Optimising your web Optimising your web presence presence Simon Brock Wide Area Communications www.widearea.co.uk
Dec 27, 2015
Optimising your web presenceOptimising your web presence
Simon BrockWide Area Communications
www.widearea.co.uk
www.widearea.co.uk
IntroductionIntroduction
BackgroundWhat is your web presence?How do you use the web as part of
your business?How do you optimise that useConclusions
BackgroundBackground
Wide Area was founded in 1995Most of the business is serving
publishers:– Web site creation– Content management– E-commerce– Online strategy
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On the web…On the web…
…everyone is a publisherWe all have:
– Our own home page– Our own blog– Hundreds of people visit our website
every day, and– Every day I check all my staff’s blogs
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Which is wrongWhich is wrong
There is a difference between:– Owning content– Publishing content
There is a discipline to publishingWe will need to understand a little of
that discipline
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What is a web presence?What is a web presence?
There are two parts:The part people see – your web siteThe part you see – how you use web
services
Will concentrate on the first but I will offer an observation on the other at the end
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Your web siteYour web site
A company’s web site can serve many purposes:– Brochure– Shop front– Communication channel
Many web site are not built for purpose
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The ‘Field of Dreams’ web siteThe ‘Field of Dreams’ web site
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If you build it they will come
If you build it they will comeIf you build it they will come
Very much the mantra of the ‘.com’ bubble sites
Was never trueBuilding a web site is the start of a
process and not the end of a processEven now, poor choices mean web
sites cannot be changed
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What can we learn from this…What can we learn from this…
Your web presence must be part of your business:– If you have a brochure site mention it
everywhere– Keep your site up to date– It should not be expensive to keep your
site up to date
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If you build it, will comeIf you build it, will come
The rise of the search engine has affected how web sites are structured
Many companies are now completely dependent on search engines to generate audience
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The death of the home pageThe death of the home page
A site used to be designed from the home page to listing page to article
Google takes people to article pages
On some sites, 90% of users never see the home page
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Every page is a home pageEvery page is a home page
If you don’t want the first page a user sees to be the last page then
Every page must be a home page
If not then your user is only two clicks away from your competitor
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Every page must…Every page must…
Have clear calls to actionMake sure it shows content which is
important to the userShow content which is important to
youMust not be a dead end
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If they built it might If they built it might comecomeThe mantra of the SEO ‘industry’
Search engine optimisation is important
SEO is also obvious and simple
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The SEO rapperThe SEO rapper
To understand SEO, seek out the Poetic Prophet – the SEO rapper
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Your web provision should…Your web provision should…
Implement search engine folk loreCreate meta tagsAllow you to change titles and
descriptionsHave pages which are search
friendly
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RankingRanking
Ranking is a method by which a search engine decides if your site ‘has value’
It is dependent on whether other people value your site and link to it
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What about PPCWhat about PPC
Pay per click is importantGoogle is not search engineGoogle is an advertising engineTwo forms of adverts
– Paid for on the RHS– Free in the middle
SEO says you pay for both!
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How you use the webHow you use the web
Web is bringing applications into organisations as services
Google AppsMicrosoft Exchange, Share PointSalesforce.com
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Simon’s diarySimon’s diary
10am: Meet with WorkingMums.co.ukUsing SalesForce to manage clients
2pm: Meet with national newspaperUsing SalesForce to manage subscribers
7pm: Meet friend for drinkMajor software house developing solutions with Salesforce
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Remember this…Remember this…
The left and right will use the web effectively because– They can– They must
The M business will be squeezed
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