A presentation on getting the most out of your website. Presented to Phoenix-area business owners at the Arizona Small Business Development Center in August 2009.

1. Harnessing the White ElephantMake Your Website Pull Its WeightAugust 20, 2009

3. President of Eight Trails

4. Smarter websites and online marketing20+ years advertising and marketing Interactive director Creative director Writer Led the design and development of more than 50 websites

5. Now Tell Me About You How many B2B businesses? How many B2C businesses? Other? Business size? Already have a website? Is it doing all it can for you?

6. Harnessing the White Elephant Today’s agenda

7. A Fable

8. A Cautionary Tale

9. Feeding the White Elephant White elephants Eat a lot Require a lot of attention Don't do a bit of work (unlike their ordinary gray cousins, who bust their elephant butts)

10. Remind You Of Anything?

11. Your Website Costs Initial investment Domain registration Design Content creation Search optimization Development

12. Your Website Costs Ongoing costs Domain registration Site hosting Content creation Site updates and maintenance Problem resolution Promotion

13. Make Your WebsitePull Its Weight

14. Make Your Website Pull Its Weight Brand support User experience / usability Content Site structure and navigation Findability Engagement Measurement

15. Brand Support Does your website support your brand? Image Message Voice Visuals

17. User Experience / Usability Make your website work for the people who actually use it

18. User Experience / Usability Eight Trails’ first rule of website success: Figure out what your site visitors want, then give it to them

19. User Experience / Usability Who are your website’s most important users? What do they want? (Ask them!) Surveys Interviews Ask front-line employees (cashiers, customer service, tech support, sales) Testing – Watch actual customers use your website

20. User Experience / Usability Important stuff first - Make your website an FAQ Every page should quickly answer three questions: What is this website about? What can I do here? What should I do next?

22. User Experience / Usability Page Layout Restrict your color palette Emphasize important stuff Use containers to group related content Use nesting to imply hierarchy

24. Content Is it the content that your users want? Is it fresh? A blog is a great way to regularly provide fresh, relevant content

25. Site Structure and Navigation Organize your site to address your customers’ needs Think in terms of the questions your customers have Jakob’s Law – Put things where your customers expect them to be

26. …and one more that you have to see to believe: Web Mountain Bike

27. Findability Make sure you’re found by those who want what you’ve got Search optimization Site structure – web standards Clean and logical HTML CSS for styling Javascript for actions

28. Fly Fishing Outfitters Desert Sportsman

29. Findability Don’t build your site in Flash! What Not to Do: Einstein Bros.

30. Engagement Find ways to begin a conversation with your customer Provide something of value in return for an email address Research data How to guide – Pilot Journey Planning tool – Dr. Weil Free trial – GoToMeeting

31. Engagement Other conversation starters Email newsletter signup Live chat Inquiry form Forums Blogs

32. Engagement - Blogs You’re already talking about your business. Invite your customers into the conversation. Your customers are already talking about your business. Join in. Participate regularly - answer comments Join in other conversations, too

34. Measurement “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.” – Peter Drucker Set up Google Analytics on your site Set up conversion goals Start measuring important things Views of key engagement pages Downloads and form completions Referring sites Search terms

36. Questions? Comments? Ed Tankersley EightTrails.com ed@eighttrails.com @EdTankersley 602-361-2001