An Introduction to Social Media and Website Development for business owners.

1. Website and Social Media
What you need to know before
taking the plunge!

2. Who I Am…

3. Learning Objectives
• Why do I need a website?
• Planning a Website
• Setting a budget
• What to watch for in setting up your site.
• Social Media – Tips
• Blogging
• SEO…9 steps to making it work!

4. Why Do I Need a Website?
No one is using phone books anymore! Get your business online
now
Opportunity to gain more customers by opening to a new market
online
A website can be affordable, flexible and cost-effective advertising
(specifically using social media and local search optimization)
Lower costs by answering FAQ and use your website as an
affordable customer service management tool
Provide what your customers are looking for in a convenient 24/7
medium and increase customer retention
Create a better connection with your customers and raise your
profits through an email marketing campaign driven by your website
Gain higher credibility with your customers and in your industry
Cheap market research using traffic analytics

5. The Secret to Planning a Website
Define your website’s purpose
Having a clear purpose for your website is key, and it helps it
creating the design and feel for your overall site.
Define your target audience
Narrow your audience as much as possible, this allows you to
determine the overall site design, and how to cater to their
specific needs
Design your website workflow
Here is an example…Land on Home Page > Read More about
Services > Contact through contact us page
Write your content to suit your purpose, audience and
workflow
Write your content to fill each planning stage, make sure it is
free of grammar and spelling mistakes, contact a editor if you
are unsure.

6. Setting A Budget
Setting a budget and knowing what it can get you
Be sure when you are researching a designer that they
are comfortable with the CMS or HTML that you are
requesting.
Also make sure they wish to involve you with the
process…after all it is your website!
Knowing what you need
Determine your needs and wants for the site, and sit
down with a developer to determine the best avenue
to go. Content Management Systems are becoming
the way of the future. Having a customized website
does not have to cost thousands either!

7. Okay, okay, stop talking about all this
and tell me what to do.
Are you hiring a designer right off the bat?
Then take the following steps:
1. Take the time to plan for your website. The handling of a
designer/developer will be infinitely easier if you’ve
properly prepared.
2. Do your research. How much does a website cost?
Understand what you can afford with your budget.
3. Re-evaluate whether you should be doing this yourself.
4. Reach out to your network for referrals to reliable and
talented designers.
5. Get your website built.

8. Are you going to take the plunge and
do things yourself?
You’ll want to take the following steps:
1. Plan, plan, plan for your website.
2. Research open source software (i.e. FREE) such as
WordPress or Magento, depending on your website
needs.
3. Learn about what domains are, what hosting is, and how
to get them set up.
4. If necessary, hire someone to get you started in the right
direction to learn what’s what in the world of the web.
5. Build your website using all of the above knowledge
you’ve learned and start experimenting to find out what
works best for your needs.

9. Some things to watch for…
Domain and Hosting Fees
Many companies provide a free domain for life as long
as you are hosted with them. This helps you save
money.
Ensure you are in control of your website and domain
at all times. If you hire a designer make sure that you
register the host and domain so everything is in your
name.
Hosting ranges from 5.95/month to 7.95/month and
many times includes items such as email
addresses, unlimited space, and bandwidth.

10. Some things to watch for…
The Designing Process
Too often I have seen clients upset (and have spent
way too much money) with a design only to need
another designer to step in and redo it. Make sure you
find a designer that understands what you want. The
website should reflect your brand…and clearly identify
that.
Be involved…and have a timeline for a date to be
completed. If you are providing content ensure that
the designer has the content in due time to be
completed by the target date.

12. Social Media Lessons
Your Customer Knows Best
Social media has little to do with you; it’s all about your
audience, customers, or whomever you’re trying to reach. Marketing 101 says
to think like your customer thinks. And the same holds true in social media.
Find out where your clients are…and become involved
Social Media Isn’t Necessarily Free
Social media is attractive to small businesses because of its perceived price.
You can set up a new blog, fan page, video site, and Twitter account without
paying a dime. There’s no expensive software, or costly media buys.
However, even though there’s a low price tag to enter the game, social media
is far from free. It requires time, energy, and effort. It’s a never-ending
commitment to create interesting content, listen to conversations, and
respond.
Pick a social network community that is important in your market, determine
your goals, and define who is responsible for keeping the activity going on a
daily basis.
Don’t Measure Success by Follower Counts
You shouldn’t get caught up in the numbers game or try to keep up with the
big brands. Growing your community is important, but you should be focused
on who’s engaging with you and at what levels.

13. Social Media Lessons
Social Media Doesn’t Equal Self-Promotion
Posting about your company, news, and services will not
generate many leads on social media..so…
show the person behind your company
focus on your customers, and not your company.
Learn From the Experts
You’ve got to learn from the work of others, while tailoring their
experiences to your own particular needs, goals, and customers.
Seek Outside Help
If you struggle with keeping things updated, and are concerned
about looking professional and being effective you can enlist the
help of a social media marketing company to assist your
company in building their social brand. Ensure that the social
media firm understands your policies, and business well before
they take on the job.

14. Blogging

15. Why Blog?
They are much easier than newsletters when it comes to getting
your idea across.
They can be added to, and they can be updated at any time and
from virtually anywhere.
Blogs also have long lasting shelf lives, as they exist on the internet
until you decide to remove them.
They offer a large amount of credibility.
Allows you to develop buzz about your product or service
Is search engine indexed – increases your SEO
There are some free options out there: Blogger, Wordpress, Tumblr,
Weebly, just to name a few
You can host it on your own server, or choose a free option if your
budget does not allow.

16. Finally…SEO
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art and science of
publishing and marketing information that ranks well in
search engines like Google, Yahoo! Search, and Microsoft
Bing.
The two most powerful aspects of search engine
marketing are:
users type what they want to find into search boxes, making
search engines the most precisely targeted marketing medium
in the history of the world
once you gain traction in the search results the incremental
costs of gaining additional exposure are negligible when
compared with the potential rewards, allowing individuals and
small businesses to compete with (and perhaps eventually
become) large corporations

17. SEO Steps
Search engine optimization consists of 9 main steps:
1. Market research
– The first step is to search the major search engines to see what types of
websites are ranking for words which you deem to be important.
2. Keyword research
– What keywords are people searching for? Use the SEO Book Keyword
research tool to search for popular and long tail keywords related to your
industry. This tool cross references the Google Keyword
Tool, Wordtracker, and other popular keyword research tools.
3. On -page optimization
– Before drafting content consider what keywords are your most important and
map out how to create pages to fit each important group of keywords within
your site theme and navigational structure based on
• market value
• logical breaks in market segmentation
• importance of ranking in building credibility / improving conversion rates

18. SEO Steps Continued…
4. Site structure
– If you are uncertain how deep to make a portion of the site, start by
creating a few high quality pages on the topic. Based on market
feedback create more pages in the sections that are most valuable to
your business.
5. Link building
– Search engines view links as votes, with some votes counting more
than others. To get high quality links (that help your site rank
better) you need to participate in the social aspects of your
community and give away valuable unique content that people talk
about and share with others.
6. Brand building
– If you build a strong brand when people search for more information
about your brand, and other websites have good things to say about
your brand, these interactions help to reinforce your brand image
and improve your lead quality and conversion rates.

19. SEO…Continued
7. Viral marketing
– The beautiful thing about viral marketing is that creating one
popular compelling idea can lead to thousands of free quality links. If
your competitor is building one link at a time and you have
thousands of people spreading your ideas for you for free then you
are typically going to end up ranking better.
8. Adjusting
– Being ready to adjust your content depending on changes with
search algorithms.
9. Staying up to date
– Keeping your content updated and relevant, search engines will not
index your site as regularly if content is not added

20. Questions???
jaimie@murphydesigns.ca
www.murphydesigns.ca
Facebook: facebook.com/MurphyDesigns
Twitter:@MurphyDesigns
Ph: 902-472-2404
Cell: 902-791-4222