Lesson 11: Social Networking, etc.

I’ve always been at the end-user side of social networking, and I haven’t thought much of the middle user. This week, I was able to work a bit in those middle shoes. I’m glad there’s tons of resources to work with. One article in particular was especially helpful: “4 Steps to Social Media SEO Success” by Lee Odden. He presents a progression which could also be conceptualized as a circle, he says, of four steps in moving ahead with social media:

• Listening
• Content
• Socialize
• Measure

Once put down on paper, these concepts seem like second-nature, but each is its own foundation for building a great social media business base. The one I learned most about was Content. Again, something that would seem to be a no-brainer was Odden’s idea to write content to the trending social conversations, because “social conversations influence search behaviors and if you can identify relevant concepts that are emerging in popularity on the social web, why not create and optimize content around those topics so you’re easily found via search engines?”

Content really is the key to any successful marketing strategy or business plan. People can overlook a website design flaw, proofreading errors, or even an opinion they disagree with. But they cannot overlook lack of significant and unique content.

Lesson 10: Marketing & UI

Marketing, PR, and advertising are areas I truly enjoy learning about. Unfortunately, BYUI doesn’t offer degrees in these fields as of now. So when I get a chance to work with these facets of web design, I learn a lot and have a great time.

This week, we read up on SEO (search engine optimization), which not only covers how to make your webpages rank higher with advertising engines, but also contains key elements to keeping visitors at your site, hopefully leading to more conversions (that’s the whole point, right?). Here are some of my favorite points:

 

• Provide useful information on your landing page about whatever you’re advertising.
• Try to offer useful features or content that are unique to your site.
• Don’t make people hunt around for the information they might need.
• Think of it as the “Look at what other people are looking at” principle, but essentially what it means is that people will tend to look where the subjects in your hero graphic look, not necessarily at your ad creative.
• One of the most common mistakes we see is people trying to do too much with their landing pages. If you ask visitors to do 55 things, odds are they’ll bounce instantaneously. However, if you focus on driving a single action, you’re likely to get people to take the action you want.

(From moz.com and Google AdWords)

Here’s the thing. I really do want my webpage to work. Like, long-term. I think it’s a great idea, I think there’s a niche for it, and I think the advertising strategy is complementary for the visitor demographics. So these suggestions are forming a canon of sorts, establishing the baseline to build upon.

I did revamp most of my pages according to the assignments I turned in (optimized sites for specific keywords, etc.). I also added more content on pages that were lacking. I’m finally at a place where I can use Weebly’s mobile app and just add content instead of changing the formatting. And this is a huge sigh of relief.

 

Lesson 09: ROI, CTR, and $$$

I am so blessed to be a BYUI student.

Not only are the classes and instructors gospel-oriented, but they are extremely affordable. Also, with online classes, I’ve noticed how much I’ve saved on textbooks, because many of them are available online as well. This isn’t the first time I’ve gone to a university: 15 years ago, my textbook costs for four classes topped $700 for one semester.

I’m saving so much money by being a BYUI student, so when it comes to spending $50 – even $150 – in this class, I feel elated! Web business is a huge interest for me, so I’m soaking in everything I can. What a tiny investment $150 is, when in return I get a required class taken care of AND the skills necessary to put a business on the web, advertise it, and track its success.

Seeing others and their merchant models makes me feel like my affiliate model might be the slow track to any sales. On the other hand, I don’t have to worry about product inventory or service times. And “selling something” comes more naturally to most of us than affiliate marketing, so I’m glad I chose the road less traveled so I could play with it in this class sandbox of sorts.

Lesson 08: Analytics

Not only is that difficult to type, but it seems like such an advanced concept to understand at this point. Of course, we haven’t gone over it in discussion other than to talk about how we installed it. I’m looking forward to learning more about Analytics. Other than getting better at typing it.

The class is speeding along nicely. This is one of those (few) classes that I wish I could save all the assignments, links, and videos, and refer to them in the future. This stuff is absolutely essential to online business-ing! I’m amazed with all the resources out there for tracking, well, pretty much everything. And much of it is free. Between me and me though, as I see just how much and what kinds of data can be collected, one can begin to see the reasoning behind the paranoia that sometimes accompanies internet use, or at least the “big brother” idea. Paranoia aside, I can absolutely see myself in the future using nearly everything I’ve learned in this class.