Posted by: Chet Woodside on July 1st, 2009
Category: Seminars
Viewed: 779 times
Using an Analytics tool on your website is a critical part of your online marketing plan. Analytic tools allow you to quantify your online marketing efforts, the data collected means that you no longer need to make blind faith online marketing decisions. Many new users to any analytic tool get overwhelmed by all the reporting metrics available to them through their analytics tool. This article is meant to help get your small business over that first hurdle, we'll focus on Google Analytics because it's by far the most common tool people coming into eBusiness Connections use or have heard of.
Part One: Understand The Jargon
When first logging into Google analytics you will come across a "Dashboard", the dashboard is simple a quick view of some key metrics. By default you should see the following reporting options:
- Visits
Represents the amount of people who have visited your website in a selected time range.
- Pageviews
Are incremented each time a page on your website is viewed.
- Pages/Visit
A "Visit" can have many "Pageviews", the Pages/Visit report divides "Pageviews" by "Visits" giving you an average number of pages viewed per visit.
- Bounce Rate
Ever found a web page, realized it’s not what your looking for and immediately left the website? That’s called a bounce, the "Bounce Rate" lets you know what percent of "Visits" to your site are bounces.
- Avg. Time on Site
The Report represents the average time each of your "Visits" spent on the website.
- % New Visits
The "% New Visits" report lets you know what percent of your website "Visits" are new.
- Map Overlay
Breaks your "Visits" out into Country, Province/State, City originating locations.
- Traffic Sources Overview
Where did the traffic to your small businesses website come from? That is what the "Traffic Sources Overview" report let you know. There are three core traffic sources inside Google Analytics they are:
- Direct Traffic:
"Visits" who typed your website name into their web browsers (Not sure what a web browser is? Your not alone) address bar.
- Referring Sites:
"Visits" that came to your site from another website.
- Search Engines:
"Visits" that came to your website via Google, Bing (formerly MSN Live Search), Yahoo, Ask or any of the other search engines on the market.
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- Content Overview
Breaks out the popular and not so popular sections of your website, there's lots of options inside this report. It's well worth taking your time to see what is inside this section.
I would also strongly suggest spending a few hours looking through the Google Analytics Help section and reading Avinash Kaushiks well written "Web Analytics Demystified" blog post.
Tags: Analytics
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Posted by: Andy on September 15th, 2008
Category: General eBusiness, e-Commerce, Seminars, e-Business Basics
Viewed: 1,737 times
Congratulations. You have decided the start an e-business or have decided to expand your existing business online. We have created a list of ten steps to help you on your way.
1. Evaluate the Idea
The bottom line of any business depends upon customers buying your product or service – if they won't buy you won't succeed! Unfortunately many businesses fail simply because they don't know who their customer is. Your customers might be consumers or retail stores, wholesalers or manufacturers, government or other institutions. List as many points as you can about who yo u think will buy your product and then list the reasons why they would by from you and not your competitor.
2. Define the Revenue Model
Now that you have identified your customer and listed the reasons they would by from you your next step is to define your revenue model – how are you going to make money. Find out who your competitors are and what they charge for similar products and services. What is unique about your offer that would benefit your customer? There may be something about your product, your price, the friendliness and speed of your service, your hours of operation, your level of quality, the skills of your employees or other aspect of your business?
3. Erase the “E”
Remove the “e” from e-business and e-commerce. Online business is no different then traditional “real world” business – it's just a different environment. The same rules governing business practices, competition, customer service, marketing, and taxation apply, although they may vary slightly. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that e-business and e-commerce is easier.
4. Take a Seminar
Take advantage of the incredible amount of seminars offered by Small Business BC. These incredibly affordable seminars cover almost every aspect of starting a small business, such as taxation, human resources, copyright, trademarks, sales, marketing, accounting, and search engine marketing – all presented by industry experts. Details and a full listing can be found at www.smallbusinessbc.ca/seminars
5. Create the Business
Although many e-businesses begin as home-based, they need to be setup and registered properly – and when your business outgrows your home-office and becomes the “next big thing” you'll be thankful it has this strong foundation. Use the amazing resources available at Small Business BC to create your business; most of them free. They can help you conduct a business name search and business registration, obtain a GST, PST, and business number, and guide you through the process of registering with Worksafe BC , municipal business licensing, and many other rules and regulations applications.
6. Write Your Business Plan
Success in today's economy requires a solid foundation of knowledge from which sound business decisions can be made. For most people considering or involved in creating a new business venture, this foundation is built from a formal business plan. Even if you believe your business does not require a formal plan, most business experts highly recommend that you conduct at least some preliminary research prior to committing yourself legally or financially to your business enterprise. The strategic value of a business plan is derived from the information you collect and the knowledge you acquire during this process. That is, the exercise of preparing a business plan is critical in helping you gain an understanding of how your business venture will operate in the marketplace. Checkout Small Business BC's Business Plan resources page at http://www.smallbusinessbc.ca/bizstart-bPlanning.php
7. Craft the Message
What are the words and phrases your customers would search for to find your products or services? Your main message should revolve around those words and phrases. For instance, suppose you repair radios in Vernon BC . It is logical to assume that potential customers living in the area will be searching for “ radio repair north okanagan ” and so your message should be: “ Vernon Communications, North Okanagan's expert affordable radio repair since 1991 ”. This message will serve as your “tag line” and will become the foundation for your marketing.
8. Register the Domain
Use your crafted message when you register your domain name. In the example above a good domain name would be vernon-radio-repair.com or okanagan-radio-repair.com because both domains contain the words that potential customers will use when the search. A domain name provides an online identity and contact point for your business or organization. Choosing an appropriate yet available name is no easy task in a saturated market — world-wide, registered domain names near 5 billion and counting. Therefore, choosing the right domain name means balancing availability with brand recognition, search engine marketing, and user appeal.
9. Write the Content
The right keywords in your web copy can make the difference between a top 10 and top 500 search engine ranking. Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines frequently send spiders to websites in search of relevant, keyword-rich web copy. Nourish their logical needs and you'll reap higher search engine rankings and traffic. Once you get visitors to your website, your web copy must connect with them on an emotional level to engage them and ultimately convert sales. That's where customer-centric web copy, compelling headlines, effective calls to action and strategically placed links come into play. You gain credibility, trust and sales. Crafting content is hard and so it is often wise to employ the services of a quailed web copy writer, like Rick Sloboda from www.webcopyplus.com
10. Hire the Best Company
The web development industry is unregulated and anyone can profess to be a web developer. You need to educate yourself in matters of usability, aesthetics, search engine marketing, ecommerce, regulations, and taxation in order to ensure you are hiring a qualified and competent person to create your website. Ask to see previous work: This is the best way to assess their skills. But don't let yourself be fooled by appearances. Just because they have a professional looking website doesn't mean they are a professional company. Our directory of e-solution providers, www.ebizpages.ca , lists web companies that are BC registered businesses.
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Posted by: Nathan on February 13th, 2007
Category: General eBusiness, Seminars, e-Business Basics
Viewed: 3,468 times
The eBusiness Connection website has been updated with a checklist for businesses who want to go online.
Taking your business online can be intimidating if you don't have much experience with the internet or web development. However, since every business should be using the internet in some way, the following checklist is meant to give you a clear set of steps to follow to get your business online.
Read the information attatched to this checklist by following the links in the text. This will give you enough knowlege to talk intelligently with internet service providers and web developers who you may need to work with to get the job done.Before you start checking things off this list, you will want to develop your Web Strategy.
- Research & Register a Domain Name
- Finding a suitable domain name is something that is best done at the same time as choosing/registering your business name.
- There are a lot of great tips and tools for choosing suitable domain names
- Develop the Website
- Understand what your basic needs for a website are.
- 5 Options for Development
- Do it Yourself
- Least expensive but probably most time consuming. Would you rather spend your time programming or running your business
- A Friend
- Similar to DIY solution but they may not have the required design, development or Internet marketing skills and you may have to hire other individuals to ensure all your project needs.
- A Student
- Can be cost effective for a small business.
- May be lacking in experitence or skills in certain areas that may need to be farmed out.
- A Freelance Designer
- May be more cost effective than a big design firm.
- May not have all of the resources needed for larger projects and continuity in relationship (if they move or go out of business) can be an issue.
- A Professional Design Firm
- Often provide the most comprehensive set of skills, resources and services.
- Usually the most expensive option.
- Note: Fill out an RFP while considering this decision. It will help you and your potential web developers understand your needs.
*eBC Seminar - Taking Your Business Online
*eBC Seminar - The Good, the Bad and the Effective Website
- What Type of Site Are You Going to Develop
- You need to decide how interactive your website is going to be and what services it will provide.
- Are you going to use a Content Management System
- A CMS allows you to update the website yourself, without relying solely on your web designer.
*eBC Seminar - Content Management Systems
- Develop Your Website Content
- You are the only one who knows what content should be on your website. In order to properly represent your company on the internet, you need to supply your web developer with the content. Don't leave it up to them.
- Content includes text, pictures, logos, media, or anything else you want to appear on your website.
*eBC Seminar - Writing for the Web
- Rules that apply to a normal business apply to online businesses as well.
- Be aware that there are legal concerns specifically related to online business that you should probably talk about with your lawyer. These include creating contracts online, terms and conditions of use of your website, privacy policies, intellectual property rights and more.
*eBC Seminar - Legal Tips for your eBusiness
- Will customers be purchasing from your website (Selling Online)?
- If so, how will you collect funds?
- Credit Card?
- Paypal?
- Are you going to use a shopping cart?
*eBC Seminar - eCommerce and Understanding Online Payment Systems
*eBC Seminar - osCommerce - Shopping Cart Solution for Your Business
- Find a Hosting company
- The hosting package that you choose is dependant on your present and future website needs.
- There is a vast range in hosting options for your website. If you are working with a web developer, it is likely that hosting will be part of your package. It is a good idea to shop around in order to find out if your package contains a competative hosting rate for the services that you are using.
- Launch Your Website
- Now that your website is ready to go live, you need to make sure that people can find it.
- eMarketing and Search Engine Optimization are essential research topics if you want to generate traffic and sales on your website.
*eBC Seminar - Search Engine Optimization
*eBC Seminar - Online Marketing Strategies
For more information on a variety of related topics, check out our e-Biz Guides page.
Tags: eBusiness checklist, online business, online startup, getting online
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Posted by: Andy on September 18th, 2006
Category: General eBusiness, Seminars
Viewed: 2,441 times
Do you plan on updating your own website? Would you like to add new content, remove pages, upload images or change the formatting of your site? Come to this seminar to learn how to pick the right CMS for your business needs. We will introduce you to a free (open source) system and full support system and their features.
A CMS, or Content Management System, is a web application used for managing websites and web content. A CMS supports the creation, management, distribution and publishing of information. It also may provide the ability to manage the structure of the site, the appearance of the published pages, and the navigation provided to the users.
More Information
Comparison of Content Management Systems
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_content_management_systems
CMS Matrix Ratings
http://www.cmsmatrix.org/matrix/cms-matrix?func=viewRatingDetails
Open Source CMS Applications Demo
http://opensourcecms.com
The International Association for Open Source Content Management
http://www.oscom.org/
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