Planting the Seeds for High Web Traffic

Planting the seeds for high

Web Traffic Presentation by: Xzito Creative Solutions LLC

Agenda • Introduction ‐5 min • Planting The Seeds For High Web Traffic‐ 50 min • Convert Traffic to Customers‐20 min • Questions & Answers

Logistics • Cell Phones: Off or Vibrate • Questions: Raise hand, Q&A Section.

• Slides: Notecard, Business Card • Volunteer: Xzito Coffee Mug

Who is Xzito?

• We are a creative agency focused on: • Web Communication • Print Communication

• To help companies achieve a competitive edge, build trust, brand recognition, support sales & marketing

How we do this?

On-Line Web Communication • • • • • • • • •

Web Planning & Strategy A, B Web Conversion Testing Informative Sites Content Management Sites E-Commerce Sites Custom Applications Email Marketing Social Media Traffic Support

Off-Line Print Communication • • • • • • • •

Corporate Stationary Logo Development Graphic Design Print Management Package Design Trade Show Display Photography Illustration

Customers

The “Xziting” Stuff

Planting The Seeds For High Web Traffic

Why care about driving traffic?

• Customers are searching for information on the web prior to making a purchase.

• Customers want to avoid the risk of selecting wrong vendor.

Business Process Drive Traffic • Marketing

Obtain Lead Info • Landing Pages • Call to action • Contact Forms • Phone • Email

Qualify • Sales Process • Marketing Process

7 Ways to Drive Traffic 4. Company Blogs 3. Link Building

5. Social Media Sites

Metrics 2. Organic SEO

1. Paid Per Click

6. Email Marketing

7. Offline Marketing

How many of you have used Paid Per Click Advertisement?

Paid Per Click (PPC) - It’s the Internet advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content sites. ‐ Guaranteed Higher Placement ‐ Quick Placement vs. Organic can take longer ‐ Utilize a keyword tool to select the right keywords ‐ Price increases with competitiveness of keyword - Pay only when the ad is clicked. (Pay per click) - Advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market

Paid Per Click (PPC) PAID (Guaranteed) P A I D RESULTS

P A I D RESULTS

ORGANIC RESULTS

ORGANIC (Search Engine Determines)

Where do most people click?

Pay Per Click Top Organic

Heat Map

Search Engine Market Share • 1st Place: Google • 2nd Place: Yahoo • 3rd Place: MSN

What keywords will you select?

•

Use Keyword Analyzer Tools as a way to select your keywords

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

How to create a successful ad!

1. Not So Good

2. Excellent

HEADING: Utilize Keyword in heading DESCRIPTION: Include call to action (order, buy, sign up, etc) and show benefit/offer

Any potential for fraud? Extra clicks • Google looks at numerous data points for each click, including the IP address, the time of the click, any duplicate clicks, and various other click patterns. • System then analyzes these factors to try to isolate and filter out potentially invalid clicks.

PPC Action Plan 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

Hire company for consulting or do it yourself Choose Google / Yahoo / MSN Setup an account to advertise (adwords.google.com) Select your keywords / use keyword tool Test traffic to your web‐site Monitor conversion & web stats, revise as needed

What’s Organic (SEO) Search Engine Optimization?

Organic Search Engine Optimization

Organic Search Engine Optimization • Results that show up "naturally” based on the HTML content you have on your website • Doesn’t rely on paid advertisement • Organic results take longer to show time in top rankings • Results are not guaranteed

ORGANIC RESULTS

ORGANIC (Search Engine Determines)

How do search engines work?

1.

2.

3.

Search engines is a system that contain spiders (robots) that crawl the internet for information The information they find in the HTML is later “indexed” on a server (a web catalog) When a user is searching the internet, they are searching a “web catalog” of what’s on the internet.

What do search engines look for?

“The Web Catalog”

Title Tags

Headings

Bold Tags <strong> • Helps place emphasis on words you want optimized

Alt Text for Images • Search Engines are blind to images

Write more than 3 paragraphs

Write more than 3 paragraphs

Don’t let your site collect dust • A fresh page indicates – activity – interest levels – popularity

• Make changes • Add content to your website

Is your site down frequently?

• If your site is down often, search spiders will interpret this as a “closed” website. This will penalize you in rankings.

• Have a reliable host

How SEO friendly is your URL? • Register your domain name for more than 1 year.

• Is your domain connected to your keyword?

Be specific and target ‐ If possible, target keywords by geographic & demographic factors ‐ Hairstylist Bad ‐ Women’s Hairstylist in Rhode Island Good

SEO Action Plan 1. Determine if you or a web professional will do the work 2. Generate a list of 2 niche keywords/key phrases per page 3. Create plenty of “keyword‐rich” content using the tips we provided.

How “popular” is your website?

Link Popularity Inbound links

Number of “quality “ links to your site in order to increase site ranking

Outbound Links

Number of external links on your website

What are quality inbound links?

• Links from • Creditable Directories (dmoz.org, yellow pages, yahoo directory) • Industry related websites • Other Industry specific blogs, discussion groups, etc • Social Media Sites (Facebook, Myspace) • News sites (press releases) • Article Submission sites (ezine.com) • Google Maps

Inbound Links = Popularity The more that “popular” websites link to your website, the “cooler” Google thinks you are. It’s more about quality, then quantity.

Popular (Cool) Website

Inbound links

=

Action items • Register yourself to free directories • Create social media profiles • It’s all about who knows you! Not who you know.

Who here is an active blogger?

Blogging • Blog derives from the words WEB‐LOG • It can be a – Personal diary – A news outlet.

– Your own private thoughts. Memos to the world.

• It’s a great way to generate quality buzz for your company.

• Keeps web‐site up to date • Allows you to have dialogue with your audience.

Blogs come in all shapes & sizes Video Blogs

Audio Blogs (Podcasts)

What to blog about?

• Content is king. Provide valuable, thought provoking content. This is the content that people will talk about, comment on, link to, and share.

• Industry News Summaries ‐ Show people that you’re on top of what goes on around you. Summarizing niche industry news in your own words.

• Company News ‐ Make feature announcements, Promote success stories about you and your customers.

Blog regularly. Create a schedule • Daily • Weekly • Monthly Readers will be more likely to follow your blog if you have a regular posting schedule

Write well • You won’t be taken seriously if your blog is poorly written.

Market your blog • Market your blog through – email marketing – social media sites

Does your blog have a dead end?

• Don’t just end the blog with a “dead end”.

• Have a “call to action” (an offer in exchange for the prospects information)

Don’t be the sleazy “salesman” Overselling your company can hurt you. People want to hear valuable information, not a sales pitch.

Blogging Platforms • • • • • • • •

Livejournal.com JournalHome.com blogger.com ChoseIt WordPress.com TheDiary.org weebly.com Xanga.com

Blogging Action Steps 1.

2.

3.

4.

Select a blogging platform Brand it your blog Create a blogging schedule Follow the blogging tips provided

How many of you use social media as a communication tool?

Social Media = Big Social Party • Get Online Social • Keep in touch with friends • Meet New People • Share Info

Social Media • Referred to as a web 2.0 technology • It’s not for kids, it’s ok for adults to use as‐ well • Utilize to keep in touch with prospects/customers/ build relationships • Expand communication channels • Top Social Media Sites: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Linkedin & YouTube.

With so many networks? â&#x20AC;˘ Where do you start?

Twitter • What are you doing, in 140 characters.

• Twitter is considered micro‐blogging • Communicate information about your business to followers, people who care about your organization • Can be used as a customer service tool • Find your company's name mentioned in tweets

Twitter Recommended Sites • Bit.ly – creates short URL’s to post in blogs • Tweetlater.com – creates messages at a later date, or based on a workflow • Twitterfeed.com – can import content into your twitter.

• Budurl.com – provides basic statistics • Twitpic.com – allows us to insert images in tweeter.

• Tweetdeck.com – allows for twitter management.

• Localtweeps.com – allows you to find users within your zip code.

• Twellow.com – Find businesses sorted by category.

Facebook • Over 200 million users and growing, potential customers • FREE Web application to help your business communicate • Allows to have personal profiles, groups, and company pages • Allows for on‐site advertisement to target segments • Send invitations to your fans about company events

Facebook Account Types Personal Profile Group

Pages

• Company should not have a profile under a “personal profile” • We recommend creating a company “page” and interest “groups”

â&#x20AC;˘ 6 million fans

Facebook Advertisement • Highly recommended to advertise a specific group, target search by age, gender, location, and more.

Social Media Action Plan 1. Create Accounts in Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Linkedin, and YouTube.

2. Brand your profiles.

3. Enter basic information about your company.

4. Post interesting information about your company, and your industry.

5. Build a fan base of followers, fans, or friends.

6. Foster relationships by spending 30 minutes per day in social media 7. Drive Traffic to your web‐site

Do you utilize Email Marketing to promote your business?

Email Marketing • It’s a inexpensive form of direct marketing in which email is utilized to – Communicate

– Inform – Recommend – Keep top of mind • We highly recommend utilizing email marketing to keep in touch with your customers and reach out to new ones.

Regular Email Disadvantages -No Reporting -No Un-Subscribe Mgt -Cannot Group Targets -Cannot Integrate with Web-Site -Cannot use HTML easily

Email Marketing = xzito.icontact.com • Track performance with charts and reports • Filter contacts • Allows for easy integration with web-site • Allows for surveying • Schedule Emails • Subscription Mgt • SPAM Filter Tool

Analyzing Reports ‐ Who’s reading your email? ‐ Who opted out and why? ‐ Are they clicking on the links in the email?

Action Plan For Email Marketing 1. Sign up for email marketing program 2. Collect email addresses, upload all email addresses to program, group if needed 3. Create a keep in touch schedule 1.

Excuse: Events, Holiday’s, New Products, Success Stories, etc.

4. Integrate an email sign up form in your web‐site.

5. Don’t SPAM users 6. Drive traffic to your web‐site

Do you use print marketing to drive traffic to your web-site?

Offline Marketing ‐ Include your website domain name on all your print marketing material ‐ Business Cards , Letterheads, Brochures ‐ Signs and banners ‐ Newspaper & magazine ads ‐ Radio and Television

How do you know if your web traffic is increasing?

Metrics and Analytics • Use analytical tools – Google Analytics – Clicky Web Analytics – Crazyegg • Where’s the traffic coming from? (social media sites, keywords, directories, etc) • What keywords are working? (car, automobile, or vehicle)

Add water to your website.

Determine what’s working? What’s broken?

The idea of having good metrics is to make changes to what’s not working and continue with what is working.

Converting the traffic to customers

Organize & plan ‐ Is your content well organized? ‐ Is the information arranged in a way that makes sense to your user? ‐ How easy is it for your users to find what they want? ‐ Are you placing emphasis on certain section of the site?

Navigation ‐ Does the navigation tell me where I am? (Breadcrumbs) ‐ Does the navigation tell me where I can go? (Sub‐navigation) ‐ Does the navigation tell me where I’ve been? (Visited Links) ‐ Is the navigation quickly identifiable? ‐ Make the logo linkable back to the homepage

Use compelling imagery Which person would you consider a foot massage from?

Hire a pro or use stock photography

Forms. Why use them? ‐ Makes communication faster. It makes it easier for users to contact you. ‐ No Outlook, Lotus Notes, Gmail needed ‐ Grab the information you need ‐ Capture lead information ‐ Have confirmation messages telling them what they just completed and show them where they can go next

Content ‐ People don’t read online, they scan. ‐ Show relevant information ‐ Use a good slogan ‐ Tell the user’s what to do. ‐ Have general contact info available on all pages ‐ Use a communication style that relates to your target user (are you using words like Mr & Mrs or Dude & chick?)

How it should all look like? ‐

Quick sign in area

‐

Good navigation

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Great Slogan

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Relevant imagery

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Quick registration form

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Good use of icons

Your website traffic is only as good as your website

ありがとうございました Gracias

Спасибо

Thank You Tak

Σε ευχαριστώ

谢谢您

Salamat

Danke

Merci

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