Creating a Farm Webpage

Session Overview

• Introduction to websites– Presentation by trainers

• Establishing a web presence– Guided activity for attendees

• Webpage/Site Creation Overview– Presentation by trainers

• Hands on webpage/site creation– Guided activity for attendees

Same concept…different media

• Fingers still do the walking…

Benefits of Having a Website

• Powerful marketing tool– website is how people are likely to find you

• Low-cost advertising• Increased Visibility• Accessibility

– open 24/7

• Helps you establish credibility as a business• Increased sales

– always open for business

Characteristics of Bad Websites

• Site navigation is not obvious

• There is incomplete/no contact information

• It looks like an advertisement!

• Content contains grammatical errors and misspellings

More Characteristics of Bad Websites

• Over-use of flash and animations– Can be annoying and

make your page load s-l-o-w-l-y

• Ad and banner clutter– Think NASCAR

• Your site is perpetually under construction

Characteristics of Good Websites

• Clearly answers "Who I am," "What I do," and/or "What can you (the visitor) do here." – Visitors have to know what you area all about in

seconds or they won’t stay long

• Resonates with the target audience– Know your audience and design your site for them

• Compelling value-proposition– Site visitors need to want to stay once they arrive

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34006/15-Examples-of-Brilliant-Homepage-Design.aspx

More Characteristics of Good Websites

• Usability and mobility– Site should be easy to navigate and be largely free of

distractions/annoyances • ex. pop-ups, banners, animations, etc.

• Calls-to-action (CTAs)– Let your visitors know what you want from them

• buy now, learn more• Always changing

– Static content is better and than outdated content• Great overall design

– layout, CTA placement, whitespace, colors, fonts

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34006/15-Examples-of-Brilliant-Homepage-Design.aspx

Good vs. Bad Website Examples(The good, bad and the ugly.)

• Bad websites– http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/index.html– Good examples of bad websites

• Good websites– http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34

006/15-Examples-of-Brilliant-Homepage-Design.aspx

Establishing a Web Presence

• Accessibility• Brand Building• Greater Audience• Reviews• Easier selling and Marketing

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/reasons-small-business-needs-online-presence-27742.html

Why Google Account?

• Free email with Gmail• Youtube• Google Drive• Blogger• Google Sites• Google Plus• Google Analytics• Google Hangouts

Email address protocol!

• Use a business email address –– Ideally – yourname@yourbusiness.com– Free email – yourbusinessname@gmail.com

• Create useful email signature• Use descriptive subject lines• Keep messages short and sweet• Check spelling and proofread

Useful email Signature

• Could Include the following– Full Name– Company Name– Address– Phone number– URL– Email address– Social links

Getting your Google Accounthttp://google.com/accounts/newaccount

Claim Your Bubble

For specific information on claiming your bubble on these maps, go to:http://huskerpreneur.wordpress.com/resources/workshop-materials/online-maps/

Google Places

• Information about your business

• Include as much or as little as you want

• Google verifies that you are an actual business

Check to see if your business is already on Google places

Update location and marker

Validate your business

Go to Google Places

• http://www.google.com/places/

• Add/Update information• Add pictures/phone numbers/websites• Customers/guests can review your business

Similar ServicesBing Business Portalhttp://www.bing.com/businessportal

Yahoo Local Listinghttp://listings.local.yahoo.com/basic.php

Webpage/Site Creation Overview

http://slhs.pasco.k12.fl.us/wp-content/uploads/slhs/2013/02/Website-Construction.jpg

What are your goals?

• General business information– Hours of operation– Directions– Pictures

• Sell items• Advertise/ promote products or events

– You may already have a website but want more visibility

So you want a website?

• Free Options • Paid Services

DOMAIN.COMIt all starts with a domain!

Weebly has both Free and Paid services

Things to keep in mind

• If you are looking to create a website there are some things to keep in mind:– Make sure to update regularly if you want a dynamic

site• If you are unable to update regularly, just provide standard

information that will not change• Other social media (FACEBOOK) might be easier for dynamic

information – you don’t want users to see out of date information

– Keep it simple• Users like to be able to find what they want quickly• Flashy text etc. can make a site hard to read

Things to keep in mind

• If you are looking to create a website there are some things to keep in mind:– Use fonts that are easy to read

• Users don’t want to struggle in order to find the information they want

– If you have multiple pages, make sure users can navigate easily

• Users will not spend much time searching, if they can’t find what they are looking for

– Size images so they can load quickly• Don’t make images to big or they will take an extended time

to load

Making a Website in Google Sites

• Go to https://sites.google.com

Getting Started

• Begin filling in the boxes to create your site

Must haves

• Farm name• Location• Products• Contact information

Should haves

• Interesting story/farm background• Good pictures

Must avoid

• Incorrect information• Outdated information

– Note: keeping your page simple can make it easier to keep your information up to date

• Slow loading pictures– May need to resize pictures for web use

• Clutter

Questions?

SEO• Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of affecting the visibility of

a website or a web page in a search engine's "natural" or un-paid ("organic") search results. In general, the earlier (or higher ranked on the search results page), and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine's users. SEO may target different kinds of search, including image search, local search, video search, academic search,[1] news search and industry-specific vertical search engines.

• As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. Optimizing a website may involve editing its content, HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines. Promoting a site to increase the number of backlinks, or inbound links, is another SEO tactic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization