Web Ideas Overview. The possibilities for the future: a research report to kick-start your web strategy

Transcription

1 Web Ideas Overview The possibilities for the future: a research report to kick-start your web strategy

2 Before you start, ask yourself: What are the aims of your web strategy? Always set out with a clear aim for what you want from your website and constantly work with that focus. If your aims need to change review the strategy again. What online presence do you have now and how does it work? Use current analysis from things such as google analytics to review where your traffic comes from, what the site provides you with, what s popular and what s not. Check out your search engine results.

3 This report Making your website work harder for you and to create a real online presence you need to harness some tools and web applications that make it a place that informs, interacts and makes people return and link with. Within this document we have brought together some of the tools could help your site attain your aims. It is a list of suggestions that can help but it is not a web marketing strategy, this will depend on your activity and your own approach. We can of course help with any further requests to explore any of these avenues. The report is broken down into: Overall content suggestions for content tools that can be incorporated Interaction to get people talking with you and returning SEO and ongoing improvement Search engine optimisation, the simple approach, plus how to keep improving the site Regular interaction and social media making the net wider

4 Overall content: The site should use more interactive tools that capture users attention, their opinion and inform in more enjoyable ways. In order to reach a new set of users and get involvement you should be using more ways in which to connect. Possibilities for content include: RSS feeds RSS feeds llow people to get updates about your site as either alerts or in a 3 rd party Reader application without having to visit your site. It enables people to keep upto date with news. RSS Feeds should be easy to add and explained to users if your site is a non-technical site. Using something like Seth Godin uses on his blog (on the left side) will help explain it and make it easier for people to use: (This is a useful blog as it explains RSS feeds too) Follow us and share this Give people other ways in which to receive the information you post or connect with you, via services such as linkedin twitter, facebook and friendfeed. And make it easy for people to forward that information on, give them social bookmarks and use utilities such as Social bookmarks allow a user to post their likes (or dislikes) on a website, or post it onto their own social media site. Sharethis is an embedded link that makes it easier for people to forward your website/webpage on to others. Please also see the social media comment below for further information. Be all-inclusive Going on from the RSS feeds and follow us tools, try to make your site as accessible as possible (allowing for accessibility is a whole other guide!) but ensure that any technical tools used are explained. Where you mention RSS feeds, or blogs or any other technical term or link have a what s this? link that opens up a modal window to explain (e.g. Automatic feeds and updated content One way of keeping your site up to date is to include automatic content feeds from else where, this could be from new, parliament, local government. News, government and a number of other sites provide content for other sites, they can be articles, photos or videos and podcasts. Automatic content gives the user the impression that news is changing everyday when you haven t actually got a lot to post about. But make sure it s relevant to your business! An example of it in use is: (right hand column).

5 Content rich We ve almost taken this as read, but it needs to be said that we should always look for ways in which to give depth to the site with items such podcasts, vodcasts etc (this can be brought through from YouTube so you are also promoting yourself there as well). DDA compliance We need to ensure that no matter what content we include it should be written with DDA compliance in mind. That if you switch graphics off or enlarge the text it still works well. Consider the tab order of your site and check Alt Tags work. (For further information you can visit Calendars A viewable monthly calendar to see when key events are happening based on the information that is shown on your recent newsletter. Providing an RSS feed or notifications if users sign up to notify of upcoming events. Progress bars for ongoing projects and work Keeping clients informed is one of the best uses of a website, it s up-to-date, it s current and printed communications can t keep up. Progress bars can be a little more interactive than static images e.g. (This is an example of base code and can be changed to look differently).

6 Interaction Your blog A blog differs to a news section as it s your comment on issues that affect your company, your industry or your stand point of current events. It s more personal and starts to build up the personality of your brand. It also allows people to reply and put their view across. News sections should be kept just for that; news. It s not a comment. Other ways that you could offer interaction: Ask a question take on board the questions from people who want to know what is happening with your company or your site. It invites people to ask awkward questions, especially if your company has had tough times, but at least they are asking these questions in a place where you can control and reply. If they commented about your service elsewhere then you have little chance to react in a timely manner. Weekly vox pops Interesting quick and easy polls, which can be on serious issues and also fun subjects too, anything to invite people s views. You make your vote and the results can be portrayed graphically. More in depth On top of the vox pops, occasionally set up online surveys, getting feedback on key areas of your business. A popular web application for this is

7 Search Engine Optimisation and ongoing improvement Search Engine Optimisation Not to be overlooked, but a key to getting your site found is through Search Engine Optimisation. This can be expensive but there s some simple things that you can do to make your site more easily found: Keywords each page, decide on them and use them in the copy, update them depending on the Google analytics feedback that you get. Create clear hierarchy (every page should be reachable from at least one other page on the site (no loose URLs) Use Text links not images on buttons as these can t be read by search engines Use short and simple URLs Add a site map that includes the links to other areas (it s like a contents page in a large document) Submit your site to the search engines. Links from other sites and to other sites is good practice as long as they are relevant and there s not too many. We can also provide a check-list to help your site become more accessible to google with some good tips for getting higher rankings. Ongoing improvement and content generation Ask for user feedback, sites such as and offer simple ways to get immediate feedback to your site and update the site according to what people want. Google Analytics, Adsense and A/B testing Use it to determine your best keywords and content, and update it regularly, findings should be incorporated in the site as keywords. Use A/B testing with Google, to determine best content. You set up one page but with two variations, Google shows half the users the first variation and the other half the second variation. You can then analyse the results as to which got the desired result or better statistics. Analytics should also include site search results so you can see what people are searching for on your site, which content works. You can also set up event tracking in analytics so that you can see who plays the videos/podcasts etc or enters addresses and downloads in the fill-out form areas.

8 Regular interaction and growing your web presence: The key to growing your web presence is to start creating a wider net for users to find you or follow you. Therefore you need to be responding on other people s blogs, websites and in the media. A good way of doing this is to set up Google alerts. This tracks the terms that you want to keep an eye on, that are pertinent to your business. It will then you once a day (or more regularly if you so wish with the sites that mention any of these terms, allowing you to respond on blogs and giving your website details). Similar tools can be used for tracking social media sites, such as for twitter.com, we can go into this in more depth should you wish to go that far. Social media: And so onto the big buzz at present. Social Media, you have to incorporate this into any online strategy. Use it to push your news out and your profile up. Using these sites you can reach an audience who wouldn t usually interact with you. Although social media is relatively new it is the future for social comment. You ll have heard of most of the key sites and for now these are what you should focus on, baring in mind the comment above about keeping up to date with comments elsewhere. Sites to consider: Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. We have compiled a few examples of companies and organisations that are already on these sites: Facebook: Linkedin Originally this was only for individuals in business but companies now have an opportunity to have a profile and link it to individuals. This is a more serious business website and would link well with developers and companies. You can also join groups to help answer company questions and ask advice. Here s an example:

9 Twitter: It s the fastest growing social media forum and set to go big, it broke the story of the Hudson River crash with photos before any news network. There s also a growing amount of celebs using it: Jonathon Ross and Stephen Fry. It s basically group instant messaging for everyone. This is a good blog to explain why you should use twitter for business: Twitter also do a great 101 for businesses: Summary The general rule to social media is that you will get what you put into it. This can be said about raising your profile for the website. The more you comment and discuss and are visible, the more you will have enquiries to see who you are and what you are doing. Your site should be something that has an ongoing improvement strategy, it isn t a brochure that launches and that s it. It must keep growing and improving. If you are time poor use tools already there to update your site with photos and content. Spend half an hour each day to comment on other people s comment and you will raise your profile more and more. This report is an overview of what is possible for your website and should only be used as a starting point to put together a web strategy. For further information, to plan a strategy and to discuss some of the options available please contact Natasha Acres, Natasha@wowcreative.co.uk or call