Is Your Website All Hat and No Cattle?

Best Practices in Online Marketing

By Cassie Roberts

Don’t worry!

• You don’t need to take notes!• cassie@saffireevents.com

About MeCassie Roberts

Education:• BS Public Relations, The University of Texas• MEd Sport Management, The University of TexasOrigin:• Central City, NEExperience:• United States Olympic Committee• Rodeo Austin• Saffire Events

About Saffire

• Online Marketing–Websites

• Content Management• User Management• Mobile Optimized Version• Social Networking Integration

Agenda

• World domination through Google• Leading the horse to water• Hosting your own party • Going to other people’s parties• Marketing on the go • Taking the bull by the horns • The power of DIY• Measuring up• Keeping up with the Jones’/Kardashians

World domination through Google

• Google has 65% share of the search engine market– What works for Google works for others

• Goal: Improve your SEO– Most important – links in to your site

• Chambers of Commerce, Convention & Visitors Bureaus, etc.

• Industry organizations

– Also important – your own site• Title – important for Google and customers!

Agenda

• World domination through Google• Leading the horse to water • Hosting your own party• Going to other people’s parties• Marketing on the go• Taking the bull by the horns• The power of DIY• Measuring up• Keeping up with the Jones’/Kardashians

Leading the horse to water

Your site must appeal to your audience• Attractive– Professional

• Well organized• Not overwhelming– Like a résumé, the homepage should get

the interview, not the job

Agenda

• World domination through Google• Leading the horse to water• Hosting your own party• Going to other people’s parties • Marketing on the go• Taking the bull by the horns• The power of DIY• Measuring up • Keeping up with the Jones’/Kardashians

Hosting your own party

• Make sure your site has the BEST info about your event

• Make it interactive and fun!– ecommerce is the “ultimate

interactivity”– But-don’t ask them to get married

before your first date!

Hosting your own party

• Information about your event is most crucial– Categorize Events

• Don’t just give an event list!• Allow sorting, searching, filtering and interacting

– Photos – your photos and customer photos– Allow people to market for you: facebook,

twitter, email – Allow them to “fan” your event, save to a

custom calendar or Outlook

Agenda

• World domination through Google• Leading the horse to water• Hosting your own party• Going to other people’s parties• Marketing on the go• Taking the bull by the horns• The power of DIY• Measuring up• Keeping up with the Jones’/Kardashians

Other people’s parties

• Reach people where they are– Facebook feed– Twitter timeline

• Promote these prominently• Be a good guest– Post often, but not too often!• Make it relevant• Make it engaging

Agenda

• World domination through Google• Leading the horse to water• Hosting your own party• Going to other people’s parties• Marketing on the go• Taking the bull by the horns• The power of DIY• Measuring up• Keeping up with the Jones’/Kardashians

Marketing on the go

• Android vs. iPhone-– The reality is some smartphone users

will never see your iPhone app

• Mobile is no longer optional—It’s information on-the-go!

• You won’t make a zillion dollars, but you need to be there

Agenda

• World domination through Google• Leading the horse to water• Hosting your own party• Going to other people’s parties• Marketing on the go• Taking the bull by the horns • The power of DIY• Measuring up• Keeping up with the Jones’/Kardashians

Taking the bull by the horns

• The ultimate goal – BUY!• Customers expect ecommerce– 67% of people aged 35-75 want the convenience of

buying online

• Advanced ticket sales mean incremental revenue• People can spread out costs• Redemption will not be 100%– Especially good for things like carnival tokens– Even with a discount, you’ll make more– Offer free shipping

Taking the bull by the horns

• Get in the loop through email– Include the signup ON your homepage – Start collecting addresses before you know what

to do with them

• Events are the perfect excuse for email marketing– It’s immediate – It’s cheap – It’s effective

• Make sure your email is branded

Agenda

• World domination through Google• Leading the horse to water• Hosting your own party• Going to other people’s parties• Marketing on the go• Taking the bull by the horns• The power of DIY• Measuring up• Keeping up with the Jones’/Kardashians

The power of DIY

• When working with companies like Nike, Dodge, Intel, etc., we took content management for granted

• We have found the event industry to be so different

• Take control.

Agenda

• World domination through Google• Leading the horse to water• Hosting your own party• Going to other people’s parties• Marketing on the go• Taking the bull by the horns• The power of DIY• Measuring up• Keeping up with the Jones’/Kardashians

Measuring up

• Google makes it easy through Google Analytics– Put a little snippet of code on each page– Log in to see reports, or have them

emailed

5 most important things to watch

• Visits to your site

• Actions taken (email list, ecommerce)

• Conversion rate (actions to visits)

• Bounce rate

• Time on site

• Improve SEO or online marketing of your site

• Redo your website to make it more compelling

• Good conversion rate: 2%

• High bounce rate? Redo your homepage

• Time on site: A good overall indicator of stickiness

Agenda

• World domination through Google• Leading the horse to water• Hosting your own party• Going to other people’s parties• Marketing on the go• Taking the bull by the horns• The power of DIY• Measuring up• Keeping up with the Jones’/Kardashians

Keeping up with the Jones’/Kardashians

• When people come to your site, they generally aren’t comparing you to other rodeo sites

• They are comparing you to other sites they visit that day

• Compare your site to other entertainment- type sites, like sports and movies

Thank you

• To get these slides, put your business cards on the table up front

• cassie@saffireevents.com –We’ll also give you a free subscription to

The Dirt, for tips on online marketing– Indicate if you’d like a free no-strings-

attached evaluation of your website and recommendations for improvement