It goes by many names: online marketing; internet marketing; web marketing...and more. It really doesn’t matter what it’s called – all you really need to know is there are many ways your business can benefit from using the internet and email to find more customers...and keep up with your competitors already marketing online!
But where to start? And how to do it well?
If you’re new to internet marketing, or you’ve had a go and wondered why it doesn’t seem to be working yet, this presentation could be for you.
We’ll look at social media, websites, blogging, email marketing and SEO. We’ll start with the basics and then look at ways to create valuable and engaging content to attract new customers, getting the most out of your website if you have one, how to make it look professional, and lots of tips to help you put it all into practice.
4. The Basics
What is internet marketing?
Why do you need it?
How can you benefit?
5. Internet marketing tools and tips
Website/blog
Social Media – The Big Five
Email
Video
6. Improving your site’s ranking in search
results
Get more visitors
Convert visitors into customers
Monitoring your website’s performance
7. This is the bit
where you can
wake up!
Got any
questions?
(Don’t panic, this whole
presentation is on my
website with a full Image courtesy of Alan Cleaver -
http://flic.kr/p/7xow5v
transcription!)
9. Because your competitors are already using the internet
to grab a slice of the action!
2008, UK online shoppers
spent £30 billion.
2011 that went up to £68
billion.
In 2012 it’s predicted to be
£77 billion.
10. IGNORE THEM AT YOUR PERIL!
In 2010, £1 in every £13
spent online was by older
people
That’s now £1 in every £8
That will go even higher as
the computer literate
generation gets older.
Photo courtesy of by Public Places -
http://flic.kr/p/cf1i7N
11. YOU CAN...
Reach new customers
(even outside your area)
Communicate any time!
Build a
relationship/loyalty
Establish your expertise
Establish your brand
Generate more website
traffic
Increase conversions City Light Customer Account Operators by Seattle Municipal Archives -
http://flic.kr/p/57gjm3
14. It MUST answer the
users’ questions
Is it up-to-date?
Source: http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com
Do links work?
How user-friendly?
How many clicks to deep
pages?
Easy navigation
Shopping cart experience
Compatible with all major
browsers
15. •It obeys the 3-second rule
•Not too much or too little text
•Doesn’t skimp on design
•Web pages aren’t too long
•No flashing banners or garish
colours
•Images are good quality &
download speedily
•No spelling/grammar mistakes
Sourced from
http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com
16. Clear, simple Simple primary navigation
layout
No jargon
Cute icon, used
sparingly
Immediate and
simple call to action
Neutral colour scheme
Plenty of white
space
Video demonstration sells it
Guides to make it
easy
www.mailchimp.co
m
17. Go for Wordpress.org, not Wordpress.com
It’s free!
Customise themes – complete control over look and
feel
Install apps to create extra functionality on your site
Self-hosted (no need for “.wordpress.org”
extensions on your domain name)
www.wordpress.org
You’ll need a Google account to sign up
It’s free!
You can use your own domain name if you want
Designed for simplicity
www.blogger.com
19. Balance your social media content
Give more than you receive
Don’t always link to your own content
RT/Share/Like and Comment whenever
you can
Get a conversation going!
Don’t be too formal – this is “social”
Absolutely NO typos, errors of grammar,
text speak etc.
20. •140 characters (inc. Link to content
spaces)
•Follow / be followed
•Works well with B2B
•Username limited to 15
characters Link to photo
•Customise background
& font /link colours
•Upload photos and # Hashtag
links
Retweeted
Url shorteners:
Bit.ly
Ow.ly
Goo.gl
21. Tag any
Twitter user
with “@”
Twitter news feed moves fast – slim chance your post
will be seen. Re-post several times (every 2 – 3 hours is
acceptable)
Custom
background
image – ideal
width to work
on majority of
screens is
approx 250 px
23. •No character limit
•Post links
•Photos
•Videos Interesting post
•Ask questions / add
a poll
•Successful for B2C
Urgh! Get rid of Link summary
ugly urls in and thumbnail
posts image
Interaction opportunities
24. Best features for
people to follow and
interact with you
easily
People can “Like”
your Page with no
privacy risks
SEO. Pages can be
seen in search
results
No. of “Likes”
unlimited
Create multiple
25. 851px by 315px, jpg, under
100kb
Profile photo 160px by 160px
About
Facebook
apps
Maximum of
12 Incredible
support
26. Personal & business
pages
Add friends/fans to
circles
Publish posts, links,
images, video, create
events
Use the +1 button to
like and share web
content
Hangouts!
SEO – Google
integrate Google+
content in search
results
27. 1. click
2. Drag & drop to
invite
3. Name
4. Go
public?
(By the way, Hangouts don’t seem
to like Internet Explorer, but
they’re buddies with Firefox and
5. Hangout! Chrome!)
28.
29. “Pin” images you find
around the web (or
from your own site) to
themed Boards in
Pinterest.
Clicks on an image by
visitors take them to
the originating website.
Visitors can Like or
Repin images to their
own boards, comment
and follow you.
30. Some types of business
easily lend themselves to a
visual representation
E-Commerce sites are a
good example
Traffic is driven
straight to your
product page!
The sale is half
made already...
31. Other types of business
need a bit of creative
thought...
Infographics are a visual
way to explain a process,
data, or knowledge.
So even “dry” and “boring”
stuff can be made visually
interesting!
32. And then for other
professionals you can
simply use Pinterest as a
gallery to display your work.
Photographers, architects,
landscape gardeners, chefs,
artists, interior designers,
hairdressers and
beauticians, tourism...
Browse the Pinterest
categories for inspiration
33. Professional business
networking via
“connections”
Build your professional
profile
Showcase your
credentials
Upload your CV
Professional discussion
groups
Share posts, photos,
links
34. Hootsuite
www.hootsuite.com
Web-based
application
Attach files/photos to
posts
Schedule posts
Search
Reply/RT/DM/Like/
comment
Pro upgrade for more
bells and whistles,
advanced reports etc
35. Tweetdeck
www.tweetdeck.co
m
Web-based or
desktop application
Similar features to
Hootsuite
No report features
Fewer social
networks
36. Email Better chance of being seen/read
than social media
Newsletters
Special Room for more content
offers/discounts
Touch base with customers
New products regularly
Tips / information
Resource intensive
Delivery problems/ISPs and
firewalls etc
May not display as intended
Long-term reader engagement
37. Existing customers
Web site/blog
Social media
incentives
Visitors to your
premises
Telephone enquiries
Incentivise!
Image courtesy of Sarah G - http://flic.kr/p/6chC2r
38. Owned by Google
Videos appear in
search results
Demonstrations
Promotions
Reviews
Interviews
www.youtube.com
39. See you in
10 minutes!
Coffee Break by Kheel Center, Cornell University -
46. Meta Title (max
70 characters)
Meta Description
(max 155
characters)
47. Right click on a web page – “View
Source”
Write unique, keyword-rich and user-friendly meta tags and ask your
website host/developer to upload them for you if you don’t have a CMS
48. Main Heading (H1)
Secondary Heading
(H2)
Keywords used
throughout body
text (don’t over-stuff
– must read well for
users)
Add address at the
bottom of each page
49. Image Alt attributes
Describe images with
a keyword if it is
relevant
Labelled images
conform with modern
Weymouth seafront
accessibility standards
– Google brownie
points?
Ask your web host to
upload Alt tags if you
50. Use the “intitle”
operator in Google’s
search box to sniff
out the competition!
A web page with a
title meta tag
containing a keyword
has a good chance of
outranking a web
page without
51. Useful, interesting or funny content is more
“shareable”
Shared content is a signal of recommendation
Links from authoritative, respected, influential sites
carry more “link-juice”
Social platforms are increasingly driving shares and
links
Image courtesy of Ukesh Kumar -
52. Is content fresh, good quality, original, relevant to your
niche?
Is there lots of activity from users (social shares and
comments)?
Use Mozbar for Firefox or Chrome (www.seomoz.org/seo-
toolbar)
53. Low quality link directories
Paid links!
Automated blog networks
Sites with copied content
Dozens of random links
on the page
Google’s deputies, Panda and
Penguin – coming to a website near
you soon!
54. Consistently create Advanced Google
and share great search
content.
Quality web “guest post” + keyword
directories
Guest posts (articles) “guest blog” + keyword
Leave a link in a
“guest author “ + keyword
comment (sparingly!)
Ask! Have something
to offer in return
A YouTube channel
Slideshare
(www.slideshare.net )
55. Use Google
Analytics to keep
track of :
How visitors use your
site
How visitors arrived at
your site
Sales and conversions
Your most popular
content
The impact of social
media on your goals
56.
57.
58. Want to know more?
Click on a Keyword and select Landing
Page as the secondary dimension
59.
60. But if
internet
marketing
makes you
feel like
this...
Image courtesy of Katie@1 - Image courtesy Dace-F-
http://flic.kr/p/6autQd http://flic.kr/p/9rvyH
61. Have a safe
journey home
Mandy Cochrane
01963 824822
mandy@webscenemarketing.c
o.uk
www.webscenemarketing.co.uk
Notes de l'éditeur
WelcomeThanks for coming
Make point that internet marketing may not be glamorous...
It’s not glamorous, but is IS very interesting, so many different ways to do itInspire new ideasWe’re a small group. Not stand on ceremony – ask questions
Focussing on free options, because none of us has the budget to spend a fortune or hire a marketing consultant
Nothing drives people away faster than badly executed marketing, but with a few house rules it can come over professionallyTwitter, Facebook, Google +, LinkedIn and PinterestWhat’s working and what’s not?
Many businesses spend lots of money on their website but it never really earns its keep. Even worse is not knowing if they’re working at all. SEO is a huge subject but worth spending time on because, done right, your website can be the best tool in your marketing kit.
It all boils down to the simple concept of using the internet and email to get your message across The marketing or promotion of products or services over the internet or email.Some marketers specialise in one or more of these niche methods of internet marketing.
Why does your business need internet marketing? Because your competitors are already using the internet to grab a slice of the action!And by the way, online shoppers purchased an average of 39 items in 2011, spending an average of £1,500How many online shoppers are there in the UK?In 2001 there were 6 millionIn 2011 there were 32 million
Older people are getting to grips with technology and spending more regularly online – increased by 25% since 2010.Looking at online credit card purchase in 2010, £1 in £13 was spent by older people.That’s now £1 in every £8.As the computer literate generation gets older, that spending level will go even higher.
What is your objective?sales – brand recognition, establishing rapport or loyalty, expertise.
We’ll look in depth at two large, popular and very effective tools, your website and social mediaThen skim through some other tools which can also be very effective.
Whether you actually sell products from your website or not, it’s the most important place you can drive people to. It’s the hub of your online presence, the place where more information can be found about you and your business, your products, services and expertise than anywhere else.Whereas your social media can stray off-topic in order to build relationships with your customers, your website has one purpose – to solve users’ problems. What information are they looking for on your site? What do they need? Products, expert advice, details of your services? It’s that simple.
Does it solve the user’s problem?Is it kept up-to-date?Do links between pages work?How user-friendly is it?How many clicks to get to deep pages?Easy navigationShopping cart experienceCompatible with all major browsers
How can you help your visitors have a happy experience on your website?The three second ruleToo much or too little textText too small Don’t skimp on designPage too longFlashing bannersGarish coloursImages not downloadingImages distorted or poor qualitySpelling/grammar mistakes
There’s one last element which makes a good website and that’s “can people find it?” But we’re going to cover that in much more detail later on.Ecommerce website - Next
Both free offer simple set upsPlenty of design templates to choose fromSome customising options (colour schemes, multi-column layout, etc)Intuitive CMSWidgets and Gadgets add extra features to the siteTraffic management data
This is where you get to build an interactive relationship with your customers. The benefit?Get to know you Come to like you Learn to value your opinions /expertise / quality of productsPut their trust in you These things greatly increase your chances of them becoming or remaining their customers.The benefit to them?They keep abreast of current news about something they are interested inFree tips/adviceAccess to exclusive special offers/discountsPeople are selfish – gotta get something out of it or they’ll drop you.Best reason to use social media – promote your site’s content and drive more traffic to it.Probably won’t make direct sales from social media, but it’s an important link in the sales process.
140 characters (inc. spaces)Follow and be followedWorks well with B2BUser name limited to 15 charactersCustomise background & font /link coloursUpload photos and linksPopular urlshorteners
@ to tag other TwitterersRe-post to be seenCustom background image
No character limitPost linksPhotosVideosAsk questions / add a pollMore B2C – works well with consumers because there’s more content immediately visible
Create a page, don’t use your personal Facebook profile, or a Group, for business.It contravenes Facebook’s rules to use a personal profile for commercial gain, or to have more than one personal Facebook account. Facebook could suspend your account.
Cover photo – represent your brand / impactNO: Price or purchase info / contact info / ref to FB features, ie share or like / Calls to action eg buy it nowProfile photo – logo is ideal, but if you’re a real “people” based business, perhaps a photo of you would work bestAbout – Set this in the Basic Information section of the page admin interface. Short, Punchy, Captures attention, Sums up what you do. Link to website good idea hereFacebook Apps – Up to 4 apps will display along the top of timeline. Use dropdown box to display max 12Consider creating custom tabs/landing pages so the visitor can do more straight from your Facebook Page (ie newsletter sign-ups, e-book downloads, events, discussions, etc). Dell’s support page is incredible.
Facebook with bells and whistlesAdd friends to “circles”. Create as many circles as you wishPublish posts, links, images, videoHangouts!video chat with anyone in your circles, (up to 9 people at a time) host virtual meetings, share what’s on your screen, collaborate on Google docs, host a live broadcast that’s viewable on your Google+ stream, your website and your YouTube channel. Examples: virtual business meeting, seminars and tutorials, live music and rock concerts, fan groups meet-ups.
Apps enable teams to share screens, collaborate in Google Docs, view presentationsIf a team member can’t join the hangout, you can dial them in on their telephone insteadLive broadcast for seminars, tutorials, question and answer sessions, interviews, cookery lessons, sporting events – and stream the live hangout to publicaly on your Google+ profile, your YouTube channel and your website. During broadcast look inside the hangout to see how many viewers are watching live. After it’s finished, a public recording will be uploaded to YouTube and your original Google+ post, so it’s easy for people to still comment and share it even when it’s over.
Share interesting images around the website by pinning them to boards on your Pinterest account. Other people see them and share them in the same way as Facebook. Clicking on them takes you to the source of the image – your website? Gain followers in the same way you do on other social media.
Encourage visitors to “pin” images from your website to their own boards. You can place “pin it” icons on your web pages.
Growth of over 4,000% in 2011/2012Sending more traffic to websites than some search engines3rd largest social platform behind Twitter and FacebookAs with all social media, give more than you receive – don’t always pin your own stuff. Follow people with similar interests, re-pin from other boards, show your own style and personality by pinning lovely things that you see around the web.
you’re not likely to touch base with your customers hereLinkedIn will also notify you of jobs it thinks you might be interested in.Can work if you put the time into itKnow lots of professional people who say LinkedIn gets them business
Post simultaneously on up to 5 platforms (more if you upgrade to Pro)Only thing missing at present is the Home feed on Facebook, so you can’t see or interact with pages you follow whose posts appear in your News feed.
The features it has, it does well, and it’s considered user-friendly, but generally Hootsuite has more and better features, including a pro version which can give you even more functionality if required for $9.99 per month.
More in-depth info than Facebook etcCould and should put on website/blog, but no guarantee people will see it when you want them to.Mailchimp’s a great way for small businesses to start an email campaignFlexible, easy-to-build templatesNo HTML knowledgeUser-friendlyFree up to 500 subscribers and 3,000 emails per month
Mailing list is the most important aspect of your campaignAlways strive to find new ways to add to it
YouTube is owned by GoogleVideos appear in search resultsAnother visual platform, works well forDemonstrations, reviews, promotionsSetting up a YouTube channel is easy – took me 15 minutesEmbed on your blog or website
social media less formal, website it gets serious.Social media is a link in the chain (meet, greet, communicate). Most important hub of your online world – the place where you’re likely to clinch a sale or prompt them to get in touch about your services – is a website.So it’s important that your website can be found.Spend fortune on building a website so it looks great, but it doesn’t get visitorsLots of reasons why. Solving those problems so you increase traffic and make your website a happier place for visitors to be is called Search Engine Optimisation.
Brief explanation of how search engines workOld style – keyword stuffing“Hiding” keywordsBuying linksNow – search engines reward websites which solve users problems – complicated algorithms match your website against users’ search queriesSo, you’re relying on search engines like Google to list your site high in search results andLinks (referrals and recommendations) from other websites
3 main areas you can work on to influence search engine algorithms
Don’t be put off by references to AdWordsExplain Broad, Exact and Phrase match
Lots of keyword ideas to mineClick those that might be of interest, download to a spreadsheet to refer back to later onDecide which one or two key phrases you want to focus on for your Home page – explain that you can’t optimise any page of a website for more than one key idea. Examples – types of dance – different page for each type you teach – ballet, tap, modern, jazzTypes of sport – gym, swimming, aerobics, badmintonTypes of service you offer – wedding photography, family portraits, makeover photography, commercial and product photography.
Meta title (max 70 characters inc spaces) and meta description (max 155 characters inc spaces)
How is that search result generated? You can see those tags in the source codeMany CMSs enable you to set your own title and description tags, but if this isn’t possible, ask your web host to add them.If your existing tags aren’t particularly good, have a go at re-writing them.Don’t bother using KEYWORD meta tag
Also add keywords to headings, sub-heads and in body textLocal search – add address to bottom of each page
Image Alt attributesDescribe images with a keyword if it is relevantLabelled images conform with modern accessibility standards – Google brownie points?
The title tag is one of the single most influential things you can optimise in search resultsUse the “intitle” operator in the Google search box to weight up the competition – shows how many page titles are optimised with that phraseWeigh up your chosen title keywords with how many people are likely to actually use that phrase to searchUse Google’s keyword tool to find popular keywords, then use the “intitle” operator to find out if the number of optimised pages for that phrase is competitive.
Shared content is a signal of recommendation to GooglePopular content is more “shareable”Links from authoritative, respected, influential sites carry more “link juice”.Google recognises social platforms are increasingly driving shares of great content across the internet. Placing more emphasis on social shares and links as a sign of important content and building that into their algorithm. If your website content stimulates a high level of activity and interaction on social platforms, you’ll get Google love.
How can you tell what is a good website to get a link from? up to date content lots of unique, original content lots of activity from users – forums, busy social media, comments on articles “look” and “feel” of the site’s quality relevant to your industryMozBar for Chrome and Firefox software can tell you a domain’s authorityA “real” organisation behind the site (eg a physical address?)
Google is looking for a natural-looking profile of links: quality directories, blogs, websites, social mediaPanda and Penguin to root out, penalise and even ban some spammy websites
Consistently create and share fresh website content – be patient. Blog and use all relevant social media regularlyQuality web directories – some free, some paid, don’t bother with reciprocal linksGuest postsLink in a comment – sparingly and only if it’s relevant and adds something to the topicAsk! Have something to offer – an expert guest post, a free offer, collaboration on a competition or an event of mutual interestAdvanced Google searchGoogle Alerts – email updates on latest web results for a search phrase. Look for relevant opportunities, monitor what people are saying about your brandYouTube channelSlideshare – upload presentations, videos, documents – account links to your website
Why would you pay for a website and put in all this work, and then not monitor how it’s working?Sign up for or log into your Google account. Go to Google Analytics and sign up to create an account to access your website’s data.Once you’ve answered a few questions and entered the url of your website, it’ll produce some code, called tracking code.You’ll need to ask your web host or developer to add tracking code to each page of your website.Google Analytics will then be able to start collecting data about your website.
It’s important to know which keywords are sending traffic to your site – it may not be the ones you think! If unusual keywords are sending traffic to your site, think about how you might create a page optimised for that keyword and turn a small amount of traffic into a larger amount.
Which pages of your website are performing well?You’d expect lots of traffic to your home page, but if other important pages on your site are not getting traffic, better optimisation might be required. Look at the problem page and try to analyse the problem.High bounce rate on your home page or other important pages is bad news and needs investigating
Sometimes it’s useful to know which keywords are driving traffic to which pages. Example: your primary keyword should normally drive traffic to your Home page more than any other because it’s the most important. Some pages are “accidentally” optimised for keywords and you didn’t realise!End of Analytics – play around, lots to learn and plenty of opportunities to find out more.Conversion goals – are people completing the actions you want them to or bailing out?