making your website work for you
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Making Your Website Work For You
John WootonPresident, Senior Developer
InspireMedia
President/Senior Developer of InspireMedia Specialize in creative web development
solutions for business We do work with Wedding and Event
Professionals Avid Networkers We believe there is no magic bullet
Who am I?
Are You Successful?
Website isn’t generating any/enough leads Website isn’t attractive/outdated Can’t update website/slow updates Website doesn’t do what we need it to do
What are some of the issues?
Forgotten approach to website marketing Targeting the right client Website tools that help you build loyalty,
credibility and close deals
What we’ll be talking about…
Why do we use a website?◦ It’s easier, right?◦ 24 hour storefront◦ Online portfolio
Start With Why…
Picture your website as an actual storefront with customers that stop by to purchase a product on a daily basis.
How would you act differently?◦ Welcome them with a smile◦ Have a unique look that differentiates you from
everyone else◦ Make it easy for them to find the products they
want◦ Make it easy for them to purchase those products
The Forgotten Approach…
We often forget that our website is the same thing, we just don’t greet the
customers face to face.
In order to be successful, a website needs to have all the same elements as any other marketing campaign:◦ Targeted◦ Attractive/Eye Catching◦ Useful/Easy To Use◦ Timely
The Forgotten Approach…
There are two questions that are often overlooked when it comes to targeting:◦ Who is your ideal client?◦ What is of value to them?
Targeting
Think of their personality traits What are they like on the wedding day? What is their budget? What venues will they choose? What are their expectations of you?
Who Is Your Ideal Client?
What are their biggest needs when they come to you?
What are they most concerned about? What are they least concerned about? Are they looking for value or are they
looking for quality? Is what you have different enough to
overcome their internal objections.
What Is Of Value To Them?
Profiling your ideal client is probably one of the most important steps you can take
when evaluating your website.
The attention span of the average website visitor is less than 10 seconds.
Is what they see in that 10 seconds going to appeal to their senses?
Does it make me fall in love with what you offer?
Remember a website is a storefront and in a storefront we appeal to their senses to help them buy.
Attractive
You don’t want to make your visitors think? Can they find the information that they
need? Value Proposition? Portfolio or Gallery? Packages and Pricing? Testimonials/Awards? Call to action – a way for them to take the
next step?
Useful
Do you blog? How recent ago did you update your
portfolio? Does your site look outdated? Are you following the same trends as your
competitors?
Timely
There are two main reasons you need the right content on your site◦Appealing to your “ideal client”◦Competing for search engine traffic
The Role Of Content
In order to create an effective website, you must remember who your ideal client is…◦ Go back through the list of personality traits and
client values◦ Does the content on your website appeal to your
ideal client?◦ Does it overcome their objections?◦ Does it show how different you are from your
competitors?◦ How will you structure your site differently?
The Role Of Content
Search Engines are usually the first place someone goes to research
How do you compare to your competition? Google’s most recent update:
◦ Driven by consumer mannerisms◦ Less importance on links (however, still
important)◦ More importance on unique, quality, relevant
content
The Role Of SEO
This means the websites that will succeed in the future will be faster, have more unique relevant content and will be written with the customer in mind and less for the search engines.
What is analytics◦ Analytics is the systematic “analysis” of how your
website is performing. ◦ Tracks detailed statistics over time
Pageviews Bounce Rates Traffic Sources Keywords Page by Page Analysis
The Role of Analytics
Tracking the performance of a website is a critical function for every business. Without knowing this information, you
can’t make adjustments to improve the quality of your website.
It can’t tell you WHY someone doesn’t like your site.
It can’t tell you that you’re targeting the wrong client.
It will not measure your performance with social media (only a prospects interaction with your website from your social media campaigns).
What Analytics Is Not…
There are two tools that I recommend before anything else:◦Analytics/Website Tracking◦A Call To Action/CRM
The Tools
Google Analytics◦ Free ◦ Easily added to a website◦ Tracks pageviews, bounce rate, etc.◦ Inbound traffic sources◦ Search engine keywords◦ Performance Goals◦ Automated Reports
Analytics
Analytics Statcounter
◦ Also Free ◦ Easily added to a website◦ Realtime Traffic◦ Inbound traffic sources◦ Search engine keywords◦ Doesn’t track all the information that Google
does◦ No automated reports or goal tracking
Omniture◦ Not free, can be several thousand dollars◦ Typically for larger corporations◦ Offers a lot more data (Does integrate social
media tracking)
Analytics
No website is complete without the ability of consumers to take the next step
Simple Solutions – Contact Information Better Solutions – Contact form with
qualifying questions Best Solution – Contact form that saves
to a CRM
Call To Action
A CRM (or Customer Relationship Manager) is an online database where you can store all of your client information and keep track of where clients are at in your sales process
Some of the more advanced CRMs offer automated reporting based on your sales process and leads.
CRM’s are a great way to help automate and track your sales process
CRM?
AddressTwo - Simple CRM◦ Easier to use CRM◦ Has a project management component◦ Has an email marketing component◦ Lead follow-up and task reminders◦ Free contact form that adds leads to your
database
CRM
Zoho CRM◦ Free for one user◦ More detailed◦ Integrates with the Zoho Business Suite◦ Mobile App◦ Automated Reporting◦ Campaign Tracking◦ Email Integration◦ Forecasting◦ Lead and task follow up reminders◦ Free contact form that adds leads to your
database
CRM
Salesforce◦ Not Free (Starts at $15/user/month)◦ Contact form that adds leads to your database◦ More detailed CRM◦ Email Integration◦ Lead and task followup reminders
CRM
If you’re not consistently blogging, you’re missing out on a vital factor that Google considers important in the ranking of your website.
Blogging not only offers fresh, relevant content for your clients to read, it also helps you contextually compete for search engine keywords.
Realistically, you should be blogging at least once a week.
Blogging
Wordpress (highly recommend) Two Methods
◦ Wordpress.com (Free) Allows you to blog on wordpress.com Helps with adding unique content to your site Doesn’t help with the search engines
◦ Wordpress.org (Self-Hosted Solution) Most hosting companies can support this Wide range of plugins and tools that allow for the
enhancement of the website
Blogging
Blogger◦ Free◦ Similar to Wordpress.com blog◦ Doesn’t add value for SEO
Blogging
Typepad◦ Starts at $8.95/month◦ Similar to Wordpress.com blog◦ Can’t add it to your own domain
Blogging
Ideal client The right content The right image Website tracking The right tools
You can begin to watch the performance of your website improve. How?
Bringing it all together…
There are several core traffic stats that you need to pay attention to:◦ Pageviews◦ Visits◦ Bounce Rate◦ % of New Visits◦ Time on Site
◦ These are not the only statistics that you should look at, but they are by far the most important.
Here’s why:
The Stats
Pageviews◦ The total number of times pages have been
viewed on your site. This number will always be the largest
The Stats
Visits◦ The total number of times a site has been visited
during the time-frame.
The Stats
Bounce Rate◦ The percentage of people that came to your site
and left immediately.
The Stats
% of New Visits◦ The percentage of visits to your site that have not
been to your site before (new customers)
The Stats
Average Time on Site◦ The “stickiness factor”. This will show you how
much time is being spent on your site.
The Stats
Before:
The Numbers
After
The Numbers
This client generates leads daily!
Questions?
