5 ways you can use your website to speed past your competitors

5 Ways You Can Use Your Website to Speed Past Your Competitors

Bloomington Business Expo - April 17, 2008

What’s the Game Plan?What’s the Game Plan?

1. Why You Should Use Your Website to Speed Past Your Competitors

3. How You Can Achieve This Goal

5. What You Will Take Back to Your Office Today

Why You Should Use Your

Website To Speed Past Your

Competitors

Who Loves

?

What Are the Stats?

Percentage of Americans using the internet on a daily basis:

1995: 9%2000: 57%2005: 74%2007: 79%

In 2007 that is 178 million daily users in the US.*

*Harris Interactive Case Study: Nov. 2007 **PEW Internet & American Life Study: April, 2006

45% of users say the internet helped them make a big decision in the last 2 years.**

What Are the Stats?

Online Retail Spending

Continues to Increase

CNN Money, Jan. 2008

What Does This Mean?

This means the internet is not:• Just a passing fad• Just for teenagers

• Just for sports stats & email

This means that the internet is:• A reliable source for information

• A trusted source of purchases• Part of American Life

What Does This Mean For You?

Ask the same questions for your website.You are your website. Your website is you.

How Do People See You?

• How Do They Present Themselves?

• Can They Be Trusted?

• Do They Convey a Sense of Expertise?

• Are They Likable?

5 Ways You Can Use Your Website

to Speed Past Your Competitors

1st Gear: Audience

2nd Gear: Design

3rd Gear: Navigation

4th Gear: Marketing

5th Gear: Site Analysis

Let’s Gain Some Speed

1st Gear: Know Your Audience & Your Site

1st Gear

What are the actionable items that you expect your customers to take on your site?

Hold Your Website Accountable

What do you expect from your website?

How will you convince them to take that desired action?

They are impatient.

Internet User Behavior

They make quick decisions.

They scan pages instead of read them.

You Have 4 Seconds

1st Gear

2nd Gear: Design, Messaging

SimplicityKeep it simple stupid.Don’t make me think.

MessagingSpeak directly to your customer.Use the proper language, terminology.

CommunicationDon’t just decorate!The core function of your site.

3rd Gear: Usability, Navigation

Easy to Navigate•Is there any way for a user to be confused while navigating your site? •Is every piece of information or product easy to find?

Clear, Concise Information•Have you highlighted the most important information first?•Can there be any mistake about who you are and what you have to offer?

Stimulating & Interesting•Does your content inspire people to explore your site?•Does your content inspire people to return to your site?

Painfully Obvious Call-to-Action•Do users know EXACTLY what you want them to do?

3rd Gear

3rd Gear

Bad

Good

Your Website

4th Gear: Attracting Your Audience

If you build it, that doesn’t mean they will come.

4th Gear

How To Drive Traffic To Your Website

4th Gear

Search Engine Optimization• Meta tags• Keyword-rich text• Site map

Paid Search Marketing• Google AdWords• Yahoo Search Marching• MSN adCenter

Social Networking• Facebook• Myspace• LinkedIn

Blogging/Viral Marketing• Company blog• Video content• Catchy articles

4th Gear

4th Gear

When should you start being more competitive and drive more traffic to your website?

NOW

5th Gear: Reporting, Site Analysis

Why Use Analytics?

• Where do users go on your site?• What content are they viewing?• Where/when do they leave?• How long do they stay on your site?• How did they get there in the first place?

Use this information to make your website better!

There are numerous analytics tools:

• Omniture

• Coremetrics

• Metasun

• Google Analytics

5th Gear

Overdrive!

Tools that allow you to review (or spy on!) your competition:

www.Compete.com

www.Quantcast.com

www.Spyfu.com

Summary

• Know who your audience is and speak to them directly.

• Make your site a part of your client’s everyday life.

•Your website is a living organism, treat it accordingly!

• If you are firing on all of these cylinders then you’ll have no problems speeding past your competition!

Helpful Resources

Paid Search AdvertisingThe Adventures of PPC Herowww.ppchero.com

Search Engine OptimizationSEOMozwww.seomoz.org

Website Design BasicsDesigns from Scratchwww.webdesignfromscratch.com

General Website Marketing/DevelopmentSearch Engine Landwww.searchengineland.com

Want to do more, faster?

• Hanapin has experts in:– Search engine optimization– Pay per click– Website design

Thank you!Joseph Kerschbaum

joe.kerschbaum@hanapinmarketing.comwww.HanapinMarketing.com

812.330.3134