W EB P RESENCE S TRATEGIES FOR S MALL C OMMUNITIES AND L OCAL G OVERNMENTS Module 2 Lesson B. Getting Your Site Noticed.

WEB PRESENCE STRATEGIES FOR SMALL

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS

Module 2

Lesson B. Getting Your Site Noticed

LESSON OBJECTIVES

• Basics of website promotion

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

o 5 proven techniques

• Analyzing what you have

o Importance of using analytics

o Installing Google Analytics

o Trends over time / top traffic sources / geographic locations of hits

• Sustaining interest among constituent groups

THE IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING YOUR COMMUNITY SITE

• “Build it and they will come” doesn’t work!

o Many communities assume traffic will start flowing in once their website is up and running

o There are over 200 MILLION websites out there today – what will set yours apart?

Source: Netcraft Web Server Survey

THE MANY FACES OF WEBSITE MARKETING – HOW DOES YOUR SITE

GET FOUND?

• Search engine optimization (SEO)• Search engines like Google that focus on

keywords, titles, and other factors are THE most important part for larger-scale audiences

• Website analytics can help determine which keywords are working and which ones aren’t

• Non-Search engine optimization techniques• Locally, word of mouth plays a huge role• Specific tools like email signatures or including

your domain name on all materials can spur additional traffic

Search Engine techniques are important, but are not the ONLY way to generate traffic

REGISTERING WITH SEARCH ENGINES

In general, you don’t HAVE to register with search engines – they should find your site anyway

But, it doesn’t hurt to tell them exactly what you think your site is about!

Google: www.google.com/addurl/ Yahoo: http://search.yahoo.com/info/

submit.html Submissions to multiple sites: www.submitexpress.com www.addme.com

SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION

• How Search Engines Find Your Site

1. Search engine “spider” visits your site

• Determines what the main themes are

2. Your site information is then added to search engine index

3. Search engine software finds your site when a specific term is searched for

4. Your site is “ranked” based on a number of determinants, including keyword placement, link popularity, and site organization

How do these spiders “see” your site?

WHAT A SEARCH ENGINE SPIDER SEES

• On any website, click “View” and then click “Source”

• We see: Spider sees:

So – how do you impress the spider and get ranked highly?

5 TECHNIQUES FOR SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

1. Use appropriate keywords that are highly searched for

2. Incorporate “title tags”

3. Incorporate “meta tags”

4. Name (or talk about) your pictures

5. Generate external links – create content!

1. USE APPROPRIATE KEYWORDS

• You should have a consistent theme throughout your web page

• This means repeating similar “keywords” on a page (particularly the home page), as well as the rest of the site

• Each page in your website can use different keywords

• There are two basic categories of keywords: • Broad Head• Long Tail

THEORY OF THE “LONG TAIL” SEARCH

• The “broad head” captures the very popular search terms, BUT…

• The “long tail” with more descriptive terms may attract fewer – but more appropriate – visitors

• On the next slide we will use www.adwords.google.com to suggest some appropriate search terms related to your community

ExampleBroad head: retirementLong tail: retirement community with scenic views in Arizona

YOUR TURN

Finding Highly Ranked Keywords

• Go to: www.adwords.google.com and click on “Get Keyword Ideas”

• Insert a potential keyword (do you want to emphasize retirees? amenities?) and fill in the spam filter

• Google gives you additional keywords to consider – and tells you which ones are most popular!

• Consider both “broad head” and “long tail”

• Put these into your site

WHERE TO INSERT KEYWORDS

• As many places as possible!

• “Entry page” – the first page that a visitor sees

o Often directed here from search engines

o Try to keep the visitor’s attention (pictures?)

• You can emphasize text (even to a spider) by bolding, italicizing, underlining.

• Don’t be afraid to use keywords in simple, regular text as well.

2. INCORPORATE TITLE TAGS

• Take a look at the upper left hand corner of any website (in the browser)

• Most amateur sites will just say “Home Page” or “New Page”• This title is important – it’s what the spider first sees! Use your

community name and something descriptive or something you want to emphasize (from your keywords search)

• Use different title tags for different pages that are part of your site

KEYWORDS IN TITLE TAGS

• These are the first thing Google looks at!

• Can insert in most templates / editors

Good: Community name, welcome message

Bad: “Home Page”

3. INCORPORATE META TAGS

• Typically done in a program like Dreamweaver or SharePoint – need to have access to html code

• Meta Description – describes your community• This shows up in search rankings! (Up to 250 characters)

• Meta Keywords – Lists common keywords associated with your site. List plurals, common misspellings, phrases, anything you can think of!

Meta tags for Maryville, TN Website

<meta name="Description" content="The City of Maryville, Tennessee web site." />

<meta name="Keywords" content="City of Maryville, Maryville, Tennessee, Blount County, City Manager, Government, Foothills Fall Festival, Maryville City Schools, Maryville High School, Maryville Middle School, Foothills Elementary, Foothills Intermediate, Sam Houston, Fort Craig," />

TITLE AND META TAGS

Example of inserting this code in Yahoo! SiteBuilder: Use Tools Meta Tags

Then insert phrases you want

TITLE AND META TAGS

• These are Important!• Google results pull directly from these tags

YOUR TURN

• Check out a few of your neighbors’ websites – what do they have as their title and meta tags?• Remember to use View Source to

see the html code• Write down what you would like to

use as your title, description, and keyword tags

4. NAME YOUR PICTURES

• Pictures are a large part of what makes a website user friendly, but…

• Spiders don’t “see” pictures; they only see the names or text beside the pictures.• So, naming a picture “pic1.jpg” is not helpful to your

ranking, while “grandville_park1.jpg” is.

• Text that describes the picture can also be useful, if it fits into the context of the web page.

• Some programs also allow you to use “alt” tags

o This shows up when your picture cannot / does not

Do the images on your site have appropriate file names?

5. GENERATE EXTERNAL LINKS – CREATE CONTENT

• Main priority — content • Exchange links with other sites (state tourism

dept / development sites)• Spiders crawl to these links to ensure relevance

• Write articles and make videos that link back to your community site

VIDEO AND ARTICLE MARKETING

• External links are one of the primary drivers of how Google ranks sites

• So, the more “external” sites you can get to link to you the better

• Videos: use simple digital camera, windows movie maker software & submit to:• www.youtube.com• www.revver.com • www.realpeoplerealstuff.com

• Articles: Write short articles relating to your niche (4-500 words)• www.ezinearticles.com • www.goarticles.com

SQUIDOO…A GATHERING PLACE FOR CONTENT

• Squidoo is a popular publishing platform that allows you to create information about your community

• “Lenses” – overview articles – gather information on a topic

• Offer your perspective on something• Why is your community a great place for

retirees?• What amenities can your community

offer young people?

MARKET YOUR SITE WITH FACEBOOK

• You need a personal Facebook account to set up a page for your community

• Visit www.facebook.com/pages/create.php to create an official page

• Make sure to post a link on your website

o “Become a fan of Logan County”

• Fill it up! Some applications for communities:

o Discussion boards

o Events

o Photos

o Video

o The Wall (this is the main focus)

ANALYZE WHAT YOU HAVE

• Websites are only useful if they are helping you accomplish your community goals

• You should KNOW:

o How many hits you are getting a week / month

o Which keywords are being used to find your site

o Where most of your traffic is coming from (search, direct entry, other links)

o Where (geographically) your hits are coming from

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• You can use FREE tools to keep record of your traffic and how people are finding your site

• www.google.com/analytics• Consists of code that you insert into your

webpage, then analyze later

GOOGLE ANALYTICS25

• Another FREE tool to keep track of your traffic and find out how people are finding you

• www.openwebanalytics.com/ • Consists of code that you insert into your webpage, then analyze later• Also has a “HeatMap” to see where visitors focus

OPEN WEB ANALYTICS

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What can Google Analytics tell me?

• Traffic sources (referring sites, direct traffic, search engines)

• Number of visits• Number of page views / visit• Trends over time• Most popular pages• Search terms used to reach your site• Geographic map of where visitors

come from• “Bounce rates” – visitors who only

look at a single page and then immediately leave

GOOGLE ANALYTICS27

HOW TO INSERT GOOGLE ANALYTICS

1) Create a Google Analytics account

– Use Google account email address (free)

– Enter your website’s domain name

– Enter contact information

– Agree to terms of service

HOW TO INSERT GOOGLE ANALYTICS

2) Find the “tracking code” Google provides to your own website

– Find profile (domain name) for which you would like to retrieve code.

– Click Edit on Settings Column

– Click “Check Status” – html code will show up

HOW TO INSERT GOOGLE ANALYTICS

3) Copy the provided code

– Highlight all of the code provided

– Right click and select “copy”

HOW TO INSERT GOOGLE ANALYTICS

4) Paste this code into EACH PAGE of your website

– Requires using the software program that created the website (SharePoint? Sitebuilder? Office Live?)

– Immediately before the </body> tag (very end of page)

HOW TO INSERT GOOGLE ANALYTICS

5) Upload your updated site and ensure that data is being collected

– The “alert” symbol will change to a check mark

6) After at least a full day of collecting data, “View Report!”

GOOGLE ANALYTICS: 3 MOST USEFUL FEATURES

1) Visits over time

– Did you change key words?

– Put in a new website feature?

– Get an external link?

– See what type of impact you had…

GOOGLE ANALYTICS: 3 MOST USEFUL FEATURES

2) Top Traffic Sources

– Direct Traffic / Referring Sites / Search Engines?

– Which keywords are people using to find you?

– What other sites are sending links your way?

GOOGLE ANALYTICS: 3 MOST USEFUL FEATURES

3) Geography of your visitors

– Are people finding you from within your state?

– Nearby states?

– How should you change your site to appeal to these visitors?

ASSESSING YOUR WEBSITE

• There are tools available to help you assess if your website has problems with broken links, browser compatibility, spelling

o www.scrubtheweb.com

o www.netmechanic.com

• Some also offer help with meta tags & keywords and track your rankings on search engines…for a fee

SUSTAINING INTEREST IN YOUR SITE

• Many community sites start out with many interested parties, but fade over time

o Seeing pictures from the 1990s or a calendar of events from 2005 doesn’t speak very well for the site – or your community!

• Some options to sustain interest:

o Rotating “Community Website Board” with positions and specific duties each year

• President – lays out quarterly meetings of board, handles major changes

• Secretary – changes calendar each month

• Membership chair – promotes site within community

o Discuss the site at regularly scheduled meetings (city council, chamber of commerce)

o Engage students in high school each year – have a class project to improve at least 1 section of the site

GETTING LOCAL PARTICIPATION

• Marketing – make sure people know about the site!

o Presentations at Lion’s Club, senior citizen’s center, religious organizations – let people know how others are viewing their community

• Cast Deep – get buy-in from as many different groups as possible

o Getting interest from multiple constituents is essential – avoid having one person who dominates the discussion

o A “champion” from several different groups can help support a variety of views on what should be emphasized

• Community Website Board membership should change on a regular basis

WHAT WE HOPE YOU CAME AWAY WITH…

• An understanding of why website marketing is so important

• The importance of non-SEO techniques for website marketing (especially locally!)

• Basics of how the major search engines work

• 5 techniques for SEO that you can implement in your own site

• The importance of Google Analytics or other analytic programs (and how to install them on your website)

• Some options for sustaining the community site after it is up and running