©2007 Catalyst Connection CATALYST CONNECTION Strategic Internet Marketing April 19, 2007 Neal Rabogliatti Sr. E-Strategy Consultant SEMPO Member

©2007 Catalyst Connection AGENDA What is Strategic Internet Marketing? Why is it important? Success stories! Phases of developing an Internet strategy? Considerations for developing an effective strategy! –Developing a strategic plan –Monitoring your results –Managing your content and campaigns –Search engine optimization

©2007 Catalyst Connection Strategic Internet Marketing Strategic Internet Marketing is a planning process for effective Internet development, advertising, and marketing. –A process –A building block approach to ensure best practices are applied, options weighed, and a clear direction of goals are achieved. –Each task builds upon the previous task and collectively creates an implementation plan for execution. –Ultimately resulting in a more effective web site.

©2007 Catalyst Connection Strategic Internet Marketing The Wrong Approach!

©2007 Catalyst Connection Strategic Internet Marketing Put This Way… Equals =

©2007 Catalyst Connection Strategic Internet Marketing Put This Way… Equals =

©2007 Catalyst Connection Strategic Internet Marketing Developing an effective web site that drives visitors, leads and sales requires an understanding of components that are all interrelated. Strategic planning helps to organize and make decisions that affect the final deliverable. - Audience Identification- Keyword Research - Information Architecture- Layout & Design - Navigation Structure- Search Engine Optimization - Relevant Content- Conversion Techniques - Analytics- Content Management - Pay Search- Link Building

©2007 Catalyst Connection Strategic Internet Marketing Developing an effective web site that drives visitors, leads and sales requires an understanding of components that are all interrelated. Strategic planning helps to organize and make decisions that affect the final deliverable. - Audience Identification- Keyword Research - Information Architecture- Layout & Design - Navigation Structure- Search Engine Optimization - Relevant Content- Conversion Techniques - Analytics- Content Management - Pay Search- Link Building

©2007 Catalyst Connection Why is E-Strategy Important? Consider This… –More competitive market (International & domestic) –Cost avoidance ( scope creep, retrofitting) –Provides a built in checklist (nothing forgotten) –Better communications (to team members & audience) Less interpretation of goals, tasks, and content. –Results in more effective web site –Increases conversion of visitors to customers –Increases your ability to attract more potential customers and better market in other areas.

©2007 Catalyst Connection Why is E-Strategy Important? E-Strategy applies industry best practices to ensure the final deliverable meets the goals and expectations of the business. –A 2006 Study by Fathom/SEO shows that over 70% of most industrial related web sites do not effectively market themselves to their target audience or have search engine visibility. –A.C. Neilson’s 2005 study shows that 95% of web users initiate their web usage with a search engine and that the majority of searchers look for keyword terms over specific company and organization names.

©2007 Catalyst Connection Why is E-Strategy Important? Simply Put: Provides better communication between client and developer Aligns the site more with the target audience’s needs and preferences Reduces risk by validating technical and functional features Reduces scope creep and development reworking Improves Search Engine visibility Gives you more control and power over marketing your business!

©2007 Catalyst Connection Success Stories Specialty Tires Of America Development of 2 Corporate Web Sites Over 160 Pages - 2 Interlinked Sites Distributor Extranet & Password Protected Inventory Reports Multiple Resource Sections Outcome: 35+ Keyword Page #1 Rankings Increase of $500,000 in Sales Cost Avoidance PPC: $124,000

©2007 Catalyst Connection Success Stories TIGG, Inc. Development of Corporate Web Over 180 Pages Activated Carbon Resource Library Outcome: 30 Keyword Page #1 Rankings Increase of $275,000 in Sales Majority of Leads Generated Through the Web Site

©2007 Catalyst Connection Success Stories Gorell Industries Development of 3 Corporate Web Sites Over 1200 Pages Dealer Section / Extranet Outcome: 25 Keyword Page #1 Rankings Increase of $250K in Sales Cost Avoidance PPC $284,000

©2007 Catalyst Connection Success Stories Excel Glass Company Development of Corporate Web Site Over 100 Pages Dealer Section / Extranet Outcome: 27 Keyword Page #1 Rankings Increase of $2.1 Million in Sales Reduced PPC by $15,000

©2007 Catalyst Connection The E-Strategy Process Phase 1: Goal Phase 2: Discovery Phase 3: Research Phase 4: Compiling & Arranging Phase 5: Review & Modify Phase 6: Execute The Plan Develop The Site Phase 7: Market - Monitor - Manage

©2007 Catalyst Connection E-Strategy Process | Goal Determining The Project’s Goals & Outcomes The most important first step of building a strategy is to determine the goal or expected outcome of the initiative. Providing direction and a benchmark for tracking success. Example: Build a web site to drive more leads and sales But: Consider the path of getting there and after… Contingency: - Can we handle the inquires? - How will we track? - What Analytics program will work best?

©2007 Catalyst Connection E-Strategy Process | Discovery Discovery A robust set of meetings to brainstorm, organize and evaluate Discuss and identify who is your target audiences (influencers – buyers) What is your unique value proposition What step in the sales cycle are your target customers (context) Identify keyword phrases your audiences use Discussion relationship between your product and services and the needs of your customers Arrange products, services and information into silos or buckets Discuss branding and creative concepts for site Discuss features and technical requirements and issues

©2007 Catalyst Connection E-Strategy Process | Discovery Helpful Tools ( Site Map or Flow Chart)

©2007 Catalyst Connection E-Strategy Process | Discovery Helpful Tools ( Project Plan)

©2007 Catalyst Connection E-Strategy Process | Research Research Identify and validate core aspects of the web site Conduct competitive research (features, functions, layout, and content) Find out who your real competitors are on the Internet Research keyword effectiveness Identify top ranking site’s SEO formulas and inbound links Research end users needs, desires, value added items Evaluate Coding Languages, Platforms, etc. Address pros and cons of features: Flash, Blog, Chat Room

©2007 Catalyst Connection E-Strategy Process | Research Helpful Tools ( On Line Keyword Research)

©2007 Catalyst Connection E-Strategy Process | Compiling & Arranging Putting it all together Now is when the brain storming and discovery is combined with results from the research. The important issues need to be finalized and documented in order to complete the implementation plan. Flow Charts: site architecture (technical) Detail Screens: navigation, file naming, page layout, Creative Concepts, CSS standards Creation of content inventory Documentation of features and technical Items Mapping of keywords to site map

©2007 Catalyst Connection E-Strategy Process | Compiling & Arranging Mapping Keywords – They now become relevancy targets

©2007 Catalyst Connection E-Strategy Process | Compiling & Arranging Keyword Parameters

©2007 Catalyst Connection E-Strategy Process | Review & Modify Review & Modify Finalizing the implementation plan Review the individual components of the plan Verify and authorize all documents and recommendations Discuss Selection of Web Developers and Hosting Companies Modify Sections or Add Clarity to Implementation Plan

©2007 Catalyst Connection E-Strategy Process | Execution Building The Site Using the implementation plan to guide, build the HTML code and complete the physical web site. Remember…\ Use clean code, avoid tricks and too much eye candy Utilize CSS, Div Tags, good file structure Post site to development server for all to review Include good internal cross linking Remember to include relevant META Tags, H1, Page Titles Strive for 200+ words per page, focused on keyword Employ good call outs to convert visitors to users Start building quality inbound links

©2007 Catalyst Connection Marketing, Monitoring, Managing Marketing The Site Upon testing and launching the site…. Register the web site (ONCE) with major search engines Develop and register an XML site map (Google, Yahoo, MSN) Continue to develop quality inbound links Implement analytics Learn how to use your content management program Implement your PPC campaign Remember it may take between 2-6 months for everything to fully be realized by major search engines.

©2007 Catalyst Connection Marketing, Monitoring, Managing Monitoring The Site Analytics Programs: These programs help to track and analyze who, when and where visitors use your web site. This is most important in tracking the hot and cold spots of your site, keyword effectiveness, conversion rates, and if your PPC campaign is really working.

©2007 Catalyst Connection Marketing, Monitoring, Managing Managing The Site At some point you are going to need to change the content, an image some text. It is important you decide before the site goes live who and how you will manage the web site.

©2007 Catalyst Connection Search Engine Optimization What is SEO Search Engine Optimization? The process of choosing targeted keyword phrases related to a site, and ensuring that the site places well when those keyword phrases are part of a Web search. The act of altering a web site so that it does well in the organic, crawler-based listings of search engines. Simply put: Creating a site that is relevant to keyword searches, and is designed to be easily indexed and ranked by search engines.

©2007 Catalyst Connection Search Engine Optimization Who are The Search Engines? Crawler Based: Google – 50% Yahoo – 20% MSN – 24% Ask – 4% Others – 2% Social Media: YouTube Flickr DIGG Del.icio.us

©2007 Catalyst Connection Search Engine Optimization What Do Search Engine Do? Search engine perform 3 tasks 1) Index site structure, pages and content 2) Follow Links, internal and external 3) Rank web sites according to relevancy

©2007 Catalyst Connection Search Engine Optimization People See Your Site This Way Search Engines See Your Site This Way

©2007 Catalyst Connection Search Engine Optimization What Do Search Engine Do? The Web Bot indexes or spiders the site by way of links. It makes a copy of the web site and puts it into a package that is sent back to the main database or catalog. WEB BOT WEB SITE

©2007 Catalyst Connection Search Engine Optimization What Do Search Engine Do? The catalog then filters web sites through a program that can compare web sites according to their collective relevancy to keywords used in a search. This is called the algorithm it considers: Text Content Code & Tags Inbound LinksAge of Domain StructureInternal Links META ThemesFresh Content & Updates

©2007 Catalyst Connection Search Engine Optimization What Search Engines Like –Good quality unique text and content –Good quality inbound links from reputable web sites (anchor text) –Good file structure, formatting and clean coding –Focused discussion within a page (keyword focus) –Good cross linking of internal pages using hyper text that includes keywords in the link or next to the link (anchor text) –No trickery or spamming –Good navigation to promote engine indexing –New and fresh content generated on a fairly regular basis.

©2007 Catalyst Connection Search Engine Optimization What Search Engines Dislike –Duplicate Content (pages and domain names) –Dynamic content using session Ids and multiple parameters –Pages containing keyword stuffing - over optimization –Anything to trick the engine to believe the site is something its not –Pages with few text links and little text content –All graphic or flash based pages –Poor coding, body content showing up after line 150 –Poor site usability and complicated navigation –Poorly formatted pages (no title tags, H1, or description tags) –Stale content or pages with little value to users

©2007 Catalyst Connection Search Engine Optimization Relevancy Search engines base their ranking algorithm with one objective in mind… Relevancy Relevancy is the total sum of all the parts of page or site in relationship to the keyword phrase being searched. Another concept for this would be the focus of your web page or consistence use of focused keyword phrase.

©2007 Catalyst Connection Search Engine Optimization Relevancy On & Off The Page On Page Relevancy Includes: –Page titles –Header tags –Keyword rich text (density, proximity) Off Page Relevancy Includes: –Meta themes –Link popularity –Cross Linking –File Structure, Code, Age,

©2007 Catalyst Connection Search Engine Optimization On Page Relevancy Page Titles ( Concise keyword rich) 80 Characters or less Header Tags ( ) Body Text Content: –Strive for 250 words per page. –Incorporate keywords 5-7% of body copy. –Incorporate text hyperlinks to other internal pages, use keywords in link.

©2007 Catalyst Connection Search Engine Optimization Off Page Relevancy Meta Themes: The overall theme of the combined elements Link Popularity: Quality links from other web sites to your’s File Structure, Code, Age,: Additional considerations that make a difference in final ranking.

©2007 Catalyst Connection META Themes Each page is unique and therefore needs a unique META theme. This Not This Unique Theme One Theme

©2007 Catalyst Connection Link Popularity The inbound links from other web sites that act as a vote to the relevancy of your web site. –Quality above quantity –Reciprocals are counted but have little weight or effect –Anchor Text is important –Good neighborhoods (link hubs of experts) –Bad neighborhoods (link farms) –Natural increase over time –One link per domain name or IP address

©2007 Catalyst Connection File & Code Structure Good usability from a file, code and layout standpoint translate to a search friendly web site and thus help to increase indexing and ranking. –Clean file structure (no nested files) –Easy to navigate pages with text links –Properly formatted pages –Text should show up above line 150 –Non Clogging coding: no jump menus, java script, dynamic navigation, forms, etc.

©2007 Catalyst Connection E-Strategy Thank You Neal Rabogliatti