Managing your companies content using DITA is one thing- managing your brand communications and responding to customers is another. When customers are looking to solve problems- the first thing they use is Google- and this presentation introduces how to use an Open Source CMS to deliver answers fast- while you are working on DITA compliant data which takes a little longer
3. Welcome
YOU JUST CLICKED INTO AN HOUR LONG
PRESENTATION ALL ABOUT ME, MY COMPANY,
MY SERVICES, AND MY OVER-INFLATED SELF-
WORTH. I’M SURE YOU WILL COME BACK
AGAIN AND AGAIN TO HEAR ME TALK ALL
ABOUT MYSELF (ALWAYS IN THE THIRD
PERSON) AND HOW GREAT I AM. AND THIS
INTRO WILL NEVER CHANGE.
Friday, October 31, 2008
4. RULE # 1
IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU, YOUR
COMPANY, OR ABOUT HOW
GREAT YOU ARE.
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5. RULE # 2
CUSTOMERS ARE NOW IN CONTROL.
DO NOT MAKE THEM MAD
[THEY CAN HURT YOU]
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8. THERE ARE ONLY 4 WAYS
PEOPLE COME TO YOUR SITE
• You spend awww.sony.com
your url. i.e.
lot of money promoting
• Someone links to you.
• Search
• RSS
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9. Search is critical
• 80% of internet traffic begins at a
search engine. source: Harris Interactive
• 41% of web users use search for simple
navigation, even when they know the url
source: DoubleClick
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11. GOOGLE IS ALL THAT 93.2%
MATTERS
NOTE: THESE STATS ARE BIASED BY:
TYPE OF SITE, TYPE OF VIEWER,
TECHNOLOGY USED.
GOOGLE IS CURRENTLY GROWING FASTER
THAN ANY OTHER SEARCH ENGINE.
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12. • Originally called “BackRub”
• “Page Rank” = Larry Page’s algorithm
• Bill Gross had the big revenue idea
• Customer experience is paramount
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13. It’s not a search engine!
• Google is a results engine
• Results come from Cache
• Algorithms predict what they think you want
• Page rank changes often
• 2 types of results: paid and organic
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14. Paid Placement vs. Organic
20% of clicks
Remaining 10% go
to the other links,
abandonment,clicks a
70% of or
new query
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15. Search = Use = Commerce
• “Search Engine optimization”= voodoo
• “Sites” and front doors are now history
• Google isn’t a beauty contest
I Google, therefore I am.
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16. How to evaluate your current site:
• Go to google, type in: site:yourdomain.tld
• Evaluate results- compare to your competition
• Can you bookmark every single page?
• Is there an RSS feed?
• Is there a place for your customers to contribute?
• Do you have webstats? Do you check them?
• Is there a search box
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17. What you have to do:
• Build a site that everyone can use
• Understand and optimize for search
• Create community with your customers
• Maintain and update it yourself
• Outsmart your competition
• Save a ton of money
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18. What is a Blog?
weB LOG
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19. I hate the word blog
and wish it would DIE.
It is a website.
Utilizing a sophisticated Content
Management System (CMS)
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20. • Makes making posts easy: Press This
• Easy to categorize (Table of Contents)
• Easy to tag (index)
• Allows multiple authors- and privileges
• Creates legal code automatically (no code to learn)
• Easy trackbacks
• Pingomatic
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21. 10 tips to get to the first page:
• Categories as search terms
• Search your terms- then write about top pages
• Google Alerts on terms
• Directory of your competition
• Describe every jpg, mov, mp3 for a blind person
• Watch your stats for keyword trends- react fast
• Comment, and follow incoming links backwards
• Stay on topic, in character
• Interact with customers
• Solve customer’s problems
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22. Writing for an audience
according to Seth Godin:
•
Candor
• Urgency
• Timeliness
• Pithiness
• Controversy
• Utility
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23. Common no-no’s
• Static entry page, static content
• Flash- a language that adds motion and
sound never gets updated
• Removing content (or moving it)
• Not updating often
• Censorship instead of rectification
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24. Web 2.0 concepts
• Content is separate from presentation
• Community is key
• Your customers control your brand
• Long tail
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25. Cluetrain Manifesto Thesis #12:
quot;There are no secrets. The networked
market knows more than companies do
about their own products. And whether
the news is good or bad, they tell
everyone.quot;
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26. How is your online health?
• Is the content customer focused?
• Is your content updated often?
• Is your brand message consistent?
• Are you checking your stats daily?
• What are people saying about you?
• Are all your ads available online?
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27. Is your site the first
place people look to
learn about your
company?
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28. If it’s not,
you’re not
doing your job.
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29. Thank you.
David Esrati
937.228.4433
TheNextWave.biz
www.websitetology.com
Friday, October 31, 2008