1. Web Marketing Basics for Small Business It’s Time to Know What You Don’t Know Jay Lane, Jay Lane MediaLouisville Small Business Development CenterSeptember 24, 2009

2. 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

3. What is Web marketing? Web marketing is the process of: Creating/managing an online presence (Web site, Blog, Facebook page, etc.) Driving visitors to a Web site, blog, etc. Engaging visitors with compelling content Converting visitors (prospects) into customers Tracking/measuring everything and making improvements as needed

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

7. 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

8. Commonly used terms you should know 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

9. 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!

10. Don’t put the cart before the horse! horse = Your Web site cart= Web marketing

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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?

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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)

17. 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

19. Non-deceptive subject lines

22. 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

23. 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

25. SEM > Example Search Engine Results Page (SERP) 1 3 2 PPC (Paid) Up to 11 on a page 4 1 5 2 6 3 SEO(Unpaid) Typically have 10 results per page 7 4 8 5 9 6 10 7 8 9 10

26. 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

28. 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

29. 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)

30. 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

31. 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…

32. Let’s Connect! Jay Lane Web Marketing Specialist / Owner @ Jay Lane Media Email: jay@jaylane.com Twitter: @JayLane Phone: 502.541.1312 Web: JayLane.com LinkedIn: http://linkedin.jaylane.com (redirects to LI)