Whether you are building your own website or using a professional to design your business website, you need to understand effective copy, CTAs (Call To Actions), clear navigation, good use of visuals, etc.
2. Internet Impact
Over 2 billion users worldwide
350 million websites
196 million .com domain names in 2010 (Wikipedia)
As necessary for a business as having a phone
3. Why a Website
Your online identity
Like Yellow pages in the past
customer has a problem and wants it fixed
To provide lots of information
To serve your customers
Inexpensive but powerful sales & communication tool
Always accessible
No weather, geography or store closing restrictions
4. Step One: Domain name
URL: Uniform resource locator (address)
http://www.VirtualFundamentals.com
confusion: case insensitive
Expertsexchange might be better as experts-exchange
Is registered (annual fee) allows you exclusive right of
use
Highly wanted names - expensive, others $10/year
Business.com sold for $7.5 million in 1999
AsSeenOnTv.com in 2000 for $5.1 million
7. Step 2: Which web hosting services
Server: Like large computer you lease
stores your web site so people can access over the
internet
if it goes down – your site goes down
Shared hosting: Upgrading to dedicated server may be
necessary
Prices per month vary
Additional items may be upgrade (add’l pages)
Don’t be upsold to lots of extras
Longer contract holds you captive
8. What you want to know
Blog or forum capability
Email through the domain name
Reviews by users
Call tech support before you buy- response time
Easy site builder system (usually proprietary)
Tutorials for use (check YouTube)
11. Step 3: How to Build it
Learn HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
software language used on Internet’s World Wide Web
Use website templates which can be installed on your
web server
Do a search for web site templates
Templatemonster.com, DreamTemplate.com
Word Press
Has a site generator application that is easy to learn
Weebly, Squarespace, Yola, Jigsy, Yola.
12. Building a web site using a web
professional (developer/designer)
Price varies a lot
Freelance websites: elance.com, etc.
Downside:
Don’t write copy
Need direction on ‘look’
Held hostage
Updates handled when available with half hour minimum
Can’t move YOUR website
13. Can I Build it?
Yes. Benefits
You have control
Lower price
See example: www.weebly.com
14.
15. Step 4: Type of Site
Promotion/information/customer support
Adjunct source of sales revenue (Target)
Retail operation (Amazon)
16. Step 5: Content
Strategy: SEO
Keywords
Brainstorm
Think like your customer
Use as bullets, paragraph headers, page names
Repeat in text as often as possible and in different ways
17. Step 5:Content
What’s the call to action
Answer this question. I want the person who visits
my website to ________________
At a minimum – you want their business card
Set an appointment
Buy your product
Every page leads them to take that action
18. Step 5: Content
It is King: establishes credibility
Review competitors
Keep it current, fresh and relevant
Straight forward, compelling and professional
no technological jargon/ industry abbreviations
People are busy/impatient. When on web –
highly activated state – not reading…scanning.
Break up long blocks of text with headings or
images
Provide contact information on every page
19. Basic Business Information
Should reflect as accurately as possible, what your
business is all about, what you do, how you do it and
why you are better at it
How to contact you
Methods of payment you take
Locations and hours
Answers to frequently asked questions
20. Step 6:The Look
First impression of your company: Professional, Fun, Funky
Depends on your target audience/brand
Theme of low cost bargain or high roller (different look)
Better to not have one than have one that makes your
company look bad
Advanced graphics slows page load time
Simple (too much creates anxiety) and intuitive
Users prefer a standard look
Eg. Car w/o steering wheel -no
21. Look of the Copy
Verdana & Georgia fonts developed for web
Good readability in all sizes
Use bullets when possible
People are scanning more than actually reading
Don’t use I/we; use You
Tight concise copy without wasted words
Use ALL CAPS selectively
Don’t underline (seems like a link)
22.
23. Step 7: Navigation
Where will the customer find the information they
want
Simple
Templates have norms
Basics: Home page, Contact, About Us, FAQ,
Testimonials
Additional: testimonials, product information, pricing
24. Navigation and Site Flow
Provide different information on different pages
Make it easy for them to find the answers to their
questions
What is your call to action/ converting site traffic into
leads or sales
Want their contact information
Want them to contact you – via email or phone
Want them to make a purchase
25. Home Page
Introduction
Most general info
Keep important info above the fold
Sets the look for consistency throughout
Establishes navigation
26.
27.
28. Step 7:Test Drive
How do consumers use it
Sit and watch someone navigate the site
What questions do users have
Get lots of family and friends to give feedback
It doesn’t need to be perfect to start
29. Step 8: Building site traffic
How to get people to your website
If you build it, they won’t just come
YOU Build Your Audience
promote web site address all the time and on every thing
Business cards, letterhead, bags, gift cards, cash register
receipts, signature of your emails, brochures, automated
phone messages, newsletters
social media marketing: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn
Get on listings: Yelp and free yellow pages listings
Viral marketing (YouTube, emails, blogs, etc.)
30. SEO: Search Engine Optimization
People find you from search engines
Paid vs organic vs Google Places
Page rank on search engines is important
Listings order based on SE crawlers and complicated
mathematical algorithms
Variety of methods increase prominence
Relevance= appropriate keywords, authority=links
Can hire a Search Engine Optimizer or become more
knowledgeable – www.SEOBook.com
31. Step 9: Track your traffic
Are you getting people to web site
Google Analytics – free
Number of site visitors (unique)
Where the traffic is coming from
Bounce rate (time duration of site visitor on your site)
Impact of promotions/ marketing efforts
32.
33. Step 10: Making money via site
Selling a product or service on-line
Paypal, Google Checkout, Merchant Accounts
Affiliate marketing
Advertising revenue: add Google’s Adsense Ads.
34. Road Map: Ten Steps
Step 1: Available domain name
Step 2: Hosting site
Step 3: Who will build it
Step 4: Website type: information, adjunct selling, retail
Step 5: Copy
35. Ten Steps
Step 6: The Look
Step 7: Navigation – pages
Step 8: Test drive
Step 9: Build traffic
Step 10: Track visitors
Ongoing: Revise, update and improve
36. Resource: Virtual Fundamentals
Like our facebook page
www.facebook.com/VirtualFundamentals
iPage – affiliate marketing – call with questions
Twitter: www.twitter.com/webbasics4u
Blog: Virtually Connected
http://www.virtuallyconnected.us/blog/
Check out pricing on web site
www.VirtualFundamentals.com
Notes de l'éditeur
ICANN – manages top level domains (.com, .net, .org, etc.)