Web Strategy & Marketing Series
Understand how the internet can improve your business by taking the series which includes all four programs and save 10%. This series is appropriate for existing businesses or start-up businesses that are planning to have a web presence.
Creating a Smart "Web Business Plan"
The single critical factor to a successful Website is solid planning. This session gets at the roots of how to effectively integrate the Web into the way you do business. You will find out how to determine what the best Web approach is for your business, how to develop the key components of a Website plan including strategies, objectives, and target audiences - essentially a "Web business plan.. You will leave this session with a good understanding of the components of a Website plan that is strategically sound.
Through case studies, group discussions, and short exercises you will learn to:
- Build a great "Web business plan"
- Hone in on the right target audience
- Choose content and site organization that appeals to your audience
- Understand realistic objectives for a Website and how to measure success
- Effectively integrate your existing business process and marketing communications into the Web
- Realize long-running success year after year
Instructor: Sandra Bradley, Web Strategy and Marketing Consultant, aei
media, inc.
Sandra has led web strategy and marketing consulting initiatives for
leading companies for over 12 years. Her focus is on helping companies
succeed online including strategic consulting, online business
planning and revenue generation, e-commerce, online brand development,
and web site interface evaluations.
She is an independent consultant specializing in web strategy and
online marketing and also leads Web Strategy and Marketing and
E-Merchant groups for the elite UW E-Business Consortium. Through the
consortium, she regularly provides subject-matter expertise to
companies such as Lands' End, American Girl, Swiss Colony,
Eastbay/footlocker.com, Promega, Brady Corporation, and many others.
Sandra most recently drove online marketing thinking for a national
base of B-to-B and B-to-C clients as the Director of Interactive
Services for Hiebing, a leading marketing and branding strategy firm.
Prior to joining Hiebing, she founded and led Aesention, Inc., an
award-winning web design and development firm that merged with Hiebing
as its interactive division.
As a coach and trainer for many years, she leads on-site training and
coaching sessions in a variety of corporate environments working with
individuals and groups to bring best practice thinking to online
initiatives.
Building an Effective Web Presence
You don't necessarily need a big budget to create an effective Website for your business. We will look at cost-effective ways to build a highly successful Web site that magnetizes your customers and is easy to maintain over time.
Through case studies, group discussions, and short exercises you will learn to:
- Effectively critique the good, bad, and ugly in the Web world
- Get up to speed on essential tools and technologies
- Incorporate existing marketing communications into the Web
- Evaluate Web editors and ways of maintaining sites to find which is best for you
- Avoid the top ten most common Web design mistakes
Instructor: Sandra Bradley, see bio above.
Best Tactics for Promoting Your Website
Getting people to a site is half the battle. This session will focus on promoting your site in the online world with direct e-mail, paid listings, and search engine and directory placements. You will learn about selecting which directories and search engines to target and how to get listed in the right way. Measuring site traffic and determining success measures are discussed.
Through case studies, group discussions, and short exercises you will learn to:
- Build the right kind of traffic
- Create an effective e-mail campaign and build and manage your list
- Use best practices for page and site development to leverage search engines
- Determine if advertising or paid opportunities are for you
- Look at site usage and how site statistics can be used in Web maintenance
Instructor: Sandra Bradley, see bio above.
Web copywriting, branding & persuasion
Writing promotional and informational copy for the web can be a challenge. In this session you will learn the best way to use your web site to communicate your message and to stimulate action from customers. You will see what works and what doesn’t when writing for the web. Discuss how to use the web to promote your brand and to persuade visitors to act.
Instructor: Kyle Henderson is an experienced communications professional with high-level expertise in visual information design and presentation for the web and print. He is currently responsible for marketing communications and public relations strategy and execution for the UW-Madison E-Business Consortium, a university/industry partnership comprising 60 leading Wisconsin companies and UW faculty, staff and students. Duties include creating print and online communications, coordinating PR opportunities with private and public entities and coordinating the planning and execution of the consortium's annual conference.
Search engine marketing & optimization
Optimizing your Web site’s content will improve your search engine rankings when someone searches on keywords relating to your business. These search results are called “organic results” and appear on the left-side of the screen in Google. The sites listed in Google’s organic results did not pay to be ranked #1, #2, #3, etc. The sites are simply using optimized content. This workshop is ideal for small business owners and managers who want to learn an efficient and effective process for dramatically improving their site’s rankings and doubling monthly unique visitors.
A business owner does not need to know technical skills, like Web programming, to be successful at search engine optimization (SEO). Instead, business owners will rely on their marketing skill and the ability to think like their customers and prospects, versus an ability to write HTML or other form of Web programming.
Stephen recently authored the book entitled: The Small Business Owner’s Handbook to Search Engine Optimization: Increase Your Google Rankings, Double Your Site Traffic…In Just 15 Steps. Guaranteed! The book was published by Atlantic Publishing and is available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and other retailers.
Each attendee of the October 28 session will receive a free copy of Stephen’s book.
Instructor: Stephen Woessner. Stephen has 15 years of experience in Web strategy development, search engine optimization (SEO), marketing, sales, market research, and strategic planning. He has consulted with literally hundreds of clients on the development of Web sites and online promotional strategies. Stephen has significant experience in driving more traffic to a Web site and then converting the additional traffic into revenue.
As the director of marketing services for a major marketing agency, Stephen led the development of an SEO model. Stephen implemented the model on client Web sites with impressive results. Often times a client’s Google rankings improved to Top 10 positions or better.
