Wow 'Em With Your Web Presence - Grassroots Strategies for Online Marketing

Wow ‘em with your Web Presence!

Keidra Chaney, The Web Farm

January 20, 2010

Overview Q & A: Terre Houte Your Online Presence: Where to Start Creating Online Content: Writing Creating Online Content: SEO Blogs and Social Media Analytics and Measurement Key Take Aways Questions

Your Online Presence:Where to Start?

It’s not rocket science! New tools for the

same strategies. Don’t be fearful, be

thoughtful! It’s just marketing, and

you’re the expert!

Where to Start:Know Your Online Audience (s)

Who They Are:

Age Gender Income Location Education

Where to Start:Know Your Online Audience(s)

How they see you

Most/least visited webpages How long they stay Where they come from What they find appealing What content is popular or unpopular

Where to Start:Know Your Online Audience (s)

How they want to hear from you:

Your website email newsletter social media … maybe print?

But how do you learn this?

Where to Start: Get to Know Your Audience (s)

Surveys Focus Groups Analytics - using web

traffic to learn about visitor behavior

Testing – get feedback on design and user appeal

Good News: These tools are cheap and/or free!

Where to Start:Define Your Online Goals

Ask yourself: “What do we want people to do when they come to our

website?”

Buy products? Learn more about the organization? Sign up as members? Communicate/network with other members? All of the above?

You can have more than one goal!

Creating Online Content: Writing

Web users scan text, not read Web readers are selfish; they

want to get to the point quick. Web readers are restless, they

tend to multitask online.

from Jakob Nielsen

the “guru of Web usability”

Creating Online Content: Writing

Write in Layers Break longer text in sections Use headings and subheadings

Highlight key text block quotes lists with bullet points use italics (NOT ALL CAPS) for emphasis in sentences

Creating Online Content: SEO

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Making your website for Google, Yahoo. Bing, etc. to find your site.

Avoid jargon. Use tools to help find keywords your visitors would find.

Avoid “click here.” link words so Google can pick it up.

Keep headlines short:. Under 65 characters for RSS, Google search results.

Creating Online Content: SEO

A final thought:

Write for people, not search engines!

Blogging and social media

Best Practices• Where to start? Go where your audience is• Decide if you have the time/staff to devote to keep up a

social media presence and community• Promote to your audience through existing

communications (newsletters, direct mail, email)

Blogging and social media

Remember: Social media is a two-way conversation, create relationships, don’t just promote

The message is not just yours to control!

Analytics/MeasurementUsed by many e-commerce companies to measure online results.

Many free and inexpensive tools to help small biz and associations

Use your goals as a guide!

Key Takeaways

Learn about your audience Set measureable goals for success Share information with designers – it helps! Consider how web users read when you create content Match social media to your audience/resources Remember social media is a conversation Measure your results! Experiment – and don’t fear failure

Questions?

Keidra Chaneykeidra@gmail.comkeidra@thewebfarmers.com@kdc on Twitter

Thanks!