How to Create an Online Presence for Your Business

1. How to Create an Online Presence for Your Business • Day 1 • Website Development • Search Engine Optimization Anthony W. Tucker RSU Innovation Center atucker@RSU.edu Twitter: @Brand_Tuck View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

2. What We’re Going to Cover • Two-Session workshop featuring practical hands-on application of web principles and web secrets. • Topics include: • Solid Branding Foundation • Voice • Visual • Physical • Attitude • Website Development • Hiring a Developer or Doing it Yourself • Search Engine Optimization • Analyzing your Website Performance • E-Commerce • How to build an e-commerce website that is visually appealing, easy to function, and has multiple payment portals/platforms (PayPal, Visa, etc.) • Social Media Development • Developing a Marketing Strategy for Your Company’s Online Assets • Pay-Per-Click Search Engine & Social Media Promotion • Google • Leveraging for small business • Google industry secrets View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

3. Objectives of Workshop • Create consistent brand image and value message on both online and offline touch points with customers. • Know what questions to ask when hiring website developers. • Know where to start to build your website if you chose to do it by yourself. • Have an organic and non-organic search engine marketing strategy. • Understand the importance of social media and apply it. • Know how to make Google your friend not foe. • Give your customers the voice to build your brand. • Analyze ROI of time spent on web/social media development. • Have a marketing strategy in place to dominate the internet and don’t expect to win the race if you have not flexed any heavy arsenal. View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

4. Tell Me About Your Business

5. Make Google Your Friend Exercise

6. Skyscrapers Aren’t Built Overnight • This is going to take work no matter if you hire someone or do it yourself. • Be committed to making online presence a competitive advantage for your business. • You must build a solid foundation before the first pillar can be installed. • Find the optimal time to spend on online presence development. Think ROI! • Before/After View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

7. My 8 Great Tips to Market Dominance • Building the Brand • Situational Analysis • Build a Strategy for your Website Development • Build Your SEO Strategy • Build a Internet Marketing Strategy • Analyze Your Website Performance • Become Socially Responsible • Make Google Your Friend View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

8. Step 1: Building Your Brand • Think about spreading peanut butter on a sandwich. • Brand must be analyzed during online development. • The foundation of a successful brand starts with a consistent image and value message. • Image and value message must be transparent in online and offline marketing communications. • Be authentic! Build your brand around the actual advantages you possess that are tangible. Don’t overpromise and under deliver. • Why your brand over others? • Price is not a sustainable reason for choosing one brand over another. Appeal to your most profitable customer’s senses. • What differentiates you from your competitors? • Bigger, stronger, faster, etc. • Communicate this value to targeted customers. View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

9. Step 2:Situational Analysis • Analyze current online presence of company. • Analyze competitor’s online presence. • Website • Social Media • Search Engine Marketing • Analyze who your customers are and how you can reach them online. • Is a competitor already accomplishing this? (b2c or b2b) • Where are they spending their time? Listening to music (Pandora) or playing games on their smartphone. • Are you a B2B driven company? Find your audience on professional networking sites. View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

10. Example:Boutiques • Market share is earned through providing a consistent means of communication with customers at every touch point possible. Leverage your resources. • Nesting Necessities-Claremore Main Street(Just Starting Campaign) • http://www.nestingnecessities.com • https://www.facebook.com/nestingnecessities • Hillary’s Boutique-Claremore Main Street • http://www.hillarysboutique.com/ • https://www.facebook.com/HillarysBoutique • Impressions-Northwest Arkansas (88K Followers) • http://impressionsnwa.com/ • https://www.facebook.com/Impressionsnwa • The Blue Door Boutique-Georgia (227K Followers) • http://www.thebluedoorboutique.com/New-Kids-on-the-Colorblock-Neon.html • https://www.facebook.com/thebluedoorboutique View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

11. Step 3:Build a Strategy • Now that we know what the market looks like it is time to build a strategy for your brand. • Are you going to hire someone or do it yourself? • Don’t expect your website to be the end all once it is complete! It will take continuous work after the completion of the site to ensure proper performance. • Have SMART goals for your website development and social media strategies. • Increase traffic from northeastern Oklahoma by 200% in first three months of new site. • Increase engagement on Facebook by 500 fans in the first three weeks of the optimized Facebook page. • Be on the first page for local results for specific industry in first six months. View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

12. SMART Goals • Specific • Measurable • Attainable • Realistic • Timely View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

13. Option 1: Hire a Professional • Still need to have SMART goals for the site that will provide the professional with metrics to be measured against. • You will play a major role in the development of your website. • Browse the internet for websites in your industry that appeal to you. • Study the top ranked websites in your industry via Google or Bing and make notes of what functionality, aesthetics, and features you like. • You will need to either create content for your website, obtain content from your suppliers, or hire someone to write the content. View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

14. What to Look for in a Web Developer • Analyze developer’s portfolio. • Do the websites have a similar characteristic or look? • Is it easy to find your way around without getting lost? • Does the site tempt you to become a customer or subscriber of the company/product? • Does it load fast and is it professional looking? • Is the site optimized for social media, SEO, and multiple viewing formats? • Know the policy on who updates the site and what the support system is for web hosting, edits, etc. • Full Version of Online Resource View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

15. Key Questions for Developer • Do you submit site to major search engines? • Will I have 24/7 access to the site to make edits? • If there is an issue with the site do you charge per hour or is that included in the price you have quoted me for development? • Do you have monthly plans for search engine optimization, web hosting, & web maintenance? • Are you building custom template or modifying a stock template for my brand? • Are you expecting me to provide all content for the site or is content creation included in the price? • What platform are you using to build my website? • Online versus software based. View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

16. Example of Developer 10 Minutes with The Driven Design’s David Moore http://www.TheDrivenDesign.com View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

17. Option 2: Do it Yourself • Bootstrapping the process. It is going to be wild ride but it must be strategically planned and organized. • Be a guerrilla marketer! • Not always money but creativity and time. • Don’t be afraid to ask for help! • Know your limitations and don’t set objectives that are not realistic in the means of design or execution. • Development Platform Knowledge • Search Engine Optimization • Integrating Social Media • Writing Relevant Content-CONTENT IS KING • Engagement • Conversion of Leads to Sales View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

18. Picking a Platform to Build Your Website • Does the platform offer responsive themes/designs/layouts? • Does the site offer social media integration organically or non-organically? • Is there an application/plug-in market available? • Like Apple’s iOS application markets. • Are you looking to sell products on your site? • Content Management System • Where can you edit your website’s content? • Desktop • Tablet • Mobile Phone Application View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

19. Short-Term Solution Versus Long-Term Solution • Long-Term solution website platform: • Pluses: • Faster hosting services available for your website-cloud servers. • Search Engine Optimization can be managed with ease through plug-ins and managed by either company or professional service provider. • Gives company a more professional image to their audiences. • Allows for further customization of the website’s look, functionality, and messaging. • These website platforms can grow with your business if you decide to enter other markets either geographically or different product segments. • More social media integrated systems. • Negatives: • Requires separate monthly hosting fees. • Company will have to be committed to learning how to operate the game changing features that make these platforms so successful. • Edits are not done in the comfortable drag and drop system. • Short-Term solution website platform: • Negatives: • Search Engine Optimization is not as dominate. • Website platform can’t grow with your business. • Website doesn’t exactly fit company’s brand standards. • Website lacks third-party application market that allows companies to increase functionality. • Pluses: • Easy to get started and live on the internet in hours or days. • Easy to edit. • No web-designer needed to start website.

20. Available Platforms • Wix(Drag and Drop) • App market is available • SquareSpace (Drag and Drop) • Example: Ontario PC • Weebly (Drag and Drop) • Example: Build Bartlesville • Shopify (E-Commerce) • Example: Nesting Necessities • WordPress • Example: bugRIGHT • Plug-in market is available View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

21. WordPress Musts • Must have a responsive theme. • If you have multiple brands or companies that are not related and are marketed separately from each other look at building a multi-site format. • Must have a theme that meets your brand image and message. • Have custom theme built • Try to customize theme in a box • Must leverage plug-ins to build engagement and competitive advantage. • Time.ly Events Calendar • Yoast SEO Assistance • Yoast Local SEO Application • Yoast News SEO Application • ShareThis • ShareaHolic • Google Analytics • Bing Site Verification • Store Locator Plus • Form Builder-Different Plug-ins Available View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

22. Step 4:Build Your SEO Strategy • Leverage the situational analysis conducted for the web development strategy to analyze the following: • Keywords competitors are using • SEO tactics that competitors are using • Strong Tagging • Bolded text mean, STRONG TAGGED. • Google/Bing focuses on those key terms. • Micro-Tagging: Local SEO Focus • Way of the future that will tell search engines exactly what the page represents. Example: Murphy’s Steakhouse in Bartlesville, Okla. would have Micro-Tags for local restaurant with location featuring Bartlesville, Okla. or near Tulsa, Okla. • Leverage Google AdWords Keyword Tool to analyze keywords per industry • Organic vs. Non-Organic Search Engine Marketing. • Understand the importance of SEO dominance on all content. • Google/Bing can’t read or properly index Flash/Java or images without a proper ALT Tag and file name. • Continue to modifying strategy to continue to increase traffic and conversion rates. View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

23. Option 1: Hire a SEO Juice Man • Much like scenario when hiring a web developer, must have a strategy in place before meeting with potential SEO Juice Men. • Have list of competitors readily available, geographic target market, and targeted audience. • Be ready to pay monthly fee and expect to receive updates including: • Monthly Google Analytics Report • Google AdWords Reports • Tell them you want a SEO strategy for planned and unplanned purchases. • Planned • Someone Googles the keywords, Arena Tools for Tractor, your business should be on the first page if you sell arena tools. • Unplanned • Someone who has known history of looking at arena tools for tractors on the internet or social media sees ad on a website relating to arena tools for tractors. • Think impulse buying at a grocery store with end caps and products at the check out. View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

24. Example of SEO Juice Man View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

25. Option 2: Do it Yourself • Leverage SEO assistance apps or plug-ins if available for your website development platform. • Register with Google Analytics to analyze traffic. • Are visitors bouncing (exiting) from you site to soon? • Are visitors getting to the desired take action page on your website? • Just because you have traffic does not mean you have the right traffic! • Conversion rates and ROI! • Have a strategy for both: • Organic SEO • How do you make your site seem more credible and relevant to search engines? • Build back links and continually add new content that is engaging and contains keywords. • Non-Organic SEO • In the beginning of launching a website or new SEO strategy it is highly recommended to leverage non-organic paid placement to earn more traffic and higher rankings. • Google AdWords • Facebook Ads • Display Ad placement on targeted websites • ESPN • High Plains Journal View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

26. SEO Tactics That Will Earn You Google Cred • Have a domain name with specific keywords in the actual domain name. • Example: TulsaMetalRoofing.com • You can make this domain name your main domain name and then have multiple other domain names that point back to your website. • If you post videos to YouTube/Vimeo ensure that you use key terms in the title of the video and keyword section. • Have internal links on each page of your website. • Update your content regularly. • Save every image that is placed on your website with keywords. • Example: WeddingCakeBakersTulsa.jpeg View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

27. SEO Industry Secrets • You can submit your website and subsequent webpages to be indexed by Google and Bing by registering for webmaster tools on both search engines. • You must verify your website with both Google and Bing by placing code on your website. • Strong Tag the products you offer and the markets you compete in on the homepage of your website. • Example: bugRIGHT • Get social and leverage social media! • Earn and encourage reviews on sites like Google, Facebook, Angie’s List, etc. • Submit articles to targeted media contacts for publishing both in print and online. Increases traffic to website and builds credibility in the eyes of consumers and search engines. • PR Web View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

28. Homework • Create a list of 5 competitors in your industry and the platforms they use to communicate with their audiences. • Social Media • Website • Blog • Do they sell online-E-Commerce? • Create one SMART goal that you have for the creation or update of your company’s website. • Example: increase sales of real estate in the Bixby, OK markets • Create a list of five websites and five Facebook business pages that you like the look, the functionality, or the engagement of the site. • Be as specific as you can. Email homework to atucker@rsu.edu by Wednesday, June 19th to ensure that your homework is reviewed by the instructor. Failure to complete homework will result in the participant not qualifying for the certification. View this Presentation on http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com

29. Got Questions? Contact: Anthony W. Tucker Phone: 918-343-7509 Email: atucker@rsu.edu Twitter: Tweet questions to @Brand_Tuck with #BuildMyOnlinePresence Review Day 1 Presentation: http://www.SlideShare.com/rsuInnovationCenter Review Online Resource Center: http://www.GetMeFoundOnline.com See you back here next Thursday, May 16, 2013. Same room, 310. Same time, 2:00 pm-4:30 pm.