Are you ready to fire your current business website because it isn’t performing the way you think it should? Or, maybe you just want to see if you can get more out of it (better return on investment). Even if you don’t have a website yet, this workshop is for you! In this workshop for small business owners, we will cover important elements every website needs to be powerful. We will also discuss how to avoid the common pitfalls and how to correct them if you have fallen into them. There will be many examples and everyone should be able to leave with actionable items they can put to work right away! This interactive workshop will include worksheets, some fun, and lots of time for Q&A. Bring your pen and a willingness to learn!

1. Building a Powerful Small Business Website
Mike Baker
Real Time Web Marketing

2. Welcome
• This workshop is for you!
• Try not to get overwhelmed
• General / not overly technical / fast pace
• Ask questions & get involved!
• Designed to get you thinking
• Some marketing 101 stuff (a must)

3. Housekeeping Items
• 10 minute break @ half-way
• Worksheets, mailing list form
• Copy of these slides online
• Drawing at the end
• Exit interview if willing

4. My Introduction:
Owner of Real Time Web Marketing
MCSE, CNE & was a Microsoft Cert Trainer
Last corp. job – Dir of Net & Telecom
Mike Baker
Degrees in NEM & Web Des/Dev
Been a freelancer & biz owner last 8 yrs
Taught network engineering & web design

5. My Introduction:
I love working with small biz owners
I’m very hands on in with people & tech:
Connecting people with technology
I actually build & code websites
Workshops / Networking / etc.

6. Let’s hear about you now
How many own a website right now?
How many have built a website?
Have a small business right now?
How many of you maintain your own site?
Are just starting one up?

7. Compelling Case Study – MCC Group
• Visibility online was only at 7% & only
one page getting traffic at all
• A non-profit trying to secure funding &
find partners
• Website was confusing & info was out
of date – losing credibility
• Ranking for only 2 keywords above 50

8. Compelling Case Study – MCC Group

9. MCC Group Success Story
MCCGroup.org

10. Compelling Case Study – MCC Group
• Visibility online went from 7% to over
83% in just 4 months
• Has secured funding & found partners
• Website is easy to navigate, clear
messaging, helping accomplish mission
• Ranking for over 50 keywords now

11. MCC Group Success Story

12. How to Build
a Powerful
Small Business Website

13. • Section 1: Planning your website
• Section 2: Building your website
• Section 3: Hosting, security, maintenance
What we will cover today
• Section 4: Should I fire my old website?

14. What we want websites to do
 Found in Google search results
 Collect leads / Provide info
 Generate calls / sales / revenue
 Attract new customers
 Market products & services
 Give us credibility

15. What’s the bottom line?
We want results

16. A powerful website will…
Attract visitors and entice them
to interact with it
Be built well enough to be a
solid foundation for all your
online marketing

17. Powerful websites
• Have well-written, optimized content
• Meaningful headlines / Calls-to-action
• Built & Optimized to Google’s standards
• Speak to your target market
• Compelling imagery, graphics & video

18. Powerful websites
• Are easy to navigate, well organized
• Look and feel professional
• Have content updated regularly
• Are error free, load fast, & are secure
• Are optimized for mobile users

19. Great, but, how do I do all that?

20. Power starts with how you
package your business

21. Real Life Packaging Example
The packaging of this book didn’t sell …
“Find out all about your self, your love, your friends, and family!”

22. This book sold millions! Same book! Why?
Real Life Packaging Example

23. Website packaging examples
Would you prefer this homepage ..

24. Or this homepage for your business?
Graphic from Digital Marketer, Ryan Diess (http://www.digitalmarketer.com/)
Website packaging examples

25. NEVER FORGET!
Your website is the virtual welcome
mat & front door for your biz online

26. Planning Your Website
SECTION 1

27. If you don’t have plans…

28. You might end up with this …

29. Understand WHAT you are building
And WHO you are building it for!
Know what you’re building

30. What are you building… this?
An International news site, lots of ads & feeds
Large scale hosting, streaming video, translation

31. Or… this?
Ecommerce website, cart, CC processing,
Scalable hosting, advanced search, shipping

32. Or… even this?
A small community website w/ local traffic.
Economy hosting, audio, CMS, basic forms, donations

33. • What is your desired reach?
• Geographics
• Where do they live & work?
WHO are you building it for!
• Languages, customs, etc.
• Local, national, international?
(Audience / Target market)

34. • Psychographics
• Demographics (socioeconomic)
• Age, income level, gender, etc.
WHO are you building it for!
• Values, interests, lifestyle, etc.
• Reading level of content
• Tone of written content

35. Your turn to work!
• What do you know about your market’s
Geographics?
• What do you know about your market’s
Demographics?
• What do you know about your market’s
Psychographics?

36. WHO are you building it for!
Did you know also have an invisible audience?

37. Bots, Spiders, & Crawlers

38. Bots & spiders? Say what?
• Plan your site with Google &
other search engines in mind
• ‘Bots’ or ‘spiders’ crawl the web
• They index pages & rank them
• Search engines display results

39. Which is more important?
A website that caters
to robots (SEO)?
A website that caters
to your visitors?
OR

40. Who judges if a site is good or not?
• Visitors judge with their clicks &
wallets
• Google judges with search
result rankings
• Google is always
judging your site!

41. The Battle Between
Humans & Machines
Online Directories
Search Engines

42. One key to a powerful website
There needs to be a balance!
• Some elements more for Google
• Some elements more for visitors
• Sometimes they are at odds!
• Each business website unique

43. Planning your website
Choosing a domain name

44. Choosing your domain name
• Often contains business name
• Make it intuitive & descriptive
• How people find you by name
• What your biz does if possible
(https://MyBusinessName.com)
• Have someone review it first!

45. Tragic domain names
Speedofart.com
Speed of Art (Speedo’s art non-profit)
Tech Company “IT Scrap”
Effective Office Environments
Effoff.com
Itscrap.com

46. Domain names good/bad?
• PlumbingSuppliesOC.com
• AndySmithPhotography.com
• ForTheChildren.org
• rtwm-oc.com

47. • Share your domain name with someone
near you, does it work?
• If you don’t have one, make one up
Your turn to work!

48. Planning your website
What are your goals?

49. What is a conversion?
“The point at which a website visitor performs
a desired action.” In other words, conversion
is simply getting someone to respond to your
call-to-action.”
• Click • Subscribe
• A phone call
• Fill out a Form
• Watch a video

50. What are your goals?
What is a conversion for you?
• Sale of a product / service?
• Get someone to call you?
Identify your goals / objectives
• Showcase services / products?
• What do you want them to do?

51. • What do you want visitors to do when
they land on your home page?
• What are the goals for your website?
• What is a conversion for you?
Your turn to work!

52. Planning your website
Functionality & features needed

53. • Photo Gallery
What features will you need?
• Multiple Languages
• Online Store / Shopping Cart
• Payments / Donations
• Database Connections
• Audio & Video
• Memberships
• Private Pages
• Blog / Articles
• Ads / Monetization
• Calendars
• Online Forum
• Forms

54. • Which functions and/or features does
your website have now or will need
later?
• Are there any functions / features not
on the list that you need? Share with
us!
Your turn to work!

55. Planning your website
Engaging content

56. Plan for Engaging Content
• Infographics / FAQs
• Photo Galleries / Portfolios
• Blogs / Articles / How-tos
• Social Feeds (Twitter, Facebook)
• Social Proof (links to reviews)
• Client Endorsement Video

57. The Power of Video
Bob Chesney

58. Planning your website
Planning your pages / structure

59. Pages you should have
• About / About Us
• Contact / Contact Us
• Terms of Service Agreement
• Blog (if you will use it!)
• Services / Products
• Portfolio OR clients if needed

60. Add these pages if you can
• FAQs (great for voice search)
• Eg. “How do I fix my drain?”
• Separate page for each service
• A team page if needed
• Video or photo gallery
• Pages of valuable content

61. Pages should …
• Have links to other pages
• Every page needs a focus!
• Page names should reflect content
• Important content easy to locate
• Content should be easy to scan

62. • If I have a website already, are there any pages I
think I may need to add?
• If I have a website, are there any pages that can get
rid of clean up my website?
• If I have a website, am I linking to other pages
inside my website AND linking to resources outside
my website?
Your turn to work!

63. The invisible stuff…

64. Meta Data & Tags
• Pages have info you don’t see
• Meta data, html tags (alt tags, h1, etc.)
• Google uses this information
• Webpage readers use it too (accessibility)
• Ignoring it will affect your SEO
• This is part of what an SEO experts do

65. • How do I plan to deal with the ‘invisible stuff’ that
my website needs?
 Hire an SEO expert to help?
 Watch some videos / read online?
 Visit Yoast.com to learn more
 I’m not doing anything! If I can’t
see it, it doesn’t exist!
Your turn to work!

66. Building Your Website
SECTION 2

67. What visitors want most!
When asked, “What do you want most in
a website?”, 9 out of 10 respond …
“I want to find what I’m looking for …
and I want to find it quickly.”

68. TIP: Get feedback from others …

69. Website Usability Cardinal Rule

70. What poor website feels like to a visitor

71. What a poor website looks like
NOT!

72. Here’s another one …

73. Building Your Website Homepage

74. Elements most homepages need
• Clear messaging – who you are & what you do
• Clear, visible navigation – don’t make them think!
• Relevant content, optimized to include your
business name & service area
• Supporting images, video, graphics (relevant)
• A primary call-to-action

75. Clear Messaging Examples
• Starts with your branding
• Logo should be in header
• Good tag lines help clarify
• Place important content near top
• Include location(s) & phone

76. Tag Lines
8-12 word catchphrase or slogan
“We build brands that build business”
• Good tag lines help clarify
• Becomes part of your brand
• Imparts a positive feeling

77. Good Homepage Messaging

78. Poor Homepage Messaging

79. • Does your website have name, address,
and phone number (NAP) in the footer
(or header), and on the contact page?
• What is your business tag line? Share it
with us!
Your turn to work!

80. Elements most homepages need
• Clear messaging – who you are & what you do.
• Clear, visible navigation – don’t make them think!

81. Navigation
• Don’t get clever with location
• Should have good contrast
• Don’t make text too small
• Plan ahead for pages & navigation
• Short, but descriptive names

82. Standard Navigation Examples

83. Poor Navigation Examples

84. Poor Navigation Examples

85. Alternate Navigation Example

86. Elements most homepages need
• Clear messaging – who you are & what you do.
• Clear, visible navigation – don’t make them think!
• Relevant & useful content, optimized for your
business name & service area

87. Relevant written content
• Service areas if relevant
• Contact info easy to locate (NAP)
• Use business name in text
• Products / Services clearly listed
• Need links to interior pages

88. The Awareness Ladder
Do they know they need it?
Do they know you offer it?
Do they know you are the
best person to buy it from?

89. Services Listing Example
“What we do”

90. Benefits Example
“What we do for you”

91. Use Leading Questions
- Links to inside content -

92. • What services do you offer?
• What benefits do you offer your
clients/customers?
Your turn to work!

93. Elements most homepages need
• Clear messaging – who you are & what you do.
• Clear, visible navigation – don’t make them think!
• Relevant & useful content, optimized for your
business name & service area.
• A primary call-to-action

94. Call-to-Action (CTA)
• An image or line of text (or both)
• 70% of small biz sites have no CTA
• How you get people to buy / act
• Include a offer or enticement

95. Good call-to-action elements
Mailing list opt-in’s with offers / loss leaders

96. Good call-to-action elements
Exit Intent Pop-Ups
CTA Buttons / Offers
Countdown Offer Timers

97. Button “A”
Button “B”
Which button is better?

98. • Which calls-to-action elements do I use,
or would like to start using?
• What is my call-to-action text going to
be?
• What is/are my call-to-action element(s)
going to link to?
Your turn to work!

99. Elements most homepages need
• Clear messaging – who you are & what you do.
• Clear, visible navigation – don’t make them think!
• Relevant & useful content, optimized for your
business name & service area.
• Supporting images, video, graphics (relevant)
• A primary call-to-action

100. Supporting images & graphics
• Compelling images evoke emotion
• Images can be tagged for SEO
• Images reinforce what you do
• Good imagery reinforces brand
• Graphics make lists interesting

101. Are these CTA’s better? Why?
Use CTA Blocks w/ button for max results!

102. Supporting images
Which is better? This one…

103. Supporting Images
Or this one? Why?

104. What’s wrong here?

105. What’s Wrong Here?

106. Formatting written content

107. When building interior pages
• Google wants headings!
• Know that people scan webpages
• Include images if relevant
• Break text up w/ headings
• Make it easy for them to find what
they want

108. Which page seems more readable?

109. Which page seems more readable?

110. Making Lists Stand Out

111. CMS, WordPress & other platforms
What should I build my website with?

112. What is a CMS?
• Content Management System (CMS)
• Doesn’t require a developer for
every change
• Needs more maintenance (updates)
than a traditional, non-CMS site
• Website software that makes it
easier to add content & edit

113. Some Popular CMS Choices
• Most popular is WordPress (25%)
• Other CMS offerings are:
• Drupal
• Shopify (ecommerce)
• Joomla
• Magneto (ecommerce)

114. Why I recommend WordPress
• WordPress is open source (free)
• Tons of meetups & user groups
• Plugins (extensions) are inexpensive
• Large support community
• You can learn to use it yourself!
• Can grow with your business

115. Other Options
• Build on a hosted environment
• GoDaddy, BlueHost, HostGator, etc.
• Wix, WordPress.com, SquareSpace
• Offer do-it-yourself websites
• Limited expandability / not great for SEO
• Only if you have a very limited budget

116. Other self-hosted options
• More expensive to build
• Have your website custom built in a
non-CMS platform
• Ruby, HTML/PHP, ASP.Net, Perl
• Need developer to do updates or
add content

117. SECTION 3
Hosting, Security, & Maintenance

118. Your choice of website hosts
matters… a lot!
 Cheap is NOT better; Invest here!
 Big names do not = good service
 Should spend at least $30 month
 Google will dock you for poor hosting
 Performance, uptime, security

119. Website Security Matters!
 Over 30,000 sites hacked each day!
 Mostly want access to your resources
 Cost to recover your site is high
 Loss of reputation & trust
 Google wants all sites to be https:

120. Ways to Secure Your Site
 Use a secure website host
 Make sure you use complex passwords
 Get a digital certificate (https://)
 Use a firewall (like Sucuri) in front
 Get a professional security review

121. Maintain your website
 Most sites require maintenance now
 Plugins, scripts, code, & core updates
 Links go down & things break
 Brower standards change
 Hire a professional to maintain it
 Make regular backups!

122. • Who is your current website host (if you
have a website)
• Have you secured your website?
• Do you maintenance your website (perform
regular updates, check for outdated code,
perform regular backs, etc.)?
Your turn to work!

123. SECTION 4
Should I fire my old website?

124. Test responsiveness & performance
Is the site mobile responsive?
• testmysite.thinkwithgoogle.com
• Penalty for sites that don’t pass
• Over 50% of site views mobile

125. Test responsiveness & performance
Do pages load within 4 seconds?
• https://tools.pingdom.com
• Penalty for slow sites
• Users abandon after 5 seconds

126. • Slow or non-responsive sites should
be fired!
A decisive verdict!
• Out-dated, non-professional looking
sites should be fired!
• Sites that have outdated code should
be fired! (vulnerable to attack!)
• www.w3.org/developers/tools

127. Other important tests
• Is the site ranking in Google?
• Are people using the site?
• Can it grow with your business?
• Does it look up to date?
• Site: YourDomainName.com
• Use the free SEMRush.com tools

128. Other important tests
• Can you update content yourself?
• Does everything work?
• Is most of the content good?
• Does it look & feel out of date?
• Can you it update yourself?

129. • If you answered “no” to most of the
questions, fire your old website.
More reasons to fire it!
• If the site isn’t ranking well, and the
issue is the way the site is built, fire it!
• If it will cost as much to update as to
rebuild, fire that old website!

130. • If you answered “yes” to most of the
questions, an update may work well.
When to keep it …
• If you just need to update content and
have someone help with SEO, keep it!
• If the site ranks well & works well, it
may be best to just update it!

131. • Based on my answers, should I keep
or fire my old website?
• If I keep my site, what do I need to
improve?
• If fire my old website, what is my
next step?
Your turn to work!

132. Questions?
Your turn to work!
Your biggest challenge will be
gathering valuable & compelling
content -

133. “6 Reasons Your Website is Ineffective”
On my website’s marketing blog 6 Reasons Series
For more details, read my series of
articles on holistic web design

134. Mike Baker
http://twitter.com/realtimewebmktg
http://facebook.com/realtimewebmarketing
https://www.linkedin.com/in/realtimewebmarketing#
Thank you!
(714) 662-2203
https://realtimewebmarketing.com