MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR WEBSITE

Transcription

1 MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR WEBSITE

2 Welcome! Amanda Long Web Andy Keith Web 2 Making the Most of Your Website

3 Our discussion will give you practical ways to improve your company website Defining your website purpose Defining your personas Understanding best practices Developing content and UX strategy Understanding SEO Analytics best practices Where to go from here 3 Making the Most of Your Website

4 WEBSITE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

5 First things first What problem is your website solving for? Why does my website exist? How does it support the mission? Who are my target audiences? What problem does the website solve for them? How will they find their way to the site? What is it important for them to learn there? What should they do after they leave? Answering these questions allows you to properly define the Objectives and Goals of your website. 5 Making the Most of Your Website

6 Your website is just one part of a larger digital ecosystem SOCIAL MEDIA Drive message impact by promoting your program in a way that is relevant to each social platform EARNED MEDIA Increase awareness and credibility through editorial placements and influencers CRM Cultivate and nurture relationships with influencers, advocates and donors WEBSITE.ORG Mobile and digital hub for awareness, education, donations and rallying advocates MOBILE Make sure your audience can find you in their pocket, and has the tools to take action PARTNERSHIPS Make it easy to for others to tell your story to their own audiences PAID MEDIA Promote distribution and visibility of your message 6 Making the Most of Your Website

7 PERSONAS KNOWING THE NEEDS OF YOUR USERS

8 Getting to (really) know your audience Based on user research and web analytics, develop website personas to create realistic representations of key audience segments These allow you to: Represent a major user group for the site Express and focus on the major needs and expectations of the most important user groups Give a clear picture of the user's expectations and how they're likely to use the site Aid in uncovering universal features and functionality Describe real people with attributes, goals, behaviors and values Personas help to focus decisions surrounding site components by adding a layer of real-world consideration to the conversation. They also allow you to prioritize features throughout the UX and design specification process, to prepare the development team. 8 Making the Most of Your Website

9 PAULA VARGAS AGE 41 years old STATUS Married; has two children who are 4 and 6 years old OCCUPATION Middle School Teacher RESIDENCE Suburban Midwest ATTRIBUTES (on a 1-5 scale; 1 being least, 5 being most) Social: 2 Outgoing: 3 Budget Conscious: 5 Tech Savvy: 4 Other traits: Family-focused, efficient, multi-tasker, unsung hero of her family Spending time with family is a priority. She can be found enjoying a glass of wine at her brother and sister-in-law s house on Friday night or playing soccer with the kids on the weekends. Paula primarily goes online for shopping and entertainment. She uses a variety of devices, including her laptop computer, a tablet and her mobile phone, and appreciates the familiar and continuous experiences that sites she visits often provide across all devices. She frequents websites like Babble, Etsy, Facebook, CareerBuilder, and IMDb and searches topics like shopping, TV, family and baby. She watches programing online Hulu is another high-frequency website but also reads magazines, such as Parenting or Entertainment Weekly.

10 CONTENT STRATEGY AND USER EXPERIENCE (UX) PUTTING USER NEEDS INTO ACTION

11 Why a defined content and UX strategy? The content and experience on your website should be all about the user (i.e. your target audience). Users should have a clear path to the information that they are seeking no matter how they enter your site, and the content you serve them should be focused on providing a solution to their needs. Content should also be search-optimized (to ensure that users who are searching from Google or other search engines can actually find your website and content therein). Your content strategy should be focused on the full digital ecosystem that your users may be engaging with and you should have full awareness of the path your users may take to and from your website. 11 Making the Most of Your Website

12 What are user stories and how do they help? User stories are short, simple descriptions of a site feature, told from the perspective of the person using the site Identify user stories based on business requirements and insights/knowledge about the consumer to help ensure the site meets all of their needs Example User Stories: As a New User, I want to know how much of your product to take in 3 clicks or fewer so that I don t take too much As a Freshman/Sophomore Sufferer, I'm looking for a supportive community so that I can get tips on treatments, triggers and coping As a New User, I want to see what others are saying because I trust peer recommendations more than brand marketing and want to decide whether to use your product or not As a Budget Shopper, I want to know the difference between generic products and your brand so that I can decide if it is worth the extra cost 12 Making the Most of Your Website

13 User stories also help define content types USER STORY: CONTENT TYPE: As an Involved/Experienced sufferer, I m looking for information on specific conditions so that I can decide if I have these conditions Type of Content: Flowchart As a Freshman/Sophomore sufferer, I want educational information on symptoms provided in video form because I don t want to read Type of Content: Instructional Video As a Pain Right Now sufferer, I want to learn what kind of pain I am experiencing so I can find the right treatment Type of Content: Article with Check-list 13 Making the Most of Your Website

14 Knowing your comparator landscape Good Poor Brand Responsive Engaging Content Ease of Finding Information Tools Testimonials / Reviews Clarity of Product Information Drive to Purchase Sign Up / Registration 14 Making the Most of Your Website

15 Developing a logical navigation Example navigation/url: webdomain.com/products Websites should develop a clear path to guide both the user and search engine to relevant content Clear navigation ensures your users can locate the information they need quickly and easily no matter where they enter your site It is also an essential part of SEO, and should be considered during initial planning of UX 15 Making the Most of Your Website

16 Become a trusted source of information for the user Build Educational and Lifestyle content that helps your User Types solve their problems or answer their questions Deliver information in easily viewed, shareable formats Have that content easily discovered with clear navigation through the site, as well as off-site Develop search-visible content and organize by user needs Organize site structure for optimal Search Visibility and User Navigation Optimize and Repurpose high-quality content into Alternate Forms (video, charts, infographics) Develop new content pieces dedicated to answering users questions Utilize Search for stronger visibility across all engines Optimize the digital ecosystem Optimize engaging content on and off-site to create a clear path via organic search, with more content types potentially ranking at the top of search results Be sure to Tag On-site Components appropriately (Image Tags, Video descriptions, etc.) 16 Making the Most of Your Website 16

17 WEBSITE BEST PRACTICES

18 CREATE A UNIFIED, OMNICHANNEL EXPERIENCE ACROSS ALL DEVICES BEST PRACTICE Users expect that the content should be the same no matter the device they are using. However what is pushed to the top of the experience can shift depending on the context (e.g. mobile might push for store finders over long form copy). 18 Making the Most of Your Website

19 CREATE STRONG, TIMELY, AND ENGAGING CONTENT BEST PRACTICE To differentiate your offering, keep loyalists, and set you apart as a thought leader. Timely content as well as the quality can help keep you organization top of mind to promote repeat visits. 19 Making the Most of Your Website

20 DEMONSTRATE TRUST THROUGH USER TESTIMONIALS AND REVIEWS BEST PRACTICE Users are more likely to trust 3rd party sources and peer reviews over what a company says about itself. 20 Making the Most of Your Website

21 INCLUDE A CALL TO ACTION MAKE CLEAR TO VISITORS WHAT THEY SHOULD DO AND ENCOURAGE THEM TO DO IT Beyond the site, encourage users to follow on social, share content, become donors, volunteer time, attend events, get involved. 21 Making the Most of Your Website

22 CREATE AN ONGOING RELATIONSHIP WITH USERS (SIGNUP / REGISTRATION) Give content and incentives that the users want and need proactively and via the channels they are comfortable with. 22 Making the Most of Your Website

23 CONTENT AND SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

24 Summary SEO is no longer just about keywords and meta data. We have entered an age of contextual search where search engines rank the content and context of a page as it relates to searches. Website content needs to address audience needs, to answer the questions they are asking. Content needs to be maintained, with site updates being made regularly, and promotion of that content across the digital ecosystem. Websites must also adhere to a set of design and technical best practices to allow both user and search engine to easily navigate. All owned properties of a brand can be optimized websites, social, PR, etc. SEO is a long-term play; use content strategy to maximize all facets of your digital ecosystem. 25 Making the Most of Your Website

25 How does Google Search work? How does Google decide which documents I really want? By asking questions. More than 200 of them. Matt Cutts Google Expert Guy 26 Making the Most of Your Website

26 An SEO strategy enables you to influence how your organization appears in search. Right: Google Search results for Aveeno Sponsored results Title Tag Meta Description Social Posts/Profiles Image Search 27 Making the Most of Your Website

27 Title tags: Make sure Google knows what your page is about Every webpage should have a unique title tag Title tags should include at least one or two relevant, target keywords Title tags should be at most characters (including spaces), with all relevant keywords appearing within the first 45 characters Place the target keyword as close as possible to the beginning of tag Construct title tags with multiple keywords if possible Any title over 60 characters will be ignored by search engines 28 Making the Most of Your Website

28 Web Copy Headings and Context Choose 2-3 keyword phrases that are relevant to the page and incorporate them within content Use keywords sparingly in content, but place them within vital content areas: body copy, navigation menus, and side columns Body copy should begin with a keyword phrase, as well as contain a keyword near the end of the content Be sure to include a keyword phrase within all H1 headers and within most H2 headers H1 H2 Article Targeting migraine triggers & avoid migraines 29 Making the Most of Your Website

29 Image Tagging What Search Engines See How a User sees an image-heavy site What a Search Engine sees when crawling an image-heavy site without tagged images Without Image Alt Tags, a search engine cannot tell what is being displayed as an image Image Alt Tags add simple yet strong value to a website s organic search results 30 Making the Most of Your Website

30 Video Tagging, Titles and Descriptions Build a descriptive Title and Video Description, noting the 70 characters (including spaces) limit for titles YouTube 5,000 char limit in description, but only the first 157 characters will appear as a snippet in search Include links back to your web properties within the video description placed at the end of the description If the video is instructional, be sure to include a transcript as your description Include relevant keywords(which are not visible to users) as video tags Optimal video length 1:30 to 2:54 (mins:secs) 31 Making the Most of Your Website

31 Link Building: The Good and the Not-so-good Good Types of Links "Natural" editorial links These are the links that you didn't ask for, another site has already linked back to your page via a post on their blog, social post or main domain. If you produce an astounding piece of content, if could potentially get noticed by influential bloggers or social users though this rarely happens to branded content. Manual "outreach" link building one of the most common types of link-building, you manually contacting website owners and bloggers, asking them to link to your site. Not-so-good Types of Links Self-created, non-editorial links This type of link is seen as an attempt to fool search engines into thinking a piece of content is relevant and important. Google will now devalue or penalize this type of link. A few examples: - unmoderated blog comments - directories - guest post signatures - advertorials / native advertising - embedded infographic (as opposed to those living on a site) - forum signatures 32 Making the Most of Your Website

32 Resources for auditing and optimizing your website Review Google Analytics and/or Webmaster Tools data (if available) for insight into keywords, user paths, onsite user behavior, etc. Leverage SEMrush or Screaming Frog for detailed technical site audit (to analyze current accessibility, search codes, response times, metadata and provide areas of opportunity and/or recommendations for increased search visibility). 33 Making the Most of Your Website

33 Website/SEO audit checklist 34 Making the Most of Your Website

34 KPIs AND ANALYTICS

35 Tie metrics to your website and communications objectives Implement measurement and reporting to inform and evolve website experience by laddering up outputs (KPIs) to desired effects - Reach - Conversions Analytics Opportunity Link all digital efforts to the larger business model with a reporting framework unifying: - Earned, Owned and Paid activity metrics - Funnel Segmentation & Lead scoring 36 Making the Most of Your Website 35

36 Some common website KPIs KPIs Content Optimization Average time spent on site (new visitor) Average time spent on site (repeat visitor) Number of pages viewed in (new visitor) Number of pages viewed in (repeat visitor) Bounce rate on homepage Bounce rate on category/section landing pages Number of PDF downloads on x page Number of videos viewed Number of clicks from homepage banner CTA Technical Performance/SEO 404 and 500 errors Number of new visitors Number of keyword searches Number of documents indexed Number of referrals from search engine 37 Making the Most of Your Website

37 TARGET EVALUATE OPTIMIZE MEASURE Analytics Roadmap 38 Making the Most of Your Website 37

38 Free or low-cost audit and analytics tools worth checking out 39 Making the Most of Your Website

39 PUTTING THIS INTO ACTION ON YOUR WEBSITE

40 Where to go from here? 1. Technical site audit: Initiate an audit and use the SEO audit spreadsheet as a guide to check for gaps or foundational opportunities on your website. 2. Website Objectives: Take a step back and define what your website is solving for. Ensure that you have a deep understanding of your websites purpose and the audience you are attempting to serve on your website. 3. Personas: Get a deep understanding of your users habits. Develop datadriven personas and write user stories to determine if you are getting your target users the information they seek. 4. Content Strategy, UX and SEO: Ensure you have a content strategy in place and the right site architecture and content hierarchy to help users find the information they seek easily and efficiently. Ensure SEO is at top of mind, always. 5. Analytics: Implement analytics and use that data always to continue to drive enhancements on your website. 41 Making the Most of Your Website