Is Your Economic Development Website Dying?
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Transcript of Is Your Economic Development Website Dying?
Is Your Economic Development
Website
Presented by:
Dying….
Your Hosts
Guillermo Mazier – Director, Strategic Accounts
– Former economic developer and tourism marketer for the Costa Rican Investment and Trade Development Board
– Managed economic development and tourism campaign for Tortugero, CR
– Industry speaker, content strategy and digital marketing specialist– Favorite Website This Year: Spotify.com
@ A t l a s A d @ G u i l l e r m o M a z i e r # A s k A t l a s
About Atlas A purpose driven agency that specializes in economic development marketing, brands and websites. Our purpose: To create vital communities.
“We do marketing and technology for communities that help create jobs in the U.S.”
1. Led more economic development marketing assignments than any other firm in the country in the last 10 years.
2. The ONLY full service agency that specializes in economic development marketing, brands and websites.
3. Has developed High Performance Economic Development Marketing, national marketing metrics that can prove ROI for marketing, branding and website efforts within economic development space.
• Continue the Conversation: – Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/AtlasAd– Tweet questions using hashtag #ASKATLAS – Join High Performance Economic Development LinkedIn Group
• Download Website redesign checklist: http://offers.atlas-advertising.com/10-step-checklist
• View and share the slides with your colleagues (available now): www.slideshare.com/wright0405
View the slides, continue the dialogue
1. A story: when websites “disrupted” travel agents
2. Understanding the technology adoption curve for economic development
- Where does your economic development organization sit?
3. How do you know if your economic development website is dying?
4. Resources to use if you are in trouble
5. Summary
Table of Contents
When Websites Replaced Travel Agents
When Websites Replaced Travel Agents
NAICS: 561510 - Travel agencies
Technology is the most consistent factor in rendering a job useless. Planning a trip today is a do-it-yourself endeavor: you can book accommodations, transportation, discover restaurants and entertainment, and navigate your route all online. Thus, the traditional travel agent is no longer necessary.
*CareerCast listed travel agents among “useless jobs” that are becoming obsolete. The list also included data entry clerks, sign spinners and shoe repairers.
When Websites Replaced Travel Agents
NAICS: 561510 - Travel agencies
• More than 200 million reviews and opinions from travelers around the world.
• More than 4.5 million businesses and properties in 147,000+ destinations, including:
• 915,000+ hotels, B&Bs, and specialty lodging• 650,000+ vacation rentals• 2.4 million restaurants• 500,000+ attractions
• More than 29 million candid traveler photos.• More than 125 new contributions are posted every minute.• More than 70 million emailable members worldwide.• On average, nearly 2,600 new topics are posted every day to the
TripAdvisor forums.
9
Understanding the Technology Curve for Economic Development
How Do You Know If Your Economic Development
Website is Dying?
Check In #1 – Did You Develop a Strong Plan and Architecture?
YES or NO
Discovery Goal: develop a strong plan and architecture
• Audience identification and hierarchy– Only one audience at the top of the hierarchy – don’t muddle
• Positioning– Positioning statements help establish and differentiate your product and service in the
eyes of your customers. What is the service/product? Who is it for? How is it different from the competition? What makes it unique?
• Project purpose – creating a common guideline for everyone to follow– A reference point for all design and IA decisions as we move forward
• Effective information architecture– What are the needs and wants of your main audiences? How are their needs
translated into a hierarchy of information?
Information Architecture
• Information architecture (IA) is the design of the structure, hierarchy, and navigation of a website (sitemap)
• Effective IA bridges the gap between research and the visual design, and the process helps an organization understand itself better
• We’re concerned with creating an architecture and hierarchy that gets users to their content more efficiently – ideally within 3 clicks
• Intuitive navigation doesn't happen by chance and it must reflect the way people think in order for it to be effective
• Good IA can lead to smarter development processes, lowered maintenance costs, less internal documentation, and scalability
Information Architecture
Check In #2 – Is your Design Intuitive and Does it Help Users Find
What They Need?
YES or NO
Design People don’t just visit your website; they experience and interact with it. Goal: design an original, intuitive website that attracts and retains users until they find the information they need. Create a resource to entice return visits.
• 10 second rule (Now 3 second rule)– “Am I in the right place?”– “Do they have what I am looking for?”– And sometimes, “Does better content exist elsewhere?”
• Your website represents who you are and what you offer. When people see it for the first time they’re thinking:
– Is this site credible? – Is it trustworthy? – Is this a professional company? – Is this company stable? – Does this site make me feel welcome? – Am I in the right place?
• How to engage? – Emotion, Differentiation and Authenticity
• Help users make decisions – guide them– Calls to action (purpose of the site)– Clarity of navigation in design– Eye tracking studies
A Well-Designed Homepage Design is mostly about structure and hierarchy!
• People process visual information 60,000 times faster than narrative information
• Design is not necessarily just about the visual aesthetics – it is about the facilitation of an information gathering process
• The visual representation and online brand is very important, but our first priority is getting users to the information they need – all other experiences are secondary
• Your online brand is more than your logo, images and color palette, it’s also:
• The speed at which your pages load• The ease of navigation• The tone of your content• How quickly you respond to queries from your prospects
A Well-Designed Homepage
East Central Indiana • Uses local imagery and
representational palette• Connects the region with
useful business messaging• Backs up the positioning
with fact-based information• Provides map for quick
locational reference• Appeals to both the left
and right brain
A Well-Designed Homepage
CFDC • Bold imagery, vibrant
campaign language• Marketing speak backed
up with facts and figures on home page
• Balanced design pushes below the fold elegantly
• Provides map for quick locational reference
• Homepage caters to existing businesses as well
Design Takeaways
• OK to design below the fold• Limit your use of Flash• Understand typical eye-tracking
patterns• Contact information on the top of
every page• Present maps on the homepage• Understand that your brand is
more than your design
Check In #3 – Does your Content Meet the Needs of your Top
Audiences and Prospects?
YES or NO
Top 10 Pages Requested Nationally on ED Websites!
1. About Us (about the organization) 2. Programs (that the organization offers) 3. Data Center4. News 5. Relocate and Expand6. Find Property 7. Site Selection Services 8. Workforce Data and Information 9. Database of Companies or Largest Employers 10. Maps of the Area
Top 10 pages requested nationally on ED websites
Check In #4 – Are you Giving Users Easily Digestible Content?
YES or NO
Online Content
"If your target audience isn't listening, it's not their fault, it's yours.” - Seth Godin, Small is the New Big
Most users scan instead of read Your content writers need to be trained in online content writing
Write in “usable content formats” Scannable, written, and designed in chunks
Update often to keep it relevant
If you write it well, your users will return to the resource you’ve created
Online Content Pre-Launch
In order for this phase to be successful, you can count on:!
• Spending up to two months full time getting the copy written, edited and uploaded to your new website (approx 1 hour/page)
• Creating an effective editorial calendar, because when you launch, �you’ll be:
– Reviewing and updating various portions of your site weekly– Posting to social media outlets daily
Online Content Post-Launch
• Periodically review your content!
Frequency Action
Daily Update blogs and social media
Weekly Review and update news and events
Weekly Update or confirm updates on property/company data
Monthly Update or add case studies, testimonials or success stories
Bi-Annually Review and update overall site content (add new Census Data, change demographics, workforce data, education data or map overlays as needed)
Do’s & Don’ts of Outstanding Content
Item Do: Don’t: Weekly updates Spend 50 percent of an
FTE staff person’s timeLet updates slip to less than weekly
Using a content management system that enables publishing of pages, downloadable documents, and data
Use one that allows for easy editing. Open source and Microsoft (both offered by Atlas) are best
Use a home grown, overly basic system
Scanable & relevant content
Use a mix of links, bullet points and downloads to limit scrolling
Pretend your pages are 8.5 x 11 word documents
Check In #5 – Is your Website Reflective of your Community’s Brand?
YES or NO
Authenticity in Place Branding is!
• The impression your residents, prospects, visitors, and other stakeholders have of you and of the community you represent
• A tool or promise that generates interest and excitement, drives prospect activity and inspires more involvement and commitment from your local stakeholders
• Your website is one of the most important branding weapons you’ve got in your armory. It’s got unlimited potential and you’ll see that quite a number of brands have a branding strategy that revolves around their website alone. It is the pivot of their marketing and sales efforts.
Do’s & Don’ts of Outstanding Branding
Item Do: Don’t:
Communicating a true positioning of the region
Stick to the facts – how is your community really better?
Use overly puffy language, or stretch the truth
Utilizing recognizable, national elements
Pick the thing that the nation thinks of you, often not the sexy thing
Try to steal someone else’s brand (Silicon what?)
Check In #6 – Are you Using GIS and Maps to Leverage
Community Assets?
YES or NO
Effective Use of Maps and GIS Technology Is…
• Using maps with various layers (transportation, education, etc.)• Using integrated real estate searches/GIS mapping software• Generating dynamic demographic and business reports
Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Maps and GIS Technology
Item Do: Don’t:
Using maps with various layers (transportation, education, etc.)
Place a simple map on your home page that places your city inside your region
Forget that a national audience does not know your area the way you do
Using integrated real estate searches/GIS mapping software
Integrate these features fully into your website and content management
Require users or staff to visit or log into a separate system
Generating dynamic demographic and business reports
Make reports available in as few clicks as possible
Use interfaces that are too complicated or clunky
Check In #7 – Are you Tracking the Performance of your Website?
YES or NO
Effective Performance Tracking Is…
• Receiving a report once per month
• Tracking unique visits, referrers and downloads
• Benchmarking your performance against other EDs
• Integrated tracking of advertising, web and PR effectiveness
Do’s and Don’ts of Effective Performance Tracking
Item Do: Don’t:
Receiving a report once per month
Review just the basic metrics – visits, referrers, pages, contacts
Ignore your statistics for a quarter or more
Tracking unique visits, referrers, and downloads
Track a funnel of activity Use “hits”
Benchmarking your web statistics versus your peers in ED
Look quarterly at how your performance stacks up against national averages
Simply think that because your stats are “up” that they are good
10 STEP CHECKLIST FOR YOUR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WEBSITE
REDESIGN
1. Benchmark your current metrics2. Determine your goals3. Inventory your current assets4. Analyze the competition5. Identify you “Unique Value Proposition”6. Design your website around personas7. Optimize your site for search8. Identify calls to action9. Create an ongoing content marketing
strategy10. Integrated industry specific tools
Download checklist here!
Benchmarking Your Performance Measuring performance against national averages. How?�
Atlas’ High Performance Economic Development Benchmarking Survey • 10 question survey to gauge the value of your economic development organization, your
community brand, and where your organization ranks in terms of economic development performance across the country
• Upon completion, receive a customized benchmarking reporthttp://www.atlas-advertising.com/Economic-Development/HPED-Consulting/HPED-
Consulting.aspx
Thank You!
Contact information: Guillermo Maziert: 303.292.3300 x [email protected]
929 BroadwayDenver, CO 80203
www.Atlas-Advertising.comLinkedIn Profile | LinkedIn Group | Twitter | Blog | Slideshare