Presented by Karen Porter UM School of Business Administration & ImpactOnlineMarketing.com Website Development Basics ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Website Development Process The 3 legged stool Technical Design Marketing Why so many websites are “failures” 12 important “steps” to website success ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Step 1: Site Objectives Know where you are headed and why? Making sales of products Developing leads Capturing addresses for a mailing list Earnings from Adsense / affiliate programs Etc… Develop your goals ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Step 2: Determine Demand Important if you are building a revenue site Is there sufficient interest in your topic? Is there potential for enough traffic to return a positive ROI on your time and monetary investment? Are there sufficient ways to earn revenue? Won’t apply to many websites WILL apply to students developing websites in the BMKT420 class or any site where your goal is to generate income ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Step 3: Keyword Research What is a keyword? Identifying best keywords vital to getting a website found online “Best” keywords: Sufficient search volume to bring the site traffic Not too much competition (need to find words that have a good chance of ranking well) More on keywords later… ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Step 4: Competitive Review What are your main competitive sites? Which keywords are they trying to optimize? What are they not doing well? You can capitalize on things they are missing After doing keyword research: Visit sites that are ranking well for best keywords Visit those sites’ ‘source code’ to “sleuth” Do a right click on empty space on the page Select “View Source,” “View Page Source,” or “Source Code” depending on the browser used ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Paws Up Source Code ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Step 5: Build a Site Map Identify number of pages your site needs To cover content your visitor need or want To leverage “hot” keywords Select primary navigation tabs What visitors are most likely to want to find Align your best keywords to main nav pages Organize secondary pages under primary tabs ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Building Out Your Site Map Plan your navigation Identify all pages you KNOW you need on your site Home page, About page, Contact page, Products page(s), Location info (a map if applicable), etc. Identify pages to leverage keywords Build pages to get found via popular keywords Create a Site Map (navigation plan) Align a primary keyword to each applicable page ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Site Map Example ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Step 6: Develop Page Blueprints This is your outline for each website page Goals Primary keyword Proposed URL extension Proposed page title Proposed page description Proposed content (bullet points / outline only) Proposed photos, graphics, other “additions” ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Why Page Blueprints? Helps organize your thoughts Helps identify where your keyword is used Helps you know where you have sufficient content and where you still need more Written content Graphics, photographs, charts, maps, etc. See sample blueprint page next slide ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Sample Page Blueprint ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Step 7: Copywriting Use page blueprints to develop your page Use keywords in page title (page headers) Use keyword in page url Use keyword in meta title Use keyword in meta description Ideally 250+ words per page Keyword used 1-2% density (1 - 2 x per 100 words) Use keywords in photo titles and alt tags One anchor text keyword is ideal ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Step 8: Graphic Design NOW we’re ready to make the site “pretty” Select a theme that works well with your website goals Use colors and style consistent with your overall branding Do not use excessive flash Make sure site is consistent with offline look/feel The “F Factor” – where visitor eyes go ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Step 9: Build Out the Site Develop the site by incorporating all from steps Set up all pages and organize Add necessary and desired optional plugins Install desired theme Add in copy, graphic elements, etc. Develop parallel mobile site Use a “responsive” theme that automatically resizes theme to fit mobile devices Build a separate mobile site Use a service like DudaMobile to create a mobile site from your regular website ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Steps 10-12: Marketing / Tweaking A word about SEO: 3 main types On-site (what we’ve been talking about) In-bound links Social validation / user experience SEO is NOT “set it and forget it” SEO is ongoing effort, especially with linking and social interactivity ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Step 10: Off-site SEO Inbound linking Focus on links from “important” sites (PR 2+) Page rank of sites is like a Richter scale Link “exchanges” are worthless Takes time and patience Evaluate website metrics and take action accordingly Use social networks – Google places value on this Hiring “SEO” professionals can be dicey – many use tactics to rank you that can get your site in trouble with Google – make sure to research! ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Step 11: Site Promotion Site promotion goes beyond SEO Pay-per-click advertising (Google Adwords or Facebook) Online press releases Social media marketing Promote your online presence everywhere offline Other promotional tactics as applicable for your business and its unique goals ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Step 12: Website Analysis Set up and use Google Analytics Monthly monitoring at a minimum Identify most visited pages Identify pages NOT being visited Know how long visitors are staying on your site Know what your ‘bounce rate’ is Know where you are getting your site visitors (organically, from PPC, referrals from other sites, etc) Explore other metrics that are important to your site ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

Selecting a Domain Name Generally best: business name or keyword rich.com is best extension (.net or.org next) AVOID.biz,.us,.me,.name, etc. Avoid using dashes in domain name Shorter is better Easy to spell Avoid commonly confused words (two, to, 2, too) Avoid words people misspell Avoid “cutesy” variations (eyedoc4u.com) ImpactOnlineMarketing.com