WEB 101:WELCOME TO THE WORLD
SMART SMALL BUSINESS SEMINARS
“Serving Canadian Entrepreneurs. Registering their businesses and
government accounts. Helping them protect their “Intellectual Property”.
Providing services to manage their books and grow their internet business.
All at low costs to help the small business.”
WELCOME AND
INTRODUCTIONS
Agenda
What is the purpose of a website?
How to get started
The basics of good design
How to ensure that people find your site
Do’s and Don'ts Of Web Success.
A Website Is Mandatory
Internet penetration in Canadian Households 82% in Canada. 93% in some cities
Web penetration in Canadian Businesses80% of SOHO businesses have a website
On-line Buying51% of web users buy on-line Avg. total of $1,362 per consumerEach has an avg. of 10 orders per year
The Amazing Web
You can launch (and un-launch) instantlyYour businessNew offerings, or remove underperformersNews, information and any contentInstant testing and market research
Its built to make you successful“ON” 7 days a week, 24 hours a day…“Search engines” are your “sales people”Connect “virtually” to so many opportunities
“Affiliate with (link to) other businesses“Link” to your social media and blogs
What Really Matters For Your Site
1. YOUR objectivesNot obvious and may change over timeConsider carefully – are many options
2. VISITORS’ objectivesAlso not obvious –research and learn
3. Your objectives = visitor objectivesBUT – they must not conflict
GeneralAwareness – visitors are finding you – increasing over timeEducation – visitors learn something on your siteCredibility – visitors trust you and refer youPersonality: you have a unique “competitive” position
SpecificReturning: frequency of repeat visits Marketing: presenting your company, brand & offeringsSales - Immediately or ultimately – increasing over timeUp-sell & cross sell – ultimate goal is to get past first saleDatabase: leads and relationships - increasing over time
Objectives: YOURS
Visitor ObjectivesInitial impressions
Simplicity and clarityEducation. Information. Uniqueness. Selection. Buying process. Price. Comfort and Trust? Testimonials? Personality. Easy navigationAbility to interact with you?
Content and refreshingNew products and services, menus, eventsInformation, articles, tips, testimonialsSeasonality, industry issues and trends…
FunctionalityProducts and pricesInquiries and requests for informationBuying
Links to other sites and information
Ongoing Balancing…
desired VISITOR & CUSTOMER OBJECTIVESYOUR
objectives
Initial Impressions Count…People click around until they “see what they like”
So first impression is important
What impression do you want visitors to have?
Test it out and see how people react and use
BOUNCE RATE!!!
Like or Dislike Rankings By Industry
Like or Dislike Rankings By Design
Like?
Don’t Like?
DESIGNING A
GREAT SITE
Domain Names
Compelling, unique,
meaningful…
Get .CA and .COM
if available
.CA supports buy, pay and
ship locally
.COM is most recognized in
the world
Optimize for your
own backyard
Beyond Initial Impressions…
Q: How do we ensure a great experience on the site?
Understand your audience
Understand the RANGE of things they may need:
information, reassurance, examples, ability to buy…
People Don’t Want YOUR Stuff
At least, not when they start searchingThey haven't heard about YOUR stuff yetSo they are not looking for YOUR STUFF
They are searching for solutions to a need“Wings in North York”, “Fix my toilet cheap”
Ensure that they find YOUR STUFFUnderstand the needs people haveDesign to meet those needs when they arrive“Optimize” your site based on those needs
EVERY BUSINESS IS DIFFERENT…
THEY EACH NEED DIFFERENT DESIGNS
Brands and Products
ServicesReliable, professional, experienced…
Knowledge - Oriented
Smart,success,process,
certification…
On-Line Stores Simple, visual,descriptions, easy process
Kids - OrientedBrand, engagement, fun, simple…
Even The Local Cobbler…
Local feel, directions,ability to interact
GETTING TRAFFICSEO & Constant
improvement
We Said “Initial Impressions Count”
But…Only about 5% of new websites survive and deliver a positive return on investment (ROI)
Beyond Initial Impressions…
Q: How do we ensure a great experience on the site?
Q: How do get them to the site to start with?
A: SEO – Search Engine Optimization
Search Engines
Your Free Sales Team But Also Your Boss!!
Google™, Bing, Yahoo. Special sites that help people find information stored on other sites. They continually crawl the Internet based on key wordsThey keep an index of the words they find, and where they find them.They allow users to look for words or combinations of words found in that index.They rank websites on their own criterion
And return your results based on their ranking
Always Open when customers need you.
SEO and Search
Organic SearchSearch Engines – searching the whole webMajor Search Engines – Google, Bing…
Local SearchDirectory Listings, Local Search Sites..Google Place, Hotfrog, Merchant Circle…
Paid SearchPPC Pay Per Click: Google, Yahoo, Microsoft…
SEO – To Improve Your Ranking
Useful, information-rich, clarity and accurate content
Fresh content improves rankings. Blogs, news…
Use words that users will search on
Clear site hierarchy, and links used sparingly
Site map with links
Use text not images (not searchable) for key content
Check for broken links and correct coding
Links to and from Good (highly ranked) web sites.
Weak (poorly ranked or irrelevant) links can do harm
“Right Click” To See CodingVarious “Tags” in the coding are key to search
So is the content on the site
PPC - Pay per click
PPC is measurable: gets excellent results if well managed.
Google™ AdWords is the biggest.Internet advertising used to direct traffic to websites.Bid on “keyword phrases” relevant to your target market. Pay the Google when the ad is clicked.
Other PPC optionsPPC "display" ads on web sites you want to be onPay with each click on the ad.
PPV Pay Per ViewCheaper, more random.Pay per number of views the ad gets.
Paid Search - PPC
PPC Budgeting
Free Google Analytics
10 Web Do’s
1. Know your competition and your audience2. Choose content and keywords accordingly3. Establish your niche 4. Use consistent visual elements 5. Optimize “organically” first. Then paid.6. Build high-quality 'non-paid' inbound links7. Design for easy navigation – not glitz!8. Use analytics to measure success 9. Test the site before launch 10. Keep your website updated
Get The Expert Help You Need
Do What You Do Best Building products / services?
Sales and marketing?
Admin / operations?
Let Others Do The Rest: Typically…Administration
Bookkeeping and Accounting
Website design, management, e-commerce…
SMART SMALL BUSINESS SEMINARS
Our Seminars
PROFITS 101
TAXES 101
START 101
PLANNING 101
PROTECT 101
WEB 101
We hope this supporting information to
Web 101 was helpful to you.
If you have any questions about the
seminar, our services and special offers
for small businesses, please
Click here
“Serving Canadian Entrepreneurs. Registering their businesses and
government accounts. Helping them protect their “Intellectual Property”.
Providing services to manage their books and grow their internet business.
All at low costs to help the small business.”