Is your business' website working as well as it could? How do you even know for sure? In this session, Elmer will walk you through the reasons commonly-used website design elements and content strategies tend to fall flat with website visitors ... and with search engines. He will let you know how you can learn how your website is really doing and steps you can take to make it the hard-working business asset it should be.

1. Your Website Isn't
Working As Hard As It
Could Be
Elmer Boutin
VP OF OPERATIONS
WRIGHTIMC
KEYNOTE
DETROIT, MI ~ JUNE 6 - 7, 2022
DIGIMARCONGREATLAKES.COM | #DigiMarConGreatLakes

2. About …
@rehor
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elmerboutin/

3. Let’s talk!
Is your website working as well as it could to
help you earn more business?
No matter what business you’re in, your website
is key to connecting with customers.

4. Your website is your place on the WWW
Your website is the one place you own and
control on the web.
Other channels are great, but they should
always connect back to your website.

5. Your website is your place on the WWW
Every channel you use should link back to your website

6. Your website is a business asset!
It needs to be properly
maintained and
updated for maximum
effectiveness.

7. Your website is a business asset!
Investments in your website will pay off in the
long run.
Even in challenging economic times, your
website can be a relatively low-cost channel to
earn more business.

8. The search engines seek to get info to their
users in 1 click or less

9. Your website’s design may be holding you back
Branding is important, but …

10. Your website’s design may be holding you back
Many aspects of recent design trends cause poor
website experiences.
Poor website experiences lead to less traffic from
search engines.
Less traffic = less business

11. The mobile version of your site is key
Since 2018, Google has been
using the “Mobile First”
algorithm.
Download times on mobile
versions of sites is key –
even if most of your traffic is
on desktop!

12. Download times are very important

13. Download times are very important
At 3 seconds …
Bounce rate
skyrockets
Pageviews
plummet

14. Do you really need that custom font on your site?
The custom font on this website account for over 1/3 of
downloaded bytes and 5.3 seconds of download time.
Download times are very important

15. Download times are very important
Do you really need that zippy auto play video on
the top of the home page?
Added very large video to home page

16. Text needs to be text!
Are you embedding important text content in images?
Search engines can’t ”read” it.

17. Your customers’ journeys are rarely linear!

18. Your customers’ journeys are rarely linear!
Research starts at point of need/want and may
go in a seemingly random fashion.
You need to earn their attention at every
opportunity.

19. Your customers’ journeys may take a while
According to research
by Rothstein & Tauber
consumers spend 40 -
137 days researching a
purchase of $500 or
more.
According to research
by JD Powers,
consumers spend 90 -
126 days researching a
purchase a new auto
purchase or lease.

20. The Messy Middle
Is your website set to
earn your customers’
attention throughout
their seemingly
random journey?

21. Free Range Marketing
Learn what information your
customers need to choose
you – and help them find it
when they need it.
Don’t be afraid if they leave –
if your website is helpful,
they will come back.

22. Your website needs to be more than a mere
extension of your traditional marketing!
It’s very likely your potential customers have
already seen your messaging on other
channels – give them something they can’t
get elsewhere.

23. The Cluetrain Manifesto – 1999

24. Companies that assume
online markets are the same
markets that used to watch
their ads on television are
kidding themselves.”
- Thesis #17

25. “… We will not settle for the 4-
color brochure, for web sites
chock-a-block with eye candy
but lacking any substance.”
- Thesis #64

26. Remember: It’s not just about you!
Remember me?
I’m your
customer!

27. Intent Research … Or Keyword Research
Your keyword research for website content needs to evolve
beyond just exact match. You need to understand the
language your customers use to communicate their intent.

28. How Do You You Know Your Website Is Working?

29. Google Search Console
GSC shares great
information about how
your site is performing in
Google organic search.
Pay close attention to clicks
and impressions as they
are helpful in seeing how
people get to your site
… or don’t.

30. Bing Webmaster Tools
BWT has similar
information as GSC.
On this one, also pay close
attention to clicks and
impressions.

31. Analytics
The free version of
Google Analytics is
sufficient for most
businesses.
Go beyond traffic stats.
Be sure to create goals to
measure important
business-related metrics.

32. Analytics
Examples of conversions to track:
• Successful form submissions
• E-commerce sales
• Leads generated
• Purchase intent score
• Value of a website visit based on lifetime
revenue per customer
If you’re using a CMS, use their tagging to help track customers
through the entire relationship.

33. Analytics
Basic rule of thumb:
Go beyond vanity metrics!
Measure things that will help you understand how the
website impacts your business!
If it can be measured, it can be optimized – Lee Odden

34. Analytics
If you’re using Google
Analytics, have you
started using GA4 yet?
The current version of
GA is schedule to stop
collecting data on
July 1, 2023, so it’s best
to start running it now.

35. Microsoft Clarity
This free tool is very
helpful for
troubleshooting user
interaction with the
website and conversion
optimization.
Set this up in BWT.

36. Microsoft Clarity

37. Summary
• Make your website the foundation of your
marketing efforts
• Give people content about you they can’t get
elsewhere
• Make the mobile version of your website fast and
user-friendly
• Measure things that show impact on your
business, not just vanity metrics

38. Thank You! Lets connect!
Elmer Boutin VP of Operations. LinkedIn.com/in/elmerboutin @rehor
wrightimc.com

39. Appendix

40. About Elmer
• Marketing Technologist over 25 years
• Started building websites on Notepad
• 12 years as Corporate Webmaster
• Over 10 years doing agency work working with
SMBs to Fortune 5-sized clients
@rehor

41. Images & Other Credits
• Except as otherwise indicated, all images are from Pexels.com
– https://www.pexels.com/photo/low-angle-photography-of-airplane-1157255/
– https://www.pexels.com/photo/house-floor-plan-271667/
– https://www.pexels.com/photo/architecture-building-business-crane-236709/
– https://www.pexels.com/photo/top-view-photo-of-parking-lot-2805314/
– https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-standing-on-cliff-287240/
• https://www.searchenginejournal.com/seo-messy-middle-purchase-journey/ and
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/_qs/documents/9998/Decoding_Decisions_The_Messy_Middle_of_Purchase_Behavior.pdf
• https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/marketing-strategies/app-and-mobile/page-load-time-statistics/
• https://www.pingdom.com/blog/page-load-time-really-affect-bounce-rate/
• Slide 15 shows an example chart from Conductor: https://www.conductor.com/
• A journey of Billy’s – “The Family Circus” by Bil Keane - https://comicskingdom.com/family-circus
• The Cluetrain Manifesto: www.cluetrain.com