To achieve healthy web presence, a business needs two things: a plan to get people to their website and a website that doesn't "stink". The plan involves cleaning up online listings and directories, asking for reviews, optimizing social media presence, and creating a content marketing strategy using blogging, search ads, and other online activities. The website must have compelling content, load quickly on mobile devices, be properly formatted with keywords, have individual pages for each service, and include updated blog posts and projects. Together, an effective traffic plan and high-quality website can attract customers and help businesses reach their goals.
3. BUILDING A HEALTHY
WEB PRESENCE
PRESENTED BY:
SEO = Web Presence
Part 1: A Website that Doesn’t Stink
Part 2: A Plan to Get People to Your Site
4. WHY YOU SHOULD CARE
ABOUT WEB PRESENCE
It will help you get more customers.
Healthy web presence allows people to find you online and
effectively communicate your message to reach your business goals.
5. You’ve Heard of SEO
Search Engine Optimization
The process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular
website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results
returned by a search engine.
6. GOOD SEO = GOOD WEB PRESENCE
Good SEO is a reflection of good web presence.
It is semi-permanent. There is not a skinny pill.
7. Good SEO is NOT…
• <meta name="description" content="Free Web tutorials">
<meta name="keywords" content="HTML,CSS,XML,JavaScript">
• Tiny text, hidden text, hidden links
• Link to your website from random places that don’t relate
• Keyword stuffing
• Buying tons of domain names, especially those with your competition’s name
(domain squatting), that are not related to your business and pointing them at yours
• Duplicating content from other websites
8. A BIRDS EYE VIEW
How all the things we’ll talk about today come together.
13. To achieve healthy web presence you
need two things:
A plan to get people to your website.
A
A website that doesn’t stink.
B
Need to load up the truck.
Need the right equipment to haul in the sales.
17. To achieve healthy web presence you
need two things:
A plan to get people to your website.
A
A website that doesn’t stink.
B
Need to load up the truck.
Need the right equipment to haul in the sales.
18. Need the right equipment to haul in sales.
A WEBSITE THAT DOESN’T STINK
A
EXHIBIT
19. LINKS COMING INTO YOUR SITE 29%
WEBSITE CONTENT & BEHAVIOR 44%
CONSISTENT LISTING INFORMATION 8%
HOW RANKING WORKS
GOOGLE MY BUSINESS LISTING 7%
REVIEWS 7%
SOCIAL MEDIA 4%
29%
44%
8%
7%
7%
4%
20. WHAT MAKES A GOOD SITE?
A
Compelling
Story
Stuff You
Update
A Page for
Each
Service
Properly
Formatted
Content
Mobile
Friendly
Fast
Loading &
Easy to Use
27. Fast
Loading
& Easy to
Use
How can I improve
load time?
Reduce image sizes to decrease page size
Install a caching plugin
Limit requests to server
Update your template code
35. Properly
Formatted
Content
Because Google says so.
HOW PEOPLE INTERACT WITH YOUR SEARCH
RESULTS ON GOOGLE 11%
PROPERLY FORMATTED CONTENT 24%
PERSONALIZED WEBSITE CONTENT 9%
44% Website Content & Behavior24%
11%
9%
36. Properly
Formatted
Content
Appropriate Keywords
Don’t assume you know what terms people use to
search for your product or service
Some terms yield the same results so you don’t
always optimize a page for just one term
Longtail keywords or more specific search phrases
are easier to optimize for
37. Properly
Formatted
Content
How do I find the right
keywords?
https://adwords.google.com/
Try Google Keyword Planner
Inside of Google AdWords
Must have an AdWords account but they’re free
There’s not a cap on searches and you can export
what you find
38. What word do you think
people use to find someone
to do drywall?
Properly
Formatted
Content
42. Properly
Formatted
Content
You have your keyword, now
what do you do with it?
Page title
Page description
Alt tags on images
Page content
“H” tags
Links leading to the
page you’re optimizing
for the term(s)
43. Properly
Formatted
Content
Good link structure between
pages
All of your pages should link to each other
If you’re trying to optimize a page for keywords link to
this page from other pages in the site anytime those
keywords are used
Make sure links look like links
Make sure normal text doesn’t look like links
44. Properly
Formatted
Content
You need a site map and you
have to submit it to Google
Do this using Google Search Console
Tells Google when you add content to your website
Check for site errors
Learn what words trigger your pages in searches and
which pages are connected to each search term
45. No Sitemap = No Site Links
Shows up when people search
your name or a close variant
Sitemap required
“Decent” amount of site traffic to
trigger your content is valuable
Properly
Formatted
Content
49. A Page
for Each
Service
Because Google says so.
HOW PEOPLE INTERACT WITH YOUR SEARCH
RESULTS ON GOOGLE 11%
PROPERLY FORMATTED CONTENT 24%
PERSONALIZED WEBSITE CONTENT 9%
44% Website Content & Behavior24%
11%
9%
50. A Page for
Each
Service
Because prospects say so.
81% of shoppers conducted
research online before
making a big purchase
in 2014.
51. A Page for
Each
Service
What should you put on
those pages?
You need more than just a bulleted list
Photos
Contact to request service or quote
Completed projects
Your competitive advantages
Keywords!
58. PROJECTS
SERVICE
SUB
SERVICE
SUB
BLOG BLOG BLOG
HOME ABOUT SERVICE TEAM CONTACT
SERVICE
SUB PROJECT PROJECT
BLOG BLOG BLOG BLOG BLOG BLOG
BLOG BLOG BLOG PROJECT PROJECT PROJECT PROJECT PROJECT PROJECT
PROJECT PROJECT
PROJECT PROJECT
59. Stuff You
Update
Answer frequently asked questions
Highlight an employee of the month
Post completed projects
Add testimonials
Share awards you’ve won
Share conferences and events
you’ve attended
Give advice to assist them with
making a good buying decision
Promote new services
Share a problem you solved and how
you solved it
Upload photos of older projects and
evaluate how they held up under the
elements
Easy ideas for updates:
61. A
Compelling
Story
Because Google says so.
HOW PEOPLE INTERACT WITH YOUR SEARCH
RESULTS ON GOOGLE 11%
PROPERLY FORMATTED CONTENT 24%
PERSONALIZED WEBSITE CONTENT 9%
44% Website Content & Behavior24%
11%
9%
65. A PLAN TO GET PEOPLE TO
YOUR WEBSITE
Need to load up the truck. Clean up the yard. Fertilize.
B
EXHIBIT
66. CLEAN UP THE YARD
Start by cleaning up the areas online that reference your business to give
your presence a healthy glow.
67. LINKS COMING INTO YOUR SITE 29%
CONSISTENT LISTING INFORMATION 8%
YOUR VIRTUAL YARD
GOOGLE MY BUSINESS LISTING 7%
REVIEWS 7%
SOCIAL MEDIA 4%
29%
44%
8%
7%
7%
4%
68. Links leading
to your site
•Quality sites linking to yours
•Social media
•Listings
•Google My Business
•References, news
•Bi-lines from guest blogging
•Best are related sites - ask
•Generated from your traffic
fertilizing activities
29%
69. Double Check
Google My
Business
•It’s quick – set it and forget it
•If you don’t have one get one
•If you have one and it’s wrong
correct it
•Make sure it’s consistent with
the rest of your listings
7%
70. 7%
•Qualify for knowledge
graph (the fancy box on the
side of Google search
results)
•Displayed when people
search for your business
name or a close variant
https://www.google.com/business/
71. GOOGLE WILL NEVER CALL YOU
The people calling and saying they’re Google are idiots. And they’re
trying to steal your money.
72. YOUR LISTING IS FREE
FOREVERI repeat… Idiots. Thieves. Scum. Hang up.
73. Start Asking
for Reviews
9 in 10 US consumers
say they read online
reviews about local
businesses before
making a purchase
7%
74. Start Asking
for Reviews
•Don’t confuse reviews and
testimonials
•Allow people to review you in
any medium they feel
comfortable in
•Ask via email
•Make it part of your process
•Ask when people are happiest
7%
75. 7%
•Reviews impact your
chances of being listed in
the local 3 pack on Google
Search results
•Claim your Google
Business Listing
•Google favors businesses
with 5 + reviews
76. Clean Up Your Listings
•They should be IDENTICAL
•You need to be listed in
•Once these are right you’re
good to go, you don’t have to
do them again
8%
77. Clean Up Your Listings
•You don’t have to do them all
•moz.com/local/search check
here for errors in major
directories
8%
78. Are any of these identical?
•Identical vs not identical
%
80. Gear Up for
Social Media
•It generates traffic to your site
•It creates links to your site
•Show potential employees the
culture of your office
•Social media is a directory too.
At the very least make sure
you’re listed
4%
94. INBOUND –VS- BRANDING
Inbound
Helps people find you
when searching for the
services you provide when
they need them
THE BUYER INITIATES
Branding
Builds awareness about
your company so people
know about you when
they need your services
THE SELLER INITIATES
96. WEBSITE You need one.
If you don’t know why I’m
not sure why you came
today…
TYPE: Inbound
COST: Varies
97. Goals
• Talk to people as they are researching
• Increase organic traffic to your site
• Establish your company as a thought leader
• Creates content for distribution through
other mediums
Assets
• People who can write
• People who can update your website
• Money to invest
Audience
• Business to consumer
• Business to business
• New hires (indirect)
BL0GGING
TYPE: Inbound
COST: Varies
98. SEARCH ADS
Goals
• Talk to people when they’re in the market to
buy
• Talk to people as they are researching
(promote offerings)
Assets
• Person to write ads
• Money to invest
• Person to manage ads
Audience
• Business to consumer
• Business to business purchases outside
your sphere of influence
• New hires
TYPE: Inbound
COST: $1 - $20 per click
99. BLOGGING –VS- SEARCH ADS
Blogging
Diet & Exercise Program
• Talks to people throughout the
buying cycle
• Has a residual effect on your
search engine rankings
• Has a building effect on your
traffic volume
• Marathon
Search Ads
Fad Diet
• Primarily focuses on people at
the end of the buying cycle
• Will display while you have the
budget to display ads
• Will not drive traffic to your site
once you stop paying for them
• Sprint
100. OFFERINGS
Goals
• Talk to people as they are researching (promote
offerings)
• Talk to people when they’re in the market to buy
• Increase organic traffic to your site
Assets
• People who can write
• People who can design
• People who can update your website
• Money to invest
Audience
• Business to consumer
• Business to business
• Municipalities
TYPE: Inbound
COST: Varies
101. EMAIL
Goals
• Nurture people through the buying process
• Educate or cross sell
• Increase return traffic to your site
• Promote events, bids, sales or job
opportunities
Assets
• People who can write
• People to update your site or build emails
• Money to invest
• Interested contacts or past customers
Audience
• Business to consumer
• Business to business
• New hires
• Municipalities
TYPE: Branding
COST: $0 - $25
Depends on list size
102. SOCIAL MEDIA
Goals
• Nurture people through the buying process
• Educate or cross sell
• Increase return traffic to your site
• Promote events, bids, sales or job
opportunities
Assets
• People who can write
• People to update social media accounts
• Money to invest
• Interested contacts or past customers
Audience
• Business to consumer
• New hires
TYPE: Branding
COST: Varies
103. SOCIAL MEDIA
ADVERTISMENTS
Goals
• Educate about services, events, sales or
job opportunities
• Build your social media following
• Introduce your brand to a new audience
Assets
• People to write ads
• Money to invest
• Person to manage ads
Audience
• Business to consumer
• New hires
TYPE: Branding
COST: $2 - $10 an action
104. DISPLAY
ADVERTISMENTS
Goals
• Educate about services, events or sales
• Introduce your brand to a new audience
• Promote your brand to an audience entering
the buying process (in market segments)
Assets
• People to write and design ads
• Money to invest
• People to manage ads
Audience
• Business to consumer
• Business to business (sometimes)
• New hires
TYPE: Branding
COST: $0.10 - $5 a click
105. RETARGETING/
REMARKETING
Goals
• Nurture people through the buying process
• Increase return traffic to your site
• Cross sell products or services
• Increase close ratio
Assets
• People to write and design ads
• Money to invest
• People to manage ads
Audience
• Business to consumer
• Business to business
• New hires
TYPE: Branding
COST: $0.10 - $5 a click
106. WHO THE HELL HAS TIME FOR
ALL THIS CRAP?
Reach and Recycle.
Could get really technical about this. Whether you’re communicating with prospects, clients or potential employees, what it all boils down to is people have to be able to find you online and then you need to be able to communicate with them.
Today you’re going to hear me say two terms over and over again. Pretty much interchangeably.
SEO and Web Presence. SEO you’ve heard of. It’s the magic that makes you show up at the top of google.
Good SEO is a reflection of good web presence.
It’s semi-permanent.
There is not a skinny pill.
You can pay for ads but we’ll talk about that later.
Before we get into what good SEO and good web presence are, let’s talk about what they’re not.
I should not tell this story but I will anyway. My dad is a super smart man. He’s head of the Agricultural Engineering Department at the University of Missouri. He also owns a small business. He told me the other day he wanted to be better on Google and it seemed pretty straight forward. A buddy of his said all he has to do is add some tags to his website. Maybe some hidden text. And he should be just fine. He said, “I think I can do that, what do you think?” I told him, “I think if it were 1998 it would work. But is 2018 so we should probably schedule a time to meet so I can explain it all to him.”
Let’s start big picture with SEO. This chart might look familiar. Last time I was here I showed you this chart and promised I’d come back and explain the magic behind how all this works. So today I’m going to give it my best shot. So you have a website. And you have people you want to go to your website so you can sell them your services.
But there’s a gap between you and your audience. They don’t know about your website. So you have to tell them and get in front of them in the moment they need your service. But how?
So you put content out online – you have it on your blog, in emails, on social media, in ads, in directory listings.
You cast a net. And how visitors interact with your net and the content you put online indicates to Google the value of your content.
This content is how google determines what you do and how reputable you are.
All of these factors contribute to how Google and other search engines perceive your business.
It all boils down to this – google has it’s users at the forefront. And it will share the information to it’s searchers that it feels
Valuable content is granted the “favor of king Google”.
The king’s favor is your health.
So what do you need to have health and the eye of the king? Notice I don’t have one and two. One is not more important than the other they are equally essential to a healthy online presence.
You can’t capitalize on your opportunity because you don’t have the right equipment to do the job. You don’t bring an El Camino in to do a dump trucks job!
You can have an awesome dump truck but if you have nothing to haul you won’t get paid.
So I’ve made my case.
Why do you need a website that doesn’t stink?
We looked at the 2015 version of this chart last year. Moz, who is a leading SEO software provider conducts a study, generally annually, polling experts across the world to contribute the trends they’re experiencing.
These are the polled 2017 ranking factors and just like everything else on the web they’re ever changing.
The need for a property created website is increasing. In 2015 38% of your ranking factor was determined by website content and behavior and now it’s 44%.
At MayeCreate we feel like a website that doesn’t stink comes equipped with these 6 components. Some of these items are directly relatable to the chart we just looked while others impact those factors indirectly.
Using the right mix in the foundation.
Slow loading site that’s hard for people to use.
Said no one ever.
Later on we’re going to talk about how you can drive traffic to your site. The trick is once you get people there to keep them interested and occupied. The longer they stay the more likely they are to buy.
One of the things google takes into consideration is how visitors use your site.
If your site takes to long to load people won’t stay and visit.
This indicates to google that your information isn’t good and you don’t care about your site.
Place to test
Add a caching plugin
You could start by asking someone who’s never seen it before, or ask your clients, they’ll usually give you an honest answer. But first I’d take a look at your website tracking data. We use Google Analytics to track all of our websites. We look at bounce rate as an indicator of slow loading and hard to use sites. Bounce rate is the percentage of website visitors that enter and exit your site from the same page. While some types of advertising we’ll discuss later may increase your bounce rate, anything over 85% in my opinion is a red flag that you have an opportunity for improvement that needs to be addressed.
Time on site is another big picture indicator of ease of use for a site. You should have people on the site for at least a minute. If they’re leaving before then it might be that the site is confusing, or you’re not saying anything interesting. That’s not to say that certain pages of your site will keep visitors engaged for longer while others, like your home and contact pages might be a shorter view time,
The way you format your content will impact how google reads your content. It will also impact how people interact with your results in google because formatting determines how the listing is displayed.
Unique titles and descriptions
Unique page titles and descriptions for each page
In alt tags of images
In body of content
In page content
In title on the page
I get it you barley know me so why would you believe me. But hopefully these other two sources can convince you.
Having a page for each service gives you more personalized web content which results in higher conversions on google because people have search results that are more directly related to what they searched for. And you can rank for more terms because your site won’t display for stuff you don’t talk about on it. Back to the right mix (properly formatted content).
Optimizing for one set of key terms per page.
Call us out on the old quote but back up with the fact that mobile usage is on the rise, internet usage is on the rise don’t’ expect less people to be researching on line prior to purchase. Data is inflated for the industry but they’re not just shopping for a product some are looking for jobs. And if you’ll need this 5 years from now…you need to start to day. Which leads me to another thing you can do to help people find more information about your company and services while they’re researching on line…make sure you have stuff you update on your site.
If you have tons of beautiful photos share lots of them
If you have a less than sexy looking service use photos for texture or to add interest instead of making them your focal point
If you create sub services pages and just post one project per month and one blog post per month
Need to get people to connect with you and your company. They “Know” what they want. But knowing what they want and knowing what they “need” aren’t the same thing. So they need to see that they can trust you so when you tell them they’re wrong they won’t freak out. Same thing with hiring even more.
What they really need is someone they can trust enough to set them straight.
You gain their trust the same way you deal with an impatient child. Tell them a story.
Tell the story how it works best. But you do need some words, google can’t watch videos or see photos…YET. Tell the story the way that works best for you, just make sure it’s as easy to use as your coffee cup.
29% is generated to some degree by the other activities you do.
Don’t have to do all of this but do need to be better than competition in some of them to gain preference. Do a SWOT, do better where competition sucks and also rock out the things you’re good at.
Easiest 7% you’re going to get just do it. You have no excuse not to even if google is convoluted.
Your listing is a portal to a few other google features like maps, knowledge graph and the local 3 pack
Ask when people are happiest in the process
Ask when people are happiest in the process
You’ve all seen this big search listing hog. The coveted 3 pack. How do you get on this one? A balance of like a billion things but the two that float to the top are
Claiming your google business listing
Getting a minimum of 5 reviews for your service on Google
But don’t stop at 5. Benchmark your review goal against your competition. If everyone on the 3 pack has 10 reviews get more.
Make sure you’re good in the biggies, local biggies, industry biggies then there’s the ones we’re showing here.
Make sure you’re good in the biggies, local biggies, industry biggies then there’s the ones we’re showing here.
We moved a few times in the past 13 years, can you tell?
We moved a few times in the past 13 years, can you tell?
Your good website and great yard are a lot like you running a good business. They lay the foundation through which you can generate more business, or in the case of your website, traffic. Which if it’s the right traffic would mean more business too!
We’ve all seen a funnel in relativity to business before. A sales funnel. Sales works in two parts too, just like your online marketing campaign. And the traffic to closed business funnel is just that, a sales funnel. The more traffic you get in to the site the more opportunities you have to close business.
Just like with sales you have to do the activities and build the momentum to close business. Some activities will work better for your company than others. But to get leads from your website you have to do the activities that will build the traffic. It looks kind of like this.
You have a good website and so google likes you and you show up OK and search results but you don’t do much else. You do a good job of pitching your service on your website and following up on leads though so you close some business.
So you decide to start updating your site, you start a blog. And you get more traffic on your site. And you close more business.
Then you decide to start telling people about what you put on your website. You do some emails and post about your blogs on social media. You close some more business.
Then you decide to place some advertisements to get in front of even more people.