copy, etc.)

• In-site linking• Implementing meta tags

– Title Tags, Description Tags , Meta Keywords Tags

• Get high-traffic Web sites to link to your site• Constantly add fresh content (i.e. Blogging)• Set up a 301 redirect (i.e. Point http://yourcompany.com to

http://www.yourcompany.com • Create an XML sitemap and submit to search engines• Register your domain name for multiple years (shows the search

engines that you are stable)

Search Engine Marketing > SEO Tactics

http://yourcompany.com/

http://www.yourcompany.com/


Social Media Marketing > Overview

According to the Social Media Club of Louisville, “Social Media” is:• Communications using technologies to share opinions,

insights, experiences, perspectives• Drives social interactions and dissemination of words,

pictures, videos and audio• Consumption gives way to self-expression, creation,

collaboration, interconnectivity

SMM is a great way to communicate with customers and prospects outside of a typical Web site environment


Social Media Marketing > Tactics

• Blogs– A Web site with regular short entries about various topics that

typically combines text, images, video and links – readers can leave comments – Distributed through an RSS feed

• Twitter– “Micro blogging” – 140 characters or less

• Podcasts (audio and video)– Distributed through an RSS feed (Really Simple Syndication)

• Social networking sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)– Business pages, LinkedIn Answers

• Viral videos (YouTube)• Photo sharing (Flickr)


Sites Worth Checking Out

• Web Site Grader > www.websitegrader.com • Blog search engine > www.technorati.com • Social Media Explorer > www.SocialMediaExplorer.com • Social Media Club of Louisville > www.SMCLouisville.org • Twitter > www.twitter.com • Google Adwords > www.google.com/adwords • Google Analytics > www.google.com/analytics • Dosh Dosh > www.doshdosh.com • Conversation Marketing > www.conversationmarketing.com • Search Engine Watch > www.SearchEngineWatch.com • Search Engine Land > www.SearchEngineLand.com

http://www.websitegrader.com/

http://www.technorati.com/

http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/

http://www.smclouisville.org/

http://www.twitter.com/

http://www.google.com/adwords

http://www.google.com/analytics

http://www.doshdosh.com/

http://www.conversationmarketing.com/

http://www.searchenginewatch.com/

http://www.searchengineland.com/


Final thoughts…

• If hiring an outside vendor to do work on your behalf, make sure you:– Do your research and check references– Understand what you are paying for– Have full ownership and control of your Web site, domains

and online accounts (i.e. Google accounts)

• Start small and do a few things really well before expanding your efforts…don’t overwhelm yourself

• Check out blogs/online resources (“Google” it)• Don’t be afraid to get out there and try some things…


Let’s Connect!

Jay LaneWeb Marketing Specialist / Owner @ Jay Lane Media

Email: [email protected]: @JayLanePhone: 502.541.1312Web: JayLane.comLinkedIn: http://linkedin.jaylane.com (redirects to LI)

web marketing basics for small business: it\'s time to know what you don\'t know

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