Website Optimization Playbook Design = Traffic + Leads = Revenue

GET FOUND

ONLINE

DESIGN

+

USABILITY

CONTENT CONVERSION

1. GET FOUND

• Linking Strategy

• On-Page SEO

• XML Site Maps

• 301 Redirects

2. DESIGN + USABILITY

• First Impression

• Consistency

• Imagery

• Navigation

• Accessibility

3. CONTENT STRATEGY

• Messaging

• Blogging

• Social & Shareable Content

• Other Forms of Content

4. CONVERSION

• Calls-to-Action

• Landing Pages

• Forms

• Newsletters

Gone are days where all it took was a URL, Flash, and an expensive ad campaign to

temporarily boost traffic. The reason for this shift? Changing user behavior.

Today’s user consumes information when and how they want, often without the

involvement of a sales pitch. They want to be educated – not sold.

New forms of content are a life-saving vitamin in the customer lifecycle.

We need to integrate each of them into the web experiences we create.

FIRST THING’S

FIRST…

KNOW THE USER

• Female, age 65 – post graduate, married w/ 2 grown children

• Annual HH Income = $125,000

“The internet is a functional tool, I don’t want to express myself online. I like emailing, checking the

news, sport & weather but also online shopping. I’m not very interested in running my social life online

and I’m worried about privacy and security. I’m older and have been using the internet for a long time.”

INTERNET USAGE & COMMUNICATION

- Over 50% smartphone owners; < 20% tablet

- Communication Preferences: Email, website, social media (Facebook)

- Purchase Behavior: Travel, flights, computer hardware, software, books

EFFECTIVE TACTICS

- Email blasts/newsletters/response, Facebook, organic SEO, Pinterest, website features

- Most likely to convert: 9:00 to 9:30am

• College-educated Female, age 45 - Married with 2 older children, 1 in Household

• Suburban, Annual HH Income: Over $100k

“I use the internet to gain knowledge, information and to educate myself about the world. I’m

not a big user of social networks but I do want to hear from like-minded people especially to

help me make purchase decisions. I’m very interested in the latest thing.”

INTERNET USAGE & BEHAVIOR:

- Over 50% smartphone owners; < 20% tablet

- Communication Preferences: Email, website, social media, SMS/mobile, online communities

- Purchase Behavior: Travel, gifts, software, books, telecommunications, banking, insurance

EFFECTIVE TACTICS:

- Email newsletters/response, SEO/SEM, social media, website features, blogging, web video

- Social Tactics: Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Google+, Twitter

PART 1:

GET FOUND ONLINE

Directories

- DMOZ

- Local

- Blogs

- Review Sites

Social Media

- Profile Links / Nav

- Bitly links in Posts

- Social share meta tags

Blog + PR + RSS Feeds

Cross-Site Linking on Stjude.org

Social Bookmarking

- Delicious, StumbleUpon, Reddit, etc.

Brightcove + YouTube

- Campaign Links in YouTube Channel Navigation

- Push campaign promo videos to YouTube

- Optimize YouTube for clicks to the site

• Tagged bitly links

• Call-to-Action overlays and / or annotations

• Pick a primary keyword for each page

• Place keyword(s) in headline & sub-

heads

• Image file names & ALT tags

• Header Tags (H1 – H6)

• Page URLs

• Keyword density of body content

But remember to write for humans first

…Search engines second.

Title Tags

- The ONLY remaining meta tag that affects

Google rankings

- NEVER begin it with the brand name

Meta Description

- Unique for every single page

- While it can’t boost, duplicate meta descriptions

can significantly hurt your search ranking

Keywords

- Improve on-site search rank & SEM

- Too many tells Google SPAM

Not the public HTML sitemap used as an index for content, but rather a dynamically

built sitemap that updates on a regular basis to include the most current pages of any site

as we create them.

Typically, this is only available for subdomains (www.product.brandX.com) or campaigns

that have a separate URL (www.ProductX.com)

• Separates the campaign from holistic site to reduce clutter

• Tells search engines to rank campaign over stjude.org for certain keywords

• Prioritizes landing pages by user intention

- Home Page = title search

- FAQs = informational / inquiry search

- Register = decision search

- Donate = Conversion-style search query

1. Easy way to prevent 404 problems – with Google & the user

2. Tells Google that many different URLs are all one page improves ranking

3. Friendly URLs (e.g., unfunnel.com/joey-is-awesome) also help keyword ranking and

the overall user experience with the campaign site

PART 2:

DESIGN & USABILITY

Your site represents who we are and what

we offer the user. When people see it for the

first time, they’re thinking…

1. Is this credible / believable?

2. Is it trustworthy?

3. Is this a REAL business / event / product?

4. Is this company stable?

5. Does this site make me feel welcome?

6. Am I in the right place?

Tips for Great Web Design

- Proper use of colors: Use the right colors for your

audience to draw attention to select elements. Don’t

try to make everything jump out – or nothing will

stand out. Avoid a chaotic mix of colors and instead

pick 2 to 4 colors for your web templates.

- Animations, gadgets and media: Avoid anything

unnecessary. No Flash animations, no animated

background and NO background music.

- Layout: Create a clear navigation structure and

organize page elements in a grid fashion (as

opposed to randomly scattered).

And don’t be afraid of white space – avoid clutter!

Consistent

design

elements

such as Logo,

Navigation,

Links &

Colors

RELEVANCE

Effectiveness increases as connection between image

and perceived value becomes clearer. Choose images

with direct implication of value.

REALITY

The force of an image increases with authenticity.

Images bring realism that reduces the “virtual distance”

between an offering and the user’s perception of its

value. Choose images that help the visitor see and

touch the core value.

RELATIVE WEIGHT

Image effectiveness increases with relative graphical

proportion. Used properly, images should draw the

natural eye-path of a visitor, bringing more force to the

value communicated by the image. Too many visual

elements only confuse the visitor.

Most important…NO STOCK IMAGES!

I’m a happy

customer!

• Keep the structure of primary navigation simple

(and near the top).

• Include navigation in the footer.

• Use breadcrumbs when needed, so people are

aware of their nav trail on bigger sites.

• Include a Search box near the top so visitors can

search by keywords.

• Don’t offer too many navigation options.

• Don’t dig too deep –it’s best to keep your

navigation to no more than 3 tiers.

• Include links within your page copy and make it

clear where the links go. This is also great for SEO!

• Avoid use of complicated JavaScript and

(especially) Flash. Mobile devices hate Flash – so

does Google. And so does the user.

In order to gain significant traffic, your site needs to be compatible with multiple browsers

and devices. Make sure anyone visiting your website can view it no matter what browser

or application they are using.

PART 3:

CONTENT STRATEGY

Questions to ask yourself about any web experience…

1. Will the user know what the campaign does for them – within seconds?

2. Will they understand what page they're on and what it's about?

3. Will they know what to do next?

4. Why should they sign-up or convert to your offer over any other?

1. Create a few headlines and sub-headline ideas for your most important pages.

Use a powerful value proposition and avoid clichés, gratuitous poetry or corp-speak.

2. Include clear call-to-actions and next steps. Include links in your copy, next step

links at the end and calls-to-action where appropriate.

3. Test your copy. For the most accurate indicator of winning headlines, use A/B

testing to see which variation drives the most conversions.

• Offer more than just the ask.

Provide calendars, eCards, videos, and

other value-added content. This nurtures

prospects until they’re ready to buy. Plus,

they get a story – not a sales pitch.

• In donation-specific content, speak to

your audience. Use words like “you,”

and “we.” Be transparent. Make yourself

sound human. Speak their language.

• Write as if you are helping them solve

their problems. Avoid “we are the best”

or “Brand X was blah blah blah” speak.

Instead, use “this is how we help you

______ with _____”

• Provide unique content. People love it

and so do search engines.

• Write for humans, not search engines.

People don’t read like robots.

• Provide value with educational content

that helps others.

• Keep content fresh. Having news that’s

two years old still on your home page

probably gives visitors a bad feeling.

• Know your audience. Providing content

specific to users makes it more relevant

for them, and in turn, higher quality.

• Evidence when needed. If using facts,

awards, testimonials, etc., back up with

sources and give credit when it’s due.

• Know your subject well. You probably

don’t want a mechanic writing about

brain surgery. Accurate equals quality.

Be Clear, NOT Clever. If awareness is one

of your goals, then step 1 is ultimately to be

understood. Just be clear with what you

want people to do on your site.

Avoid “Gobbledygook”

Next Generation

Flexible

Robust

Scalable

Easy to use

Cutting edge

Ground breaking

Best of breed

Mission critical

And so on…(I think you’ve had enough)

Reasons you need a Blog:

1. Creates fresh content and more pages of

unique content, which is great for SEO

2. Establishes you as industry thought leader

3. Helps drive more traffic back to your website

– and captures more leads than ANY tactic

4. Enables lead capture via “Subscribe” or

“Sign Up for Updates” calls-to-action

5. A great way to get inbound links!

• Product Reviews - on content, products,

and campaigns. Let donors fundraise for

us with insights next to info we provide.

• Encourage Commenting - Allow user

comments and ideas – give ownership

via blogs, forums or a My Starbucks

Idea, where feedback drives programs.

• Allow Users To Curate Content – A

website full of new content is hard. Give

users power to submit content they

create or find.

• Become a Social Network - Do donors

log-in on your site? We have social sign-

in for updates, information, or support.

Why not offer social features like forums,

reviews, etc., using the same tools?

• Plant social sharing across all core

offerings and calls-to-action.

Visual Content Types:

1. Imagery

(e.g., Infographics)

2. Video

3. Audio

4. Online Utility Tools

(e.g., Giving Calculator)

5. Games

6. You name it!

• Provide authentic customer stories and don’t hide these behind a form!

• Place real, short and powerful testimonials on your site.

- Consider placing testimonials on certain topics on the pages relevant to them

• The more proof you have – the better

- Make it part of strategy to collect case studies and testimonials when possible

• Leverage other online sites that provide reviews like Yelp or Google

PART 4:

CONVERSION

• Make them bigger and bolder than most

elements, but don’t overdo it.

• Consider colors of the CTA, whether it is a

link, button or image.

• Offer CTAs that provide value, like events,

reports, rewards, donations, sign-up, etc.

“Contact Us” is the worst form of a CTA

• Make the CTA look clickable. Use buttons or

add a hover effects.

• Less is more. Keep it simple and clear what is

being offered.

• Test when possible. Different colors, effects,

shapes, words, and placement.

Segment offers by Customer Lifecycle. Place lead gen offers (newsletter sign-up, download) on

top-level pages. Next-level CTAs (demo, event register, free trial) as user digs deeper.

CTAs both above and below the fold. Above the fold area gets the most views. Be sure to add

some at the bottom and within body content as well.

Some studies suggest placing CTAs to the right of the page work better…but testing this will

ultimately determine what’s best for your website.

Use Thank-You Pages for Additional CTAs. Seen right after someone completes a web form. There’s often plenty of real estate to offer more

CTAs. Once a prospect completes a form, don’t stop there. Offer them additional ways to help

(demos, trial purchases, social shares, 1x versus Membership, etc.).

Test, Test, Test! It’s unclear which version will drive the conversions. Test different placements to know which one

works best for your site.

• Main navigation has been removed

• Logo remains in the top left corner.

• Clear headline describing the offer.

• Clear image of the offer.

• Social share icons (bottom left - not shown)

• Brief description and bullets to scan.

• Form directly on page with sub-head re-emphasizing the offer.

• Content focuses on value.

• Not too long.

• Only ask for the information you need for

your CRM. Avoid asking for sensitive info

they may not want to give.

• Consider the value of the offer. The more

valuable an offer, the more information you

can ask for in return. If it’s a newsletter

subscription, only ask for email address

(maybe first name).

• Reduce anxiety. People are resistant to

give up their info. Add a privacy message (or

link to privacy policy) indicating their email

will not be shared or sold.

• Don’t use the word “SUBMIT” on your

buttons! No one wants to submit anything.

• If download is your CTA, fulfill instantly.

Include confirmation link and next-level CTA

on the next page (e.g., “Thank You” page),

with an auto-responder email as well.

Not all CTAs need to be big offers.

You should definitely offer a newsletter

subscription on your website.

Newsletters or mailing lists are the perfect way

to collect email addresses so you can nurture

leads over time to become customers.

Just make sure it’s easy for people to

find your subscription form!

Join us…