Business Savvy Web Workshop Ken Barrett MSc. - Director

Programme  Which type of Business doesn’t need an online presence?  The different types of Web Sites  How small businesses can get found online  How marketing has changed  Budget vs Brains  Social Media - How to use it to benefit your business  It's all about Connections!  Becoming a publisher  Some jargon explained, SEO, inbound links, Social Media  The best online tools to consider for your business

About me! A Potted History  15 Years Web Consultancy & Project Management Experience  10 Years Product Management Experience in I.T.  5 Years Lecturing in Web Design & Management Information Systems  MSc Information Technology  Post Graduate Certificate in Education  Prince2 Practioner  SCRUM Master  Qualified Geek!

About untangled web ltd.  Untangled web ltd supply web business solutions, software and services in the following areas:  Web Content Management Systems  e-Commerce Applications  Web Site Design  Web Hosting  Online Helpdesk Applications  Web Software Application Development

Some local clients

Which type of business doesn’t need an online presence?  No matter what your business is, potential clients will check out your web site and this is the first impression they will get of your company

Different Types of Web Sites Static Web Sites vs Web Content Management Systems

Static Web Sites  Static Web sites require web developer skills to create any new web page. This has the following drawbacks: –Expensive to support in the long term –Limited functionality –No dynamic content –No user login or secure area –Often Out of date as soon as the site is live –Often not fit for purpose If written in house may not conform to W3C guidelines or Disability Discrimination Act (D.D.A.)‏ Advantages: Very cheap in the first instance (£300 - £500)‏

 Content Management Systems (CMS) are database driven web sites that provide flexible dynamic components for a web site  Company administrators can update or create new articles or upload photos without the need for expensive web developer skills  One of the benefits of a CMS is to allow you to add modules and components as your business requirements change Web Content Management Systems

Web Pages  Administrators can:  create any number of articles  web pages,  format text,  add images and  menu items All with simple admin tools without any need for web skills.

Frequently Asked Questions  Frequently Asked Questions can be created and searched using a text search field.

Polls  Any number of polls can be created by administrators to gather information or opinions from users.

Contact Forms  Any number of contact forms can be created by administrators to allow users to send you information

Secure User Area  Registered Members can log in and see secure content

Banners  Banners allow you to charge sponsors for each click through from your site

Additional Components  Any web site should have the framework to allow you to add functionality as your business requirements change  Joomla! and Wordpress have hundreds of additional components that are available as and when your business requires them.  A small selection are shown below  On average each component can be installed and configured for £100

Calendars  A calendar can be created to show events as open access or to registered members

Online Forum Discussion boards for registered users

Marketing / News Letters

Document Management Component  Any number of document types (Word, Excel, PDF etc) can be uploaded by administrators and menu links created to allow users and groups to download them.

Subscription Payments

Social Networking

Project Management  Assign tasks to staff, set deadlines and monitor progress

Contact Management Component  Create Contact Profiles  Search Profiles  Document conversations, s and phones calls Customer Relationship Management Systems.

Online Helpdes k  Clients log problems, issues or orders which are automatically assigned, tracked and audited.

Event Management & Registration

How small businesses can get found online  Now that you have chosen which type of web site you want, how does it get found by potential customers?  It doesn’t matter how pretty your web site is if it can’t be found by search engines: research by Experian Hitwise

It’s all about Connections  Google ranks every site in a variety of ways  The most important ranking is how important is your site to other sites.  Get links to your site from as many “relevant” web sites as possible (inbound links)  Optimise your site for search engines (SEO)  Ensure your site has search engine friendly addresses (SEF)  Become a publisher on your own site so that you can add articles and change keywords on the site often

How marketing has changed  The web is insidious.  You may be losing market share and not know why.  It may be down to the recession  It may be that competitors are much more switched on to new marketing tools using the web

Social Media – how can my company take advantage? Facebook Create a facebook page to advertise services Link to your main web site (google loves this) No corporate branding Avoid mixing friends with clients linkedin Individual Professional Profile Great for networking Link to main web site (google loves this) Twitter Informal short messages to followers Don't start unless you think you can contribute something every week Link to main corporate web site (google loves this) Integrate with main corporate web site so that tweets appear on the web site (google loves this) Great to get a message across quickly e.g. Venue change,

Google Analytics Do I need it

Budget vs Brains  Work out how much the web may increase your market share  Budget for it as you would budget for paper based advertising or other business benefit  Work out how much you can do yourself  Decide when you need to bring in a professional web developer

Some free web applications to consider

Q & A