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THE BRAVE NEW DIGITAL WORLD

Leveraging the Power of the Internet to Grow Your Business

by Laura Capes, Three Sixty Solutions

WOULD YOU RATHER...

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Give your elevator pitch to a room of 500 people at a networking event?

Be handed a sealed envelope with the names/email address of 50 people actively shopping for your product or service right now?

A TREND YOU CAN’T IGNORE:

AD BUDGETS ARE SHIFTING

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The Beginning (1993) = 50 websites

Today: 234+ million websites and growing!

THE INTERNET: KIND OF A BIG DEAL

228 million in the US

74% of US population

US not the leaders:

South Korea 77%Australia 80%Netherlands 86%

Sweden 89%Iceland 93%

Source: internetworldstats.com

SO WHO’S ONLINE?

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WHAT DO THESE SHOPPERS WANT?

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To research

To learn

To be entertained

To buy

WHERE ARE PEOPLE LOOKING?

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30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

search engines

phone book

newspapers

TV

mail

Customers want to make a purchase decision

NOT

Be “sold to”

How customers get information to make a buying decision:

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KING OF THE DIGITAL WORLD

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Google has 4x the market share of its nearest competitor: Yahoo...

WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?

WHAT DO THESE SHOPPERS REALLY WANT?

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To get immediate answers

HOW CAN YOU GIVE THEM WHAT THEY WANT?

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Your Website!

YOUR WEBSITE: THE ULTIMATE LEVER

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Easily Accessible

Millions of Surfers

Works for you 24/7

Your website is your ultimate lever

WHAT DOES “LEVERAGING TIME” MEAN?

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YOUR WEBSITE: YOUR ULTIMATE MONEY TREE

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How many of you have a website?

How does it serve your business?

Online Brochure?

Interactive Salesperson?

YOUR WEBSITE: ONLINE BROCHURE

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A.K.A. “A BILLBOARD IN A DESERT”

THE ALTERNATIVE:

SALESPERSON IN TIMES SQUARE

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Attracts shoppers already shopping

Works for you 24/7 while you’re sleeping

Delivers qualified leads to your in-box

YOUR WEBSITE MATTERS

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44% of all businesses have a website

Average sales for a small business = $3.6 million

Average sales with a website = $5.3 million

That’s a 45% increase!

Source: Entrepreneur.com

DOES YOUR WEBSITE SUCK?

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DOES YOUR WEBSITE SUCK?

THE GOOD NEWS & THE BAD NEWS

Bad News: Your Website Probably Sucks!

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Good News: Most Websites Definitely Suck!

HOW DO I KNOW?

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ME“Website Grades” ~ Most rank 5-50 out of 100

“Page Ranks” ~ Most rank 0-2 out of 10

THE OPPORTUNITY

Increase Qualified Leads Coming To Your Website

Convert those Leads into New Customers

Grow Your Business Without Breaking the Bank

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Digital Media is much cheaper than traditional

HOW DO YOU ATTRACT THESE “50” PEOPLE?

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GOAL: Leverage the Power of the Internet to Grow Your Business,

#1 TOOL: Your Website

THE ROAD TO SUCCESS

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6 Fundamental Website Success Strategies

Proven to Help You Successfully Navigate the Digital World

TURN YOUR WEBSITE INTO A MONEY MACHINE

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1. client ID

5. interactivity

6. Findability 2. branding

3. action 4. trust

SUCCESS STRATEGY #1: CLIENT ID

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YOUTip: It’s not about you!!!!!!!

It’s about your customers!

SUCCESS STRATEGY #1: CLIENT ID

1.FOWTW

2.GOGI

3.GITT

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HOW DO YOU GIVE IT TO THEM?

Your Website

The Internet is Your Most Powerful Delivery Vehicle

Tip: Provide FREE Education

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SUCCESS STRATEGY #2: BRANDING

Who are you?

What’s your purpose?

What makes you unique?

How do you add more value?

What’s your unfair competitive advantage?

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SUCCESS STRATEGY #2: BRANDING

How do you deliver that online?

Look & Feel

Messaging

Design

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VISUAL APPEAL

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Target Your Ideal Customer

Be Consistent

Use Color Psychology

Tip: Action Buttons Should be Red

Source: Institute for Color Research

MESSAGING

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Educate

Inform

Inspire

Entertain

Call to Action

Be relevant

DESIGN

Look Professional

Look Bigger Than You Are

Add Value

Build Trust

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SUCCESS STRATEGY #3: ACTION

What are you asking your client to do?

Expecting them to call is not enough!

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SUCCESS STRATEGY #3: ACTION

Have a Specific Goal and Create a Compelling “Call to Action”

Be clear about what you want them to do

Make your offer enticing

Provide more value

Get them to say “Yes!”

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SUCCESS STRATEGY #4: BUILD TRUST

People Buy from Sources They Trust

Goal: Be the Expert and Trusted Advisor

How Do You Convey Trust?

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FASTEST WAYS TO BUILD TRUST ONLINE

1. Offer a Guarantee

2. Include Video Testimonials

3. Use Trust Logos (BBB)

4. Have a Privacy Policy

5. Offer a Free Trial

6. Show Phone # & Address

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TIP: REMEMBER WE’RE ALL HUMAN

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Avoid speaking in the 3rd person

Avoid sounding like a brochure

Show pictures of you and your team on the “About Us” page (the 2nd most visited page)

Tell your “story” (how long in business, why you do what you do, etc.)

SUCCESS STRATEGY #5: INTERACTIVITY

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You only get 2.3 seconds to make an impression

Roughly 9 out of 10 visitors will leave your site without taking any action

Making your site interactive can improve your odds of getting more visitors to take action

TIP: No, having a newsletter subscription form doesn’t count as being interactive!

SUCCESS STRATEGY #5: INTERACTIVITY

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Make your site “sticky” with digital media

Get them to come back for more

Educate your clients with videos

Offer them “cookies”

Post informative blogs

Engage your clients with social media

SUCCESS STRATEGY #5: INTERACTIVITY

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Utilize the “Ethical Bribe”

Swap something of high value in exchange for their name and contact info

Your list is the most valuable asset you have in the digital world

SUCCESS STRATEGY #6: BE FINDABLE

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Organic SEO: 400% Higher Conversions

COMMON MISCONCEPTION

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OVERVIEW: SEARCH ENGINE VISIBILITY

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Off-Page FactorsOn-Page Factors

2-Part Concept

HOW DOES GOOGLE DETERMINE RANKINGS?“ON PAGE” OPTIMIZATION

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Elements within your website that you have the ability to control

100% controllable

Represents about 20-40% of Google’s algorithm

On-Page Effectiveness without Off-Page Effectiveness will destroy your rankings

HOW DOES GOOGLE DETERMINE RANKINGS?“OFF PAGE” OPTIMIZATION

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Other websites that impact your sites search engine ranking

Contributes about 60-80% of ranking results

Would contribute 0% toward ranking results if on-page elements were not compliant

HOW DOES GOOGLE DETERMINE RANKINGS?“OFF PAGE” OPTIMIZATION

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Google assigns each page it has “indexed” a “Page Rank” from 0-10

A.k.a. “page importance” or “page relevance” or “page authority”

Democratic “voting system”

Your page rank is your VOTING POWER

RECAP

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1. Know your client

2. Ensure brand integrity

3. Have clear goals

4. Build trust

5. Be interactive

6. Get found!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 DEADLY SEO MISTAKES

1. No text content: Search engines use the text on the page to determine what a web page is about. If there is no text, a website is invisible to the search engines. Some designers will use "pictures of text" using their graphic design programs. These may look pretty, but the search engines can't read these images.

2. All Flash websites: Flash is indexed poorly by the search engines. Think of Flash much like any other graphic image; there is no text in Flash for the search engines to read. It is the absence of text that will hurt your rankings.

3. Splash Pages: This is a graphic entry page where often the only text present is the word "Enter." Search engines give more value to the home page than any other page on the website. Splash pages are a complete waste of the most valuable real estate.

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5 DEADLY SEO MISTAKES

4. Website builders: These are websites designed and maintained with a CMS. They have no FTP access and are marketed under names like: Websites Tonight, Websmartz and EZ Generator. This includes many special purpose websites such as Real Estate, mortgage and insurance agent websites.

5. Duplicate Content: Don't create multiple copies of your web page. These will be quickly discounted or penalized by the search engines. Search engines reward original writings and discount duplicate content. Making multiple copies of your website will not help your rankings.

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SPECIAL OFFER FOR CHAMBER MEMBERS

Online Marketing Analysis: $99 ($295 value)

6-Week Webinar Series: $79* ($179 value)

WEBINAR TOPICS*

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1) Pros & Cons of Organic vs Paid Traffic

2) To Blog or Not to Blog / Blogging Success Strategies

3) Top 5 Social Media Marketing Mistakes

4) How to Use YouTube to Grow Your Business

5) Building Relationships Online

6) Personal Mastermind Q & A Session*Classes will run Wednesdays at NOON for ...

6 weeks beginning March 17th. Cost: $79 ...

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THANK YOU!