1. Running Head: NETAFIM DIGITAL AUDIT 1
Digital Audit
Prepared by Jack Carnahan
Auburn University
MKTG 4500 Marketing on the Internet
March 29, 2016

2. NETAFIM
DIGITAL
AUDIT
2
Table Of Contents
Introduction 3
Site Marketing Performance 4
Overview And Usability 4
Blog 6
Downloads And Information 6
Video 7
Contact Points 7
Key Calls-To-Action 8
Homepage 8
Throughout The Site 9
Ranking And Traffic Estimation 9
Page Rank 9
Keyword Rankings 10
Traffic Estimation 11
Inbound Links 11
Search Engine Friendliness 12
Website Speed 12
Mobile 13
Digital Marketing Performance 13
Banner And Pay Per Click Ads 13
Legacy Site 14
Social Media Performance 15
Facebook Reach 16
Twitter Reach 16
YouTube Reach 17
LinkedIn Reach 17
Google+ Reach 17
Improvements 18
Conclusions 19

3. NETAFIM
DIGITAL
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Introduction
Netafim is the pioneer of drip and micro-irrigation products for agriculture, greenhouse,
landscape and mining applications. Simcha Blass, who in 1965 invented the first drip irrigation
system, founded Netafim. Today
the
company's
offering
includes
drippers,
dripperlines,
sprinklers
and
micro-­‐emitters.
Netafim
also
manufactures
and
distributes
crop
management
technologies,
including
monitoring
and
control
systems,
dosing
systems,
and
crop
management
software.
Netafim maintains 28 subsidiaries and 16 manufacturing plants
worldwide, and employs over 4,000 workers.
This
audit
will
delve
into
Netafim’s
digital
presence
and
discuss
the
application
of
their
digital
resources
from
a
point
of
view
emphasizing
digital
and
content
marketing.
Netafim
has
a
wide-­‐ranging
digital
digital
footprint
that
includes:
• Sites
optimized
for
25
countries
they
are
present
in
• Social
media
accounts
on
Facebook,
Twitter,
LinkedIn,
YouTube,
and
Google+
each
with
different
local
accounts
optimized
for
different
countries
Netafim
is
located
in
• Blog:
http://blog.netafim.com/
• Legacy
site
explaining
the
company
history
through
interactive
Flash
animations
This
audit
will
attempt
to
grade
the
effectiveness
of
all
of
these
different
uses
of
their
digital
resources
through
relevant
metrics
and
research
and
the
analysis
of
those
metrics
and
research.
One
of
the
major
findings,
and
a
theme
for
this
audit
going
forward,

4. NETAFIM
DIGITAL
AUDIT
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is
that
Netafim
has
a
substantial
digital
presence
but
fails
to
leverage
those
digital
tools
to
their
full
capabilities.
Also
a
quick
note
on
the
recent
updates
to
the
Netafim
websites:
the
bulk
of
the
research
done
for
this
audit
was
mainly
done
before
March
9,
2016
and
prior
to
their
most
recent
website
update,
which
appears
to
have
gone
live
as
of
March
29,
2016.
This
audit
covers
factors
of
the
previous
site;
however,
there
will
be
a
note
about
the
update
and
whether
or
not
Netafim
has
improved
their
site
based
on
the
recommendations
that
were
drafted
in
this
audit
prior
to
the
update.
Site Marketing Performance
Overview And Usability

5. NETAFIM
DIGITAL
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At a first glance the site looks modern, and well designed. It is optimized for a task-
driven surfer, with relevant tabs leading to information prominently displayed at the header.
There is also a call-to-action to “choose your country,” which leads the user to a unique website
for the country. There is a problem here. All of the sites for the other country follow the template
of the original homepage, except for the USA site, which appears to be an older site template that
was last updated in 2011 according to the copyright date at the bottom of the screen. That
inconsistency should be fixed to give the all the sites a uniform look and feel to the customers.
The content portion of the homepage has one major flaw in that it devotes most of the
page to a picture of a field. Now there are relevant links and calls to action pasted over the
picture, but a lot of them are small or at the bottom right of the page, which is not a conducive
place to drive clicks. Another detrimental choice is the social media icons that link the customer
to Netafim’s various social media accounts are relegated to the footer text of the page. These
social media accounts are a great way to engage with customers and should be more prominent
on the homepage.
The site is also a little confusing to navigate for customers looking to buy Netafim’s
products. There are a lot of tabs for relevant information, but it is usually hard to find where to
get the actual products and services Netafim sells. In order to get information on where to buy
Netafim products, the customer has to go to his or her country’s website through the “choose
your country” link, and then there are relevant steps to find that buying information. This process
should not rely on the customer to make the assumption to click on the “choose your country”
link. There should be a prominent link on the homepage calling people to “find a dealer near
you.”

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Blog
Netafim maintains a relatively active blog that posts every week to two weeks; however
at the time of this audit, the last post was February 4, 2016. It is hard to gauge the responsiveness
of the blog because there is little to no engagement by the readers. In the “about” section of the
blog, the main contributor of the blog states he will do his best to reply himself or with the help
of a colleague.
The blog’s template could use some updating. It looks a little bare and uninviting, but it is
functional and easy to navigate. The do have a contact tab, which allows readers to email the
main contributor, and also at the top is a tab that leads right back to the Netafim homepage.
Overall the blog is in working order, but nothing makes it exceptionally good or bad.
Downloads And Information
Netafim’s site is filled with information that is totally geared for the task-oriented web-
surfer. They have a content filled knowledge center with an abundance of articles and best-
practice tips for all types of farming and agriculture using their drip irrigation systems. However,
Netafim does not fully capitalize on all this great information they have posted on their website
because they do not have links and calls-to-action at the bottom of the article directing possible
customers to solutions provided for them. For example, if a corn farmer is reading the section
Netafim has about corn farming, and then feels that Netafim products would be right for him,
Netafim would be more likely to convert that customer if they had the relevant links to the actual
products themselves or the steps to follow to get the products. Easier, solution-driven navigation
will lead to more conversions for Netafim. It is worth it for the content creators on Netafim’s site
to take the extra time to provide the relevant solution links at the end of information posts.

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On the homepage there is very little to download. The most likely reason for this is
probably because there is already so much information on the site itself. However, there are a lot
of relevant literature downloads on the country specific sites, which is good because those sites
are where most customers will make their purchasing decisions. Overall, Netafim has some great
information available, but again they do not use it to its full marketing capability.
Video
Netafim does make use of Youtube (covered in the social media section), and they do
have some of their videos posted on their homepage. These videos are mostly customer
testimonials that are found under the “Customer Testimonial” tab. The video quality is well done
and they are a good addition to the site from a marketing perspective because it makes Netafim
seem more authentic.
Contact Points
Netafim does a good job of posting in-browser email message boxes throughout their site
so customers can contact them with questions. Their homepage also has a link at the top of the
page called “worldwide” which leads to a page with the street addresses, phone numbers, fax
numbers, and email addresses of all their offices around the world. This link is great for people
looking to get information specific to Netafim in their country.
Netafim does not have a live-chat option, which they should probably consider adding
because a lot of their software for tracking crop irrigation can be tracked on mobile so farmers
have constant access to the most up-to-date information on their crops. If something goes wrong,
it may be more convenient for them to be able to contact a live-chat representative to help them
with their problem immediately.

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Key Calls-To-Action
Homepage
1) “Choose Your Country”
• Located in small orange font at the top of the page.
• The font sets it apart from the other links in the header, but its size does nothing to get the
visitor’s attention.
• It does follows through and provides a list of sites for each country that Netafim is
located in, but it should be more prominent because information regarding where to get
Netafim’s products are on all of those specific country sites.
2) “Read Our Blog”
• Stands out the most out of the calls-to-action because it located in its own unique box in
the center of the page
• It does follow through, and takes the customer to the blog.
• This would be better at the bottom of the page because the blog is nothing special at the
moment, and most customers would not want to visit the blog. They are there to learn
more about Netafim’s products and services, which should be the main highlight on the
homepage
3) “Learn More About Our Products or Services.”
• This call-to-action is located towards the bottom right of the page.
• It follows through, although it takes the visitor to the same pages as the navigation tab
link for products and services.
• There is an abundance of relevant information for the task-oriented surfer.

9. NETAFIM
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• This call-to-action should be more prominently located on the homepage. Perhaps it
could switch locations with the call-to-action leading to the blog.
Throughout The Site
The rest of the site contains a lot of “read more” calls-to-action, which are set off in
orange font from the rest of the text. These calls-to-action are perfectly fine, and they follow
through to whatever information they are linked to. Also in every spot where there is information
to read, there is a “Ask The Experts” call-to-action.
• This call-to-action is found all over the site on the right side of the page in most
information columns.
• It opens up an in-browser email function that the visitor can use to ask and questions they
may have like the “contact us” link on the homepage
• It is set apart from the rest of the text very well, but its location is not optimal if it is
going to be a prime marketing feature in the site. It should probably be moved to the top
of the left column to better grab the visitor’s attention.
Ranking And Traffic Estimations
Page Rank
According to PR Checker Netafim’s site ranks average compared to all the other sites on
the Internet, which is to be expected for an agricultural company. However, there are some

10. NETAFIM
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specific rankings in the subsections below that are cause for concern. They further the theme that
Netafim is not using its online resources to their full capability.
Keyword Rankings
These are the keywords that Netafim is ranking highly for according to Search Metrics
• “Technet” (A Netafim product) is one of their most highly searched words despite the
low rank it has.
• Netafim obviously ranks highly for keywords containing Netafim in the phrase, but those
sorts of phrases are not searched very much in comparison to the actual product keywords
like “technet” and “drip irrigation.”
• Netafim should push to rank higher in a lot of the product specific organic keywords
doing two things.
o Netafim should insert more instances of product specific keywords in the text of
the website.
o Netfim should create the “solution” links at the end of information section
(mentioned in the “Downloads and Information” subsection). Those links will

11. NETAFIM
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help build credibility with Google, and they will allow for a lot more product
specific keywords to enter into the textual content of the website.
Traffic Estimation
There seems to be relatively little online when it comes to finding exact traffic estimations for
Netafim’s site; however, there is some information on the quality of site traffic.
• This screenshot of the Alexa tool takes data from the past three months and compares it
to the data from the previous 3 months.
• Netafim has improved on bounce rates quite dramatically, which is a good sign.
• They have also improved on page views per visitor, which is also good.
• Average time spent on the site has gone down though, which is not good especially
considering that Netafim homepage is an information driven site. This figure along with
the bounce rate means that visitors are not spending quality time on the site.
• Netafim should strengthen the calls-to-action and the navigation of the site to allow for an
easier Web experience for the visitors to the site.
Inbound Links

12. NETAFIM
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These figures are from the Majestic SEO tool, which measure the amount of links to
Netafim’s site there are. So these numbers show that Netafim has a lot of referential and inbound
links, which at first glance seems great. However, the Majestic tool also has a “Trust Flow”
metric, which measures the quality of the links, and Netafim ranks fairly low in that metric
(47/100). This low rating could indicate that the links are of low quality or even spam. This is a
major area of improvement because spam and low quality links can lead to a lower rating in
Google’s organic ratings and can annoy potential customers, which ultimately leads to lower
marketing performance and lower rates of conversion. Netafim should pay special attention to
fixing this problem by thoroughly vetting all the referential links that they have and by being
careful to ensure the quality of future sites that will refer back to their homepage. This is a case
where quality is better than quantity every time.
Search
Engine
Friendliness
Website Speed
Website speed ratings and recommendations according to Google Page Speed Insights
• Desktop: 69/100, yellow rating
-­‐ Should fix: Leverage browser caching, Enable compression, and Eliminate render-
blocking JavaScript and CSS in above-the-fold content
-­‐ Consider Fixing: Optimize images, Minify HTML, reduce server response time
-­‐ Passed Rules (good things): Avoid landing page redirects, Minify CSS, Minify
JavaScript, Prioritize visible content.
• Mobile: 64/100, red rating

13. NETAFIM
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-­‐ Should fix: Eliminate render-blocking JavaScript and CSS in above-the-fold content,
Leverage browser caching
-­‐ Consider Fixing: Prioritize visible content, Enable compression, Optimize images,
Minify HTML
-­‐ Passed Rules: Avoid landing page redirects, Minify CSS, Minify JavaScript, Reduce
server response time
Mobile
User experience on Mobile is graded very favorably according to both Google Page
Speed Insights and Website Grader. It is very sleek and responsive on both iOS and Android
devices. Menu navigation is quick and easy, and it is basically a copy of the desktop homepage
format that is easily condensed into a mobile format. However, as outlined in the “Contact
Points” subsection, Netafim should consider customizing the mobile site to include a live-chat
feature for instances where farmers run into problems with Netafim products in the field and
need immediate assistance. This sort of customization will further improve and further integrate
their digital presence to benefit the customer.
Digital Marketing Performance
Banner And Pay Per Click Ads
Netafim does not run Banner ads, and they do very little with pay per click ads. These are
some of the only online tools that Netafim does not leverage. Throughout this analysis the main
theme has been that Netafim has a presence online, but they do not utilize all of the capabilities
of their online presence to their fullest potential. This instance of a complete absence is worth

14. NETAFIM
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noting; however, it does not mean that Netafim should consider running pay per click and banner
ads right away. Netafim should at the very least take a look at their target audiences and gauge
their possible web activity to see if either of these tools would be effective for their marketing
plan.
These tools could be useful based on the findings that Netafim can come up with;
however, these tools are not without their downsides. Banner and pay per click ads have a very
low conversion rate, and for a company like Netafim that caters to a task-oriented audience like
farmers, unsolicited banner ads may be seen as an annoyance. It may ultimately not be worth the
time and resources it would take to run banner ads that may ultimately have a negative effect on
Netafim’s marketing plan.
Legacy Site
This is the Netafim Legacy site (URL: http://www.netafimlegacy.com/). It is an
interactive Flash website that tells visitors about Netafim as a company and all of their

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contributions to agriculture in being the pioneers of drip water irrigation. This website is a great
piece of content marketing that can only be found by clicking the “Corporate” tab on the
homepage and then by clicking the “Our Legacy” option and scrolling to the bottom of the
screen to find the link. It is baffling that this site is not advertised more, or that there is not a call-
to-action on the homepage promoting it. This legacy site is great marketing tool for several
reasons.
• It is interactive and engages the visitor.
• It has “guestbook” feature where people can leave their comment, which provides
Netafim further opportunity to engage their potential customers.
• It is a great way to introduce the company to new customers. Netafim should try to direct
traffic here and promote this site.
Social Media Performance
Overview
Netafim is present on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. For these sites, their
main corporate account is linked at the bottom at the homepage. Netafim is also on Google+:
however, this account is not directly linked on the homepage. For all of these social media
presences, Netafim has a main corporate account, and then various other country specific
accounts to cater to the customers in that geographical area.
• When searching these accounts, it is important to note that there are a lot of unauthorized
and inactive accounts that are linked in searches on these various social media sites.
• Netafim should consider cleaning up inactive accounts and getting rid of unauthorized
accounts to optimize their search results on these social media sites.

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Facebook Reach
Account Name Page Likes
Average Likes Per
Post
Average Shares
Per Post
Netafim Corporate 29,860 50 10-15
Netafim USA 3,572 5-10 1-5
Netafim South Africa 5,123 5-100 10-20
Netafim Bulgaria 130 5-10 1-3
Netafim Romania 6,320 5-100 10-20
Netafim Italia 3,582 10 1-3
Netafim France 234 5 1
Netafim Argentina 492 5-10 1-3
Netafim Brazil 2,082 25 5
Netafim Ecuador 257 10-15 1
Netafim India 431 5-10 1
Twitter Reach
Account Name Followers
Average Retweets
Per Post
Average Likes Per
Post
Netafim Corporate 1,510 1-3 1-3
Netafim USA 1,790 5 5
Netafim South
Africa
392 1-2 1-2
Netafim India 145 1-2 1-2
Netafim SADC 310 1-2 1-2
Netafim Italia 747 0-1 0-1
Netafim France 179 0-1 0-1
Netafim Turkey 138 0-1 0-1
Netafim Brazil 98 0 0
Netafim Argentina
SA
62 0 0
Netafim Chile 36 0 0
Netafim Peru 22 0 0

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YouTube Reach
Account Name Subscribers Total Views Number Of Videos
Netafim 2,362 768,857 152
Netafim USA 551 139,741 46
Netafim Brazil 142 30,223 27
Netafim Mexico 140 33,916 16
Netafim Italia 255 334,330 63
Netafim Australia &
New Zealand
0 39,626 13
Netafim Peru 3 316 9
Netafim SA 20 2,416 28
Netafim Chile 17 2,212 13
Netafim Turkey 12 2,082 15
Netafim India Savli 295 53 66,197
LinkedIn Reach
Account Name Followers
Average Likes Per
Post
Average Comments
Per Post
Netafim 6,480 40-50 1-3
Netafim USA 3,215 10 1
Netafim Brasil 601 5-10 2
Netafim Italia 558 5 1
Netafim Argentina
SA
431 0 0
Netafim Peru 234 0 0
Netafim Mexico 175 0 0
Netafim France 34 0 0
Netafim Chile 13 1 0
• Netafim Chile has only one post from six months ago.
• Netafim Argentine SA, Peru, Mexico, and France have no posts.
Google+ Reach
Account Name Followers Page Views Average +1 Per Post
Netafim 148 169,064 1-3
Netafim Brasil 10 6,523 1

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Netafim Italia 64 37,912 1
Netafim Germany 13 53,163 1
Netafim Chile 23 17,853 1
Netafim New
Zealand Ltd
4 9,154 0
Netafim SADC 6 8,366 1
Netafim SA 6 5,792 1
Netfim USA 54 19,676 1
Netfim Mexico 4 7,751 0
Netafim Peru 1 3,697 1
Netafim Australia
and New Zealand
2 13,143 0
Netafim Turkey 1 8,552 1
• Netafim Germany’s last post was in 2012.
• Netafim Peru only has one post where they changed their profile picture to the 50th
anniversary logo.
• Netafim Australia and New Zealand just have a profile picture change as their only post.
• Netfim New Zealand and Netafim Mexico have no posts.
Improvements
It is great that Netafim has all of these accounts, but a lot of them are inactive or post
very infrequently. Also, on the accounts that do have engagement and active posts, Netafim
rarely ever replies to posts or engages their visitors. This sort of trend continues the theme of not
leveraging all of the tools they have in place the best that they can.
It would be very beneficial for Netafim to engage the customers more on social media.
Providing a vibrant social media environment where the company shares relevant and sharable
content and engages with the followers drives traffic to the company’s website. As it stands right
now, Netafim only has the social media accounts available, which is not enough. They need to be
active, and geared towards the audience involved with their social media accounts.

19. NETAFIM
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Also Netafim should try to create more uniformity in the aesthetics between each
country’s accounts. There are a lot of differences between each account that makes Netafim’s
social media presence as a whole look disjointed. The company should take the time to clean up
each account to make sure the profiles are neat and the information on each social media account
is in the same sort of format optimized for the social media platform the accounts are on.
Obviously the content on each account should be customized for each country or audience the
account is for, but there could be more coordination when it comes to sharing worldwide updates
on Netafim. A little more focus and coordination when it comes to running their social media
presence will go a long way when it comes to driving traffic, conversions, and favorable
branding impressions.
Conclusions
Netafim has a fairly widespread digital presence, which is a good thing. It is mostly all there,
disregarding the lack of banner ads and pay per click ads. It is just leveraging their resources that
they already have in place by:
• Engaging their customers and followers more on social media
• Reworking the site’s calls-to-action to stand out more and drive traffic throughout their
site
• Advertising the “Legacy” site, and leveraging that as a tool of content marketing that can
engage new customers and create a sense of customer intimacy
• Improving their site’s speed and responsiveness
It is not enough just to have all of these tools like social media accounts, referential links,
and custom country websites in place. Netafim needs to use them to their fullest potential and

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should work to further integrate their marketing plan with the tools that they have already put in
place.
With the update to their website made March 29, 2016, Netafim has addressed some of the
concerns with the country specific websites not being the same template. They have also
upgraded the aesthetics of the website, and they claim that the update further improves ease of
use on mobile, which it seems to do. The site update also addresses some of the concerns with
navigation with the previous site template. The space on the page is used much better with
clearer headings and left justified announcement text. The menus are much easier to navigate as
well.
However, this update only seems to be a purely aesthetic and functional update. Netafim still
ahs not addressed a lot of the marketing concerns in this audit. The legacy site is still hard to
find, and there are very little changes with the lacking calls-to-action. This update does not
address any of the concerns with social media or dubious inbound links. There is still a lot that
Netafim can do to improve the quality of their web presence for users. This update was a step in
the right direction, but it still leaves a lot left for them to improve, which makes a lot of the
recommendations and ideas in this audit still valid.