The Path to Product Excellence: Avoiding Common Pitfalls and Enhancing Commun...
The road to owning or running a successful website
1. The road to owning or running
a Successful Website
By Nigel Harding
BBF member to member workshop
12 September 2013
2. About me
Nigel Harding
Owner of a web design business (4 years)
Web designer
Web developer
Web consultant
• Helping the business
• SEO/internet marketing
Previous life
− Project management, pre-sales consultancy (software),
software application training
3. Agenda
Your website, your shop
window
Understanding your target
audience
Responsive websites
Driving traffic to your
website.
4. 1. Your shop window
Check list:
Establish/re-enforce corporate ID
Use consistent, complimentary colours
Use good quality images & photography
− Good lighting, relaxed professional look, no holiday
snaps
Importance of clarity & usability
− Different form factors (smartphones, tablets)
5.
6. The good, the bad & the ugly
What defines whether a website is good, bad,
ugly, successful or otherwise?
Design quality
How well does the website relate to the visitor?
Too much content, too little content, just right?
Easy navigability, clarity of messages, importance of
usability
Support the business objectives
Does it generate enquiries/sales?
21. Some Facts & Figures
There are more mobile phones in the UK than people
The number of smartphone searchers doubles every two
months
In 2010, Google became a ‘mobile-first’ company (this
means they develop their sites and tools on mobiles first)
Smartphone sales overtook PC sales last year (two years
earlier than expected)
In three years time, tablet sales will be bigger than PC sales
Smartphone sales will continue to grow – will be 3 times the
sales of PCs
52% of UK mobile phone users have a smartphone
22. 2. Your target audience
Check list
Understand who you are trying to reach
− Demographics (age, sex, niches)
− Suitable colours & style that appeal
− Personas
Tell your audience what you want them to do
− i.e. “Call to action”, telephone, complete a form, click on a “buy”
button
23. Vending machine industry persona
Vending machine operator company
Facilities Management for SMEs/corporates
Target audience, think about...
Male? – most likely
Age? - 28-45?
Role? - CEO/COO/MD?
Disposition? - quite analytical
28. 3. Driving traffic to your website
Check list:
Is it important that visitors find your website?
Internet marketing, interactive marketing
Search Engine Optimisation
Blogs & Social Media
30. Quick history of search
1990s
– Altavista, Excite, Yahoo (1994)
– Google enters the fray (1996)
2000s
Google becomes the King of Search
Bing launched - MSN Live rebrand (2009)
2010s
– Google at the height of its powers
– Real-time search results
33. What is SEO (Search
Engine Optimisation)?
Organic
Make your website content naturally relevant to Google
searches
Involves analysis, editing web content, adding new
content, constantly reviewing results and tweaking
Pay per click
Google shows free ads (impressions)
You pay for each click through to your site
You can set a budget
36. Google Panda
Targets over-optimisation of
anchor text.
If an unnatural percentage of
the links pointing to your site
are all one keyword that you
are trying to rank for, you will
be penalized.
http://www.wordtracker.com/academy/google-
panda-farmer
37. Google Penguin 2
Targets unnatural, manipulative,
inbound link profiles
– Coming from poor quality sites
– On sites that aren't topically relevant to
your niche or business
– Paid links
– Keyword rich links
– Links where the anchor text is overly
optimized (i.e., exact-match anchor text)
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2279845/Googles-Penguin-2.0-
Algorithm-The-Definitive-Guide
41. Modern Marketing
Marketing used to be “broadcast marketing” until 6 or
7 years ago
The new wave of marketing involves the audience
Social Media can be used for broadcasting
Social Media & blogging facilitate conversation
– It's power lies in conversation, feedback, involving
people.
– You can have conversations with your exact target
audience
43. What is a Blog?
WebLog
A discussion or information site published on the
World Wide Web consisting of discrete entries
("posts") typically displayed in reverse chronological
order so the most recent post appears first.
(Wikipedia).
44.
45.
46. Why do people blog?
To “add value” to visitors.
– Additional insightful information,
IFA comments on Budget
To show off competence &
expertise
To interact with target audience
The main reason...
– To add changing, relevant content to the website
which will positively affect Search Engine
Optimisation
47. Summary
Importance of quality for branding, logo
& website
Is the website clear, is it easy to use?
Will mobile phone users enjoy a good experience?
Does the website reflect your business objectives?
Does the website appeal to the target audience?
What are your website traffic objectives?
Do you blog? If not you probably should!
49. Contact Details
Amodeo Web Design
Branding/logo design
Web design
Web development
Ecommerce
Internet marketing
SEO
Social media
management
Nigel Harding
T 01494 446296
M 07505 248501
E nigel@amodeowebdesign.co.uk
W www.amodeowebdesign.co.uk
http://lnkd.in/ysbS69