Presentation to the Economic Development Association of Alabama on June 25, 2012.

1. Best
Prac*ces
to
Showcase
Your
Community
Online

2. Lauderdale
Limestone Madison Jackson
Colbert
Lawrence
RED SAGE IN ALABAMA
Economic Development
Franklin Morgan DeKalb
Marshall
Marion Cullman Cherokee
Winston
Blount
Etowah
& Community Marketing
Experience
Walker
Lamar Fayette St. Clair Calhoun
Jefferson Cleburne
Talladega
• Economic Development Groups
Pickens
Tuscaloosa Shelby
Clay Randolph
Greene
Bibb
Coosa Tallapoosa
• Chambers of Commerce
• Tourism
Chambers
Hale Chilton
Perry Elmore Lee
Sumter Autauga
• Downtown Redevelopment
Macon
Choctaw
Marengo
Dallas Montgomery Russell
• Main Street Programs
Lowndes Bullock
Wilcox
Barbour
• Local Governments
• National Heritage Area
Butler Pike
Clarke
Monroe Crenshaw
Henry
Washington Dale
> 28 Counties
Conecuh Coffee
Covington
Excambia Houston
Geneva
Mobile
Baldwin

3. Our Services for Communities
 Website Design  PowerPoint Presentations
• Content Mgmt System  E-Newsletters
• Mobile Friendly Sites
 Blogs
• Google Analytics
 Graphic Design
• Chambermaster
• Logos
• TravelHero
• Community Print Ads
 Community Branding
• Flyers
 Retail Recruitment Guides • Brochures
 Wayfinding Signage • Rack Cards
 Social Media Marketing • Folders
• Tradeshow Banners
 Content Development

4. Current Partnership
with PowerSouth
 An external analyst reviewed economic
development websites in Alabama and
identified communities that had potential to
improve their online presence
 PowerSouth is partnering with these
communities and Red Sage to develop
new websites for their economic
development initiatives

5. Our Goals Today
 Your Community’s Brand
 Economic Development Websites
• Your Domain Name
• Home Page Use
• Content – what to include
• Navigation Structure
• Search Engine Optimization
 Social Media
 Other Online Communication

6. ?
Why is having a strong
online presence for your
community important?

7. The vast majority of
research to narrow
down a list of potential
sites is done online.

8. Your Target Audiences
Site Selectors Retailers Industry Sectors Existing Industry
Industry Reps Stakeholders

9. Branding Your Community
 Your community brand captures both
tangible and intangible qualities that create
a community personality and make your
community truly unique
 Your brand is your We’re
reputation and your Different!
promise of distinct value

13. Showcasing your
community with
your economic
development
website

14. www. ???.org
 BaldwinEDA.com
At a minimum,
spell out your  DorchesterForBusiness.com
County name for  OzarkAlabama.us
Search Engine
Optimization and  PlatteCountyEDC.com
usability  ChesapeakeVA.biz
 BuildWebsterCity.com

15. Develop Your Site Map
 Plan the pages of your site
 Establish a structure that is logical
 Keep all content within three clicks
 This also establishes your main navigation
button choices – keep consistent!
 Look at how other groups have set their
sites up – look at IEDC winning sites or
www.communityresults.com

16. Site Map Example 1
Business
Available
Sites
Home
Climate
Workforce
and
Buildings
Maps
Quality
of
Life
About
Us
Cost
of
Doing
Business
Demographics
Available
Sites
K-­‐12
Educa6on
Staff
Workforce
Available
Post-­‐Secondary
Tax
Incen6ves
Stats
Buildings
Educa6on
Board
Exis6ng
Workforce
Industries
Training
Healthcare
Contact
Us
Technology
Recrea6on
and
Transporta6on
Center
ANrac6ons
Job
Seeker
U6li6es
Resources

17. Site Map Example 2
Doing
Available
Sites
Community
Home
Workforce
Retail
About
Us
Business
and
Buildings
Profile
Workforce
Retail
Incen6ves
Stats
Demographics
Available
Sites
Demographics
News
Workforce
Available
Taxes
Training
Exis6ng
Retail
Buildings
Maps
Contact
Licenses
&
Industrial
Permits
Parks
Educa6on
Transporta6on
Healthcare
Recrea6on
U6li6es
and
ANrac6ons
Area
Industries
Exis6ng
Industry
Resources

18. Site Map Example 3
Local
Business
Site
Selec6on
Data
&
Home
About
Us
News
Living
Here
Services
Services
Demographics
Workforce
Available
Demographics
&
Staff
Development
Proper6es
Trends
Housing
Incen6ves
&
Incen6ves
&
Board
Financing
Financing
Transporta6on
Educa6on
Professional
Development
&
Workforce
Regulatory
&
Contact
Us
Development
Environmental
Cost
of
Living
Training
Small
Business
&
Industry
Entrepreneurs
Concentra6ons
Workforce
Recrea6on
Job
Search
Cost
of
Doing
Resources
Business
Taxa6on
Climate
Leading
Employers
Government
Healthcare
U6li6es

19. Designing an
Effective Home Page
 Your brand
 Your location – with a map
 Unique selling points
 Recent news
 Contact information
 Graphics heavy but no flash

25. What types of content?
 Maps  Taxes & Incentives
 Demographics  Transportation
 Available Property  Utilities
listings  Business Assistance
 Quality of life  News
 Staff and contact  Social Media links and
 Existing Industries feeds
 Workforce Information

26. How to Write and Program
Content
 VERY data heavy
 People don’t read – avoid paragraphs
 Break pages up visually with sub-heads,
sections or graphics
 Build your sitemap in Word format
• Sitemap stays on page 1
• Each page gets its own page in Word
• Write the content, add notes for graphics, related
downloads, external links, and internal links

32. What to include in News
 New industry announcements
 Local industry news
 New Hires
 Awards
 Job creation announcements
 Report releases
 Either write your own or link to local coverage
 Ability to share articles on social media

34. GIS Powered Sites
 More robust searching
 More extensive property data fields
 Radius-based demographics
 Exportable reports
 Still pricey for small communities

37. Showing up in Search Engines
 “county name” economic development
 Your organization name

38. How to increase your
odds of showing up
 Before you write your content, write down
a list of key phrases you want to show up
for:
County name City name
Organization Name City/county/region name + maps
County + economic development City/county/region name + available
Region name + economic development property
Existing industry name (Mercedes)

39. How to increase your
odds of showing up
 Then make sure these words are heavily
used throughout your content, page titles
 Consider using Pay Per Click to expand
visibility on broader search terms such as
“Alabama Industrial Property” or
“Automotive Manufacturers”
 Use Blogs and Social Media
 Make sure other sites link back to yours

41. Mobile Options
Mobile-­‐Friendly
Sites
Mobile
Websites
Mobile
Apps
• Everything
works
• Usually
smaller
• More
robust
• Full
site
but
loads
subsec6on
of
site
func6onality
fast
• Geotagged
• Requires
download
• Full
site
but
shows
loca6ons
from
iTunes
store
up
in
screen
and
• WORTH
or
Google
Play
can
pinch
to
resize
CONSIDERING
• Requires
• MANDATORY
installa6on
on
phone
• BETTER
HAVE
A
GOOD
REASON

42. Social Media Options
 Make sure your website news (at least) is
sharing enabled
 It is about RELATIONSHIPS
 Linked In
• Most potential for external prospecting and
networking
 Twitter
• Share information as it happens
 Facebook
• Opportunity for dialogue with community

43. Linked In:
 If nothing else, participate here
 Make sure your key employees listed on
your website have link to Linked In profile
 Participate in groups
 Communicate with site selectors active on
Linked In – respond to posts etc.
 Recruit employees
 Learn from other communities

46. Twitter
 Communicate news or share ideas
 Search key phrases to tune into news and
conversations (automotive supplier,
economic development)
 Expect a small group of active followers

50. Blogging
 Personal thoughts about current news or
situation
 Keep short – 1 paragraph is fine
 Best is at least once a week, but even a
well maintained once a month blog is
better than most communities

51. Blog Topics
 New business announcements
 Career tech education locally
 Expansions – and why
 Entrepreneurship
 Local business resources
 New regulations
 Top jobs locally
 Etc.

52. Blogs to check out:
 http://blog.buildwebstercity.com/
 http://www.economicdevelopmenthq.com/blog
 http://owensboroedc.blogspot.com
 http://blog.indypartnership.com/

53. Thank you!
Learn more at
CommunityResults.com
RedSageOnline.com