tips and insights for successful small business websites

© 2014 YP Intellectual Property LLC. All rights reserved. YP, the YP logo and all other YP marks contained herein are trademarks of YP Intellectual Property LLC and/or YP affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

© 2014 YP Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. YP, the YP logo and all other YP marks contained herein are trademarks of YP Intellectual Property and/or YP Holdings LLC affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

tips and tricks for aneffective business website


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Welcome!

Make sure your sound is not mutedIf you have any issues during the webinar, please contact: [email protected] We will have time for questions!Tweet using #practicalmarketingAvailable on demand within minutes



Tina Stock | YP | Executive Director, Marketing

tinastock.com@tinadstock.

About YP

• YP is North America’s largest local search, media and advertising company

• Our mission is to help local businesses and communities grow

• We generate 40 billion annual impressions on the YP Local Ad Network and have 3,000 marketing consultants helping over 570,000 businesses get, and keep customers

meet your presenters.


meet your presenters.

Judi Knight | New Tricks | Owner

newtricks.com@judiknight.

• Judi has helped hundreds of businesses build and maintain a professional and easy to manage online presence

• New Tricks’ services include branding, graphic design, website development, email marketing, social media and training to use these tools

About Judi


Does a small biz REALLY need awebsite? Does yours?

tips and tricks for aneffective business website


tips and tricks

Shift in the market from selling to buying.

Customers do their research:

2010 – 5.3 sources

2014 – 10.4 sources


Will they find you?What will they find?


tips and tricks


You need more than a Facebook page. Own your space.


tips and tricks


tips and tricks


Rules can and do change.Fall 2013: 10‐12% reachApril 2014: 1‐2% reach

The lifespan of a FB post: ½ total reach within 30 minutes of posting


The question isn’t whether you need a website, but what kind of website your business needs.

tips and tricks

© 2014 YP Intellectual Property LLC. All rights reserved. YP, the YP logo and all other YP marks contained herein are trademarks of YP Intellectual Property LLC and/or YP affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.© 2014 YP Intellectual Property LLC. All rights reserved. YP, the YP logo and all other YP marks contained herein are trademarks of YP Intellectual Property LLC and/or YP affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

• Weebly• Wix• SquareSpace

Caveat: serious businesses need more than a brochure style website.

Quick DIY brochure style websites

tips and tricks


serious about your business?



Small businesses need a website to be hub of marketing.


Robust content management that you can maintain yourself.



serious about marketing?


serious about marketing?


Why WordPress?• Lots of different platforms – WordPress

probably most well-known• It is open source software• Huge community develop it, create themes

and plugins, and teach people about it through Meetups and WordCamps

• Once customized, it is very easy to add content and functionality

• 1000s of themes free or premium• 1000s of plugins, which add functionality• WordPress powers 22% of all websites


WordPress in two flavors

1. Wordpress.com

WordPress.com for free, but hosted for you by Automattic. Good for blogging. Has limitations for businesses.


WordPress in two flavors

2. Wordpress.org

WordPress.org, the full free version, but you need hosting and a domain. Easy to install free through hosting company.

© 2014 YP Intellectual Property LLC. All rights reserved. YP, the YP logo and all other YP marks contained herein are trademarks of YP Intellectual Property LLC and/or YP affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.© 2014 YP Intellectual Property LLC. All rights reserved. YP, the YP logo and all other YP marks contained herein are trademarks of YP Intellectual Property LLC and/or YP affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

Do It Yourself? Learn to fish


do it yourself? learn to fish

Hire someone?Buy a fish dinner.




Heard WordPress is easy?




Easy to do a bad WordPress site.



DIY Pros: • You only need a simple site• You have more time than money• You have someone or a WordPress

Meet-up group to guide you• You are technical with design skills• You read a great deal and know a lot• You have great marketing chops



DIY Cons: • Complicated Site: Real Estate,

Membership, eCommerce or Event• Poor design skills• Not technical• Don’t understand today’s SEO • Not a good copywriter• You do not know how to set up the site

to get new customers



Be Careful Hiring• Not all WordPress

developers are equal • Call references and see

examples



What do you need to create a website that brings in business?



The Secret Sauce1. Good, clean design that reflects your

brand for desktop and mobile 2. Create great, helpful and interesting content3. Share your posts and engage with your audience

on the right social media sites4. Build your list and send out an email newsletter5. Optimize pages and posts for keyword phrases



Just a few seconds to appeal to your right clients. Site must depict your brand in design, style and content.



Make your site responsive. Optimized for mobile and tablets.



Create “Know, Like and Trust” • Be authentic • People do business with people • Let them know who you are• Don’t use bad stock images



Regular headline

Unexpected approach

Make home page content customer-centric.



Online marketing has changed• Don’t sell on site, customers buy• They will search you out



how do people make decisions about choosing a business?


• 70% of the way to making a decision by the time they contact a vendor

• Establish your expertise with the content on your site

• Need clear information about what you do and how to work with you

choosing a business


58% of all businesses add blogs to their websites. Builds authority, expertise and connection.

choosing a business


Give people a way to get to know you• Put an email newsletter opt-in form

(call to action) in a prominent place on your website

• Develop an email content strategy• Send out the email newsletter on a

regular basis

choosing a business


Social Media• Follow Buttons on each page • Share Buttons after all of your posts • Content

choosing a business


• Facebook Like Box increases FB page likes

choosing a business


whole different world

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)


Google rewards companies who provide the best information online with higher ranked search results.

SEO - whole different world


Create useful content and give information away.

SEO - whole different world


blog content

One topic may be in multiple forms that benefit your audience: video, blog, images, white papers, webinars, presentations, and infographics.


No one cares about your news.Don’t disguise your blog in the navigation as company news. They want to know the answers to their questions. Then they may want to know you.

blog content


Using social media channels, create networks of people who will help distribute your content and get it read and shared.

blog content


More views = more shares = more authority and credibility= greater search visibility

blog content


A great WordPress website it is like having a Ferrari. You can park it in the driveway where maybe someone will happen to drive by and see it. But when you put gas in the tank, oil in the car, air in the tires and you learn how to drive it around, many people will see it.

So it is not enough to have a WordPress site. If you work it, you will have traffic and convert the visitors to clients.

blog content


questions?

Thank You

Judi Knight | New Tricks | Owner

www.newtricks.com@judiknight

© 2014 YP Intellectual Property LLC. All rights reserved. YP, the YP logo and all other YP marks contained herein are trademarks of YP Intellectual Property LLC and/or YP affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.© 2014 YP Intellectual Property LLC. All rights reserved. YP, the YP logo and all other YP marks contained herein are trademarks of YP Intellectual Property LLC and/or YP affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.© 2014 YP Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. YP, the YP logo and all other YP marks contained herein are trademarks of YP Intellectual Property and/or YP Holdings LLC affiliated

companies.All other marks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.

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