The online opportunity

FUNDAMENTALS OF DIGITAL MARKETING: MODULE 1/26

The online opportunity

In this module…

Today, our online experience is so much more than just checking emails. From talking to friends and
family to doing the weekly food shop, discovering new holiday destinations and researching things to do
locally, the online world is very much a part of our daily lives.

As the time we spend online increases, so do the digital opportunities available. The online experience is
constantly evolving thanks to content creators, businesses and app developers who are able to find new
and innovative ways to help us shop, learn, and connect. So whether you own a business yourself or
would like to work for one, now is a great time to jump in and see how you can get involved in the digital
world.

But where do you start?

Right here. Google Digital Garage provides you with a simple way to navigate digital marketing concepts
and gain the knowledge you need to feel confident. Whether it’s content marketing, online advertising,
mobile marketing or selling products online, we’ve organised it into bite-sized video lessons and quizzes
so that it’s easy for you to either pick up new skills or brush up on your existing knowledge.

Learn how to build an online business strategy, improve how a website ranks on search engines, and use
analytics tools to understand online performance. Whatever your interest, there’s a topic here to help
you meet your online goals.

The digital marketing topics have been created by experts and allow you to learn at your own pace. Take
the lessons in chunks or complete multiple topics at once – whenever and wherever you want.

And if you’d like to get the most of the course, there’s also an option to complete all topics and
assessments and be awarded the official Google Digital Garage Certification, offered in partnership with
the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
No matter what your skill level is or what you’d like to achieve, Google Digital Garage will help you build
your digital marketing skills. Improve how your business performs online, boost your CV, or just jump in
to learn something new.

Key learnings

Dive into the Digital Garage and explore how you can make the most of online opportunities. This
introductory video will give you a brief overview of what you can learn throughout the course and
highlight some of the benefits of building or polishing your digital skills.

Doing business online offers all of these great benefits (apart from saving money on your heating bills –
hey, it can’t do everything).

Being online lets you reach out to new customers and build better relationships with customers you
already have.

You can sell locally or globally (or both), and use state-of-the-art analytics to find out what your
customers really want and need.

Sounds good, right?

There are many ways to promote a business online. But before you can get started, you should
familiarise yourself with how these digital channels work, which options are best suited to you, and how
to set up a clear plan or strategy that will help you achieve your goals and assess your results.

Every business has different objectives. It’s good to know exactly what you want to achieve online, as it
can help you set the right priorities and put your plan into place. Because you don’t want to feel too
overwhelmed.

There are lots of clear ways digital can help your business. Such as, building relationships on social
networks, selling online, finding new customers. Or even keeping existing ones. It’s good to start by
asking yourself a simple question: why, exactly, do I want to be online? Imagine you own a hair salon.
Your ultimate goals could be: to cut more people’s hair, sell more premium services than the standard
haircut and sell more of the products you offer. But before anyone can walk through your door, they
have to know you exist. This is a great goal that digital can help with. So let’s start with that one: getting
the word out in the digital world.One easy win is listing your business in local online directories. So,
when people look for hairdressers on search engines or online maps, your business will show up. Then
you might decide to build a website to share information about your business. This could be things like
your opening hours, your location, your prices and the services you offer. Maybe even photos and
videos that could entice new customers to walk through your door. You could set up a social media page
on Facebook or Twitter where you could post photos of your creations, offer special deals and really
connect with your customers. As you start achieving these goals, and more people become aware of
you. Your goals may naturally evolve and you might want to shift your focus toward turning visitors into
paying customers.

You could add new features to your site. Things like online appointment scheduling, a “reviews” section
where people can say nice things about you, or even an ecommerce store to sell your hair and beauty
products online.

Now that you’re using digital to attract visitors, and turn them into customers, you could start expanding
your business by investing in online advertising.

Whatever your ultimate digital goals are, or where you currently stand, your priorities will naturally
change and grow with your business. Now to make sure you’re meeting your objectives, it’s really
important to measure your progress along the way.

This is called “analytics”. Analytics lets you know what’s working well, and what could be tweaked.

We’ll dive into this more later, but with digital you’ve got lots of options for measuring your success. So
let’s recap. Before you dive into the digital world, think about exactly what you’d like to achieve. Then,
prioritise different online opportunities to help you accomplish your goals. In the next few videos, we’ll
help you plan. First, by looking at different ways you can establish a digital presence.

Next, the different ways to market yourself online.

And lastly, how you can measure and improve your digital endeavours.

Key learnings

Taking your business online offers a lot of opportunities, but with so many options, it’s easy to spin your
wheels and lose focus. Setting specific goals can help as you begin to navigate the digital world.

Check your knowledge

Hamish is a successful hairdresser. He’s decided to grow his business by opening another salon.

Hamish doesn’t have an online presence yet, but thinks this might help.

Which of his business goals could being online help him achieve?

- Being online could help Hamish attract customers to his new salon, gather customer feedback
and let everyone know about his extended opening hours.
-
- Having an online presence wouldn’t necessarily help with buying a new range of products.

Hey! We’re going to look at the first step to going digital: staking your claim online.

You’ve got lots of options for building a digital presence, including things like local listings, websites,
mobile apps and social media. If you get these basics right, it could make a world of difference. These
days, it’s easy for anyone to make a home online. But while a website might be the first thing that
comes to mind, you don’t necessarily need to start there. Let’s say you’re a hairdresser, for example.
Your first step to finding customers online, and being found online, might be to list your shop in local
online directories like Google My Business. Then, when someone searches Google for hairdressers in
your area, you’ll appear in the results — no website required! You could also start a Facebook page to
give potential customers a glimpse into your business and what you can do, like photos or videos of
some happy customers with great hairstyles that you’ve created. If this is all a bit much, don’t worry.
We’ve got loads of videos here to help you explore social media in more detail.

There’s a lot you can do without a website, but at some point, you might want to build a home of your
own on the web, a one-stop-shop where your customers can find everything they need to know about
you online. Great, let’s get going! The most important thing to think about as you start to plan your site
is what you want people to do there. For example, do you want them to ring you? If so, include your
phone number prominently on every page. Perhaps you want them to find your physical shop? Well,
include a map and driving directions. Maybe you want them to make appointments online? That’s a
feature you can build in. Or, lastly, you might want them to actually buy products from you online, by
placing an order or submitting a payment. That’s called e-commerce, and there are a range of options —
from simple to more complex — that we’ll discuss in more detail in other videos.

Websites aren’t the only online homes anymore. These days many businesses create mobile apps for
customers which they can keep on their smartphones or tablets.
Apps open up all kinds of digital doors — for example, you can create loyalty programmes or
automatically send reminders about upcoming appointments.

Right, to be clear: If you want people to find you on the web, you need to stake your claim online.

That can be a listing in a local business directory, a presence on social media sites, a simple website or
one with e-commerce, a mobile app — or all of the above.

Whatever you choose, this is the place where people find you, get to know you, and hopefully become
your customers

Key learnings

Let’s take a look at all the options for launching your business online, step by step. We’ll cover:

Local listings

Social media and video

Websites and mobile apps.

Check your knowledge

Hamish has created a website with an online booking system for his salon appointments.

He wants to engage more with his customers and came up a list of goals.

Help Hamish to match each task with the online tool you think he should use to achieve his goal.

- There are many options when it comes to using digital tools, and technology is always changing.
-
- Websites and social media can be used to reach existing and potential customers. You can use
these channels to get your messages to as many people as possible.
-
- Using emails and apps, you can choose who gets which message and when. So when Hamish
wants to reward regular customers or gather feedback, an app or an email will do the job.
-
- A map could help new customers find the salon.
OK, so you’ve established your online home, and now you’re looking for ways to bring more customers
to your virtual front door.

Let’s discuss some great strategies to do just that using search engines, other websites, social media and
email.

So let’s talk about you, how are you going to get customers to find you online?

There are a few ways to do it using digital. Let’s start with search engines. When people type something
in a search engine, they’re letting it know exactly what they are looking for.

If you offer relevant services and products, search engines will show your business in the search results.
Now, there are two main ways you can use search engines, and we’ve got lots of info to share on both.

The first is search engine optimisation, or SEO, which helps you promote your business in the unpaid
search results.

The second is search engine marketing, or SEM, which lets you buy ad space in the search results. SEO is
all about getting your site in front of the right people who are searching for your products and services.

Now, there are lots of ways to do this, we’ll explain them in detail later on, but the key is knowing what
words people actually type in — the keywords. They are the most relevant words to your business.

Understanding these will help you improve how you show up when these words are searched.

SEM, on the other hand, is when businesses pay to advertise to people searching for specific keywords
online.

Most major search engines use an auction system, where lots of different businesses compete to show
their ads by bidding on the keywords they’d like to target.
Search is a great way to reach people, but we do lots more on the Internet. We read news, check sports
scores, browse recipes, watch videos and generally browse lots and lots of interesting content across the
web.

Alongside all of this content you might see ads. This is called display advertising.

Display ads appear everywhere online, and come in many formats like text, images, video, and ads you
can click on and interact with.

They can be a great way to get your message out there and you’re able to choose the people you want
to see your ads, and the websites and pages you’d like them to appear on.

Social media sites like Facebook or Twitter are another option for boosting awareness of your business,
and they’re especially useful for building relationships with customers.

On most networks you’ll create pages or profiles for your business. You can then connect with lots of
people by starting meaningful conversations and sharing content you’ve created whilst growing your
business’ online social life.

Before we wrap this up, let’s not forget one more pretty important way businesses can use digital: email
marketing.

We’re not talking about junk email, or “spam” that clutters up your inbox, but sending relevant
information and offers to people who have already said they’d like to hear from you.

You can get people to sign up, or “opt in” to receive emails from you. Then the rest is up to you. You can
send coupons to people who have made an appointment on your site, advertise special events, or
promote sale items.

Knowing all the ways you can find people online — and knowing how they can find you — can help
launch your business big-time.

The more types of digital marketing you try, the more opportunities you’ll have to reach your most
valuable customers, wherever they happen to be in the digital world.
Key learnings

You’re online, so now it’s time to bring in the customers you want. We’ll review how to best help them
find you, using some tried-and-tested online marketing avenues:

Search engines

Other websites

Social media

Email.

Check your knowledge

Hamish’s website isn’t getting as many visitors as he’d like.

He’s heard that search engine marketing (SEM) can help, but isn’t sure how it works.

Can you explain what SEM enables you to do?

- Search engine marketing (SEM) is different to search engine optimisation (SEO).

-
- In SEM, the business pays to enter an auction. They then bid for advertising space on a website,
and whoever wins gets to show their search ad.
-
- Tagging keywords within your content could increase the chance of your website appearing
higher up in search engine rankings. This is called search engine optimisation (SEO) and is a free
way for Hamish to reach more potential customers.
-
- However, neither provide free marketing space or optimised website design.

Hey! By now, you know how important it is to figure out what you want to get out of digital, how to
establish your online presence, and start using digital marketing to drive people to your digital home.

But it’s also important to make sure that your digital plan is geared toward the long haul. Let’s go over a
few ways to do that: setting realistic expectations, tracking your results and adapting to changes in
technology and your industry. The first thing to remember: don’t expect too much too soon. It can take
a bit of time to set up your digital presence and get noticed online.
So if you’re a hairdresser launching your very first website, your online shampoo sales probably aren’t
going to go through the roof straight away.

It takes time for search engines to find you, and for you to implement and improve your digital
marketing plan. So, try not to set unrealistic goals you’re unlikely to meet.

A crucial part of any online plan is to measure what you’re doing and make sure it’s working. This is
called ‘analytics,’ and it can show you how people are finding your website and what they do when they
get there.

We’ve got lots of videos that dive into the details of analytics, but generally, knowing where your online
visitors come from can help you figure out which of your marketing campaigns are working and which
ones aren’t.

If you know what people do once they’re on your website, it can help you figure out if your investment
in digital is working.

For example, in your hair salon, you don’t just want people to find your homepage, you might want
them to do lots of things like: watch your clever how-to videos, make appointments, get driving
directions to your shop, or actually buy something. Tracking what people do on your site can help you to
understand what’s working and what’s not, so you can make changes and continually improve what
you’re doing. A final point to mention: it’s important to remember that the online world is constantly
changing. New tools, technologies and tactics pop up pretty much daily. So a good plan combines the
basic concepts that don’t change that often, with forward-thinking to keep up with the latest and
greatest.

Similarly, when things change in your industry, make sure your online world is kept up to date.

Are you offering the latest hot trends in hairstyling? If hair dyes become the next big thing, you can
quickly update your adverts to show customers what you can do.

To set yourself up for success online, you need to look before you leap. And don’t stop looking! A good
plan will consider three things: first, know your online goals, and set yourself realistic expectations.
Next, use analytics to track and measure what you’re doing and how it’s working. And last, always keep
up-to-date and adapt to changes in technology and the industry you work in. If your plan tackles all
these things and you stay flexible, you’ll be well on your way.

Key learnings

To go digital and do it the right way, you need a well-thought-out and flexible plan. In this lesson we’ll
talk through:

Setting realistic expectations

Tracking and measuring how you’re doing

Adapting to changes in technology and your industry.

Check your knowledge

- Analytics can tell Hamish a lot of things about how people interact with his website, like which
parts are popular and where the user is coming from. But without asking the user, analytics
can’t find out if there is anything specific they don’t like.
-
- Using this data, Hamish can draw conclusions and then adapt his approach. For example, if lots
of people access his site from a mobile device, he could make sure his website is responsive, or
launch mobile-friendly display ads.

Build your web presence

From websites to local listings, mobile apps to social media, there are lots of ways to be found online. If
a website is the best fit for your goals, you’ll need to have a basic grasp of how they work. Even more
importantly, having design and usability best practices under your belt will help you build a website that
tells your story well, and allow your customers to find what they need.

FUNDAMENTALS OF DIGITAL MARKETING: MODULE 3/26

Build your web presence

In this module…

Hiya! In this lesson, we’ll introduce you to all the ways you can create an online presence—from
websites and social media to local business listings and review sites.
You can see just how important it is these days to be online, so let’s get going. The most obvious way to
“go digital” is with a website. Early websites weren’t much more than online brochures that described
the who, what and where.

Today’s websites can do much more. Your site can help people do research, chat with experts, read
customer reviews, watch videos, buy things, track orders – and much, much more. If you decide that a
website makes sense for you, the key is to think about what your site actually needs to do in order to
support your business goals. We’ve got a whole lesson coming up where we’ll talk about that in detail,
but for now, don’t worry about whatever today’s shiny new technology is if it’s not going to directly
contribute to your goals.

Of course, it’s also possible to do business online without a website. If you own a bakery, for example,
you want customers to be able to find you, website or not.

Think about the last time you had a craving for a carrot cake. You probably searched for something like
‘bakery near me’ and reviewed your options.

You might see a website for a local bakery… or you might discover a good option in local listings.

Some businesses use local listings to create a digital presence, using products like Google My Business
and Bing Places for Business. These types of directories let businesses publish details like descriptions,
reviews, maps and images.

These listings are usually free, and are a good way to help your business appear on results pages when
people search.

Beyond local listings, there may be review sites for your specific type of business where people can leave
feedback — and you can respond. Rave reviews will give you the edge over the competition.

You can also use social media as your digital presence. People all over the world use Facebook and
Twitter pages to complement — or in some cases replace — a website. Another way you can reach
customers online is through their mobile. You’ve probably downloaded apps or games on your mobile
phone. You can create and offer these apps to customers yourself.
Apps can take advantage of a mobile device’s unique capabilities, like GPS, mapping and phone, to
connect with customers. If a customer installs your app on her mobile, the next time she’s near your
shop, the app might send her a special offer, thanks to GPS.

Apps could even let her place an order right then, so when she comes in she can skip the queue, pick up
her order and pay by tapping her mobile against the till. Mobile apps are often used as loyalty tools, to
encourage existing, frequent customers to come back… and maybe get a free coffee with that carrot
cake. So, to recap: whether you use a website, local business listings, social media, mobile apps, or all of
the above, the trick is to decide what you want customers to do, then create a home that accomplishes
those goals. Together, these things work as your digital storefront: your space to interact with
customers online.

We’ve got lessons covering all of these areas, but for the next little while we’ll be focusing on websites:
you’ll learn the basics like how websites work, how to pick and register a proper domain name, and how
to make whatever you decide to do online as friendly as possible to your digital visitors AND support the
goals of your business. And if you keep watching, we’ll cover all of this and more

Key learnings

There’s more than one place for people to find you online. In this lesson we’ll explore just how
important being online is these days, as well as some common ways to do it, including:

Websites

Local business listings and review sites

Social media

Mobile apps.

Check your knowledge

Addie runs a local bakery. After getting the business up and running over the last six months, she’s now
ready to create a digital presence.

What do you think Addie should set up first: a social media profile or a mobile app?

- A social media profile is a quick, simple and cheap way for Addie to establish an online presence.
This should be the first step she takes to help customers engage with her and her business.
-
 - After Addie has established her social media profile, she can then look at longer-term
investments such as building a mobile app, which could help customers find out more
information and place orders.

Welcome to our lesson on how websites work. We’ll run down the basics — without getting too
technical, promise! — on web servers and domain names, what they do for you and how to find what
you need to get started. A website is your business’s home on the Internet. It’s where potential
customers can come and learn about your business and what it has to offer them. Let’s say you decide
to open a bakery in the real world. First you’d have to rent a space to house it, right? A website is no
different. Only you’re not renting space on a high street, you’re renting space on a server.

There are loads of services out there that take care of this automatically… but here’s a quick overview so
that you have an idea about what’s happening behind the scenes. OK, hang with us, here comes a bit of
technical information.

A server is a computer connected to the Internet, with software that allows it to store or ‘host’ the
pieces of your website: the code, the images, the video clips and anything else that makes up your site.
It’s called a server because it ‘serves’ up the right content when requested — that is, when someone
wants to view a page on your website.

There are many companies and services that will rent you space on a server and host your website. Just
like a brick-and-mortar shop, you pay an ongoing hosting fee, which is a bit like paying rent, leaving
them to take care the technical aspects of running a server so you don’t have to.

Every single server in the world has its own address. This is called an IP address, which is short for
internet protocol. All you need to know is, it’s a long string of numbers that means any device connected
to the internet can talk to the server and find it. Luckily, you don’t need to understand what they’re
saying to each other; all you need to do is choose a nicer name to reference that numeric IP address.
Which brings us nicely to the second part of this session: the web address, or ‘domain name.’ Your
domain name is how potential customers will find you, the same way people would find our real-world
bakery: by the sign above its door. It’s the thing you type into the browser window to get to any
website. Like www.google.co.uk or www.yourbusinessnamegoeshere.com. Let’s take a minute to break
it down. Everything after the ‘WWW dot’ is actually what’s known as the domain name. It’s the part that
lets people find your website, so it’s pretty important. Any device that searches for this address — a
tablet, a smartphone, a laptop — is communicating with the server. The server then sends that device all
the correct pieces it needs to display the website — things like images and code — so that whoever is on
the other end of the device can view your pages. When someone types your web address into their
browser, here’s what basically happens. First, their browser figures out which server holds the content,
and heads over to that server. The browser then says, “Hey, would you mind giving me all the elements I
need to show a person this web page?” The Server replies, “Sure, I’m sending along 5 images, 2 scripts,
and a few additional files.” The browser puts all the pieces together, and the person sees your nicely
formatted web page. And that’s pretty much it, except they’d actually be talking in really confusing bits
and bytes, not English. But that wouldn’t make any sense to us, so…

To sum up: Deciding to build a website for your business starts with understanding how it all works
together: a server ‘hosts’ your site, and a domain name helps people find it.

Key learnings

If your business needs a website, the first step is to understand the basics. Here’s a quick summary of
what you’ll need to know:

What web servers do

How domain names work

How your website uses these

Check your knowledge

- To launch a website you need to get what’s called hosting space. Think of it like a plot of land for
a house. Sometimes you have to pay a fee. In some cases it’s free. So do shop around before
making your choice.
-
- This ‘plot of land’ is one of many within a server. Think of a server as a street where many
companies rent out space for websites. A bit like sharing the same postcode.
-
- Each server has what’s called an IP, or internet protocol, address. This is made up of a string of
numbers that can be located by any device that has internet access.
-
- Every website has a domain name. This is everything after the www. Or World Wide Web part.
You can think of this as the physical address of your house.
-
- But what if someone wants to find you, or in this case your website? They’d use a browser like
Google Chrome. This locates and retrieves the website information, and then displays it. How
long a website takes to load depends on things such as the amount and type of information, and
internet speeds.

In this lesson we’ll talk you through some crucial early decisions you’ll make about your website:
choosing a website name and planning how your site is structured. The goal is making it easy for
customers to find their way around and get what they want. Because a happy customer equals a more
successful business, right?
Ready to go?

First up, your domain name. That’s what people will type into a web browser to find you.

When choosing a domain name, you first need to check if the one you want is available. There can only
be one TastyBakery.com on the web, for example, and if someone has already claimed it, you won’t be
able to use it. So, how do you know if the name you want is taken? Just do a search for ‘domain
registrar’ and click on one of the results. There should be a tool on the site that lets you see if someone
is already using the name you want. And, if they are, it may suggest another similar name that’s
available for you to use.

A good domain name is one that people can easily remember. Keep it as short, relevant and as to-the-
point as possible.

You may be able to get a variation of the name you want by choosing a different extension, which is the
fancy name for the bit at the end. You’re probably familiar with the ‘.com’ or ‘.co.uk’ extensions, but you
might find others that are available or a better fit. For example, non-profit organizations often use ‘.org.’
What this also means is that although ‘TastyBakery.com’ may be taken, ‘TastyBakery.net’ may still be
available. OK, that’s the name sorted. Let’s have a look at some other common parts of a website, like
the home page. This is the first page people see after they type in your domain name and get to your
website. The home page is your shop window, where you invite people in and explain what you’re all
about. A home page also directs visitors to other pages of your website through what we call
‘navigation’. Your navigation headings may run across the top of a page or down the side. Either way, it’s
a menu that lets people travel from one part of the site to another.

How you organise the site is very important. Start by thinking about the websites you visit regularly.
How are they organised?

Now, decide what kind of content you want to offer, and then group it together in ways that make
sense. Incidentally, many website-building tools offer business website templates that can help you get
started.

One easy place to start? The pages and sections you see on most websites: things like ‘About’ and
‘Contact’ pages. Your website’s Contact page might include your address, phone number, email and a
map with directions.
The About page might tell the story of your business and include photos of some of your best work.
There’s no right or wrong way to organise a site, but you’ll always want to put yourself in your visitor’s
shoes. What’s he or she looking for? What are they trying to accomplish on the website?

Now, you want to set things up so it’s super-easy for visitors to find the information they need, like the
bakery’s working hours, or complete important goals, like submitting an online order.

Let’s check out what you’ll see on the pages themselves.

First, you’ll notice those navigation signposts, like the About and Contact headings. They should appear
on every page of your site so that people can always get to where they want to go, or back to where
they’ve been.

Of course, there will also be words, or text: headlines, paragraphs, bulleted lists. And you might also
have things like images and video.

Text and images can also be set up to link to other pages on the Internet when they’re clicked. These are
known as ‘hyperlinks’, or shortcuts to other pages either on your site or elsewhere on the web. Many
websites also invite customers to interact, with features like forms to submit questions, maps with turn-
by-turn directions to your store or shopping baskets to buy products directly. Your website — your
digital storefront — is a great opportunity to connect with customers. Choosing the right domain name,
organising the site logically and including nifty features can help your visitors find exactly what they’re
looking for.

Key learnings

A website consists of many parts. Build and blend them right, and you’re sure to succeed. In this lesson,
we’ll cover:

Your name

The website’s organisation

Text, photos and other interactive elements.

Check your knowledge

Addie owns the Knead to Know Bakery and has decided to open a website.

But first she needs to choose a domain name.

Take a look at her ideas and select the best domain name by crossing off the rest.

- The best website address for Addie’s business would be: www.kneadtoknowbakery.com
-
- Having the name of the business in the website’s domain name is the best idea for Addie. That
way it’s easy for customers to find her online, and also recognise her business in town.
-
- A good domain name should be short but also relevant. While Addie’s, i-knead-it and mybakery
are all short, they don’t reflect the business name, and so won’t help customers to find her in
the real world.
-
- Knead2Know includes the business name but not exactly what the business does. Addie can
keep it simple with www.kneadtoknowbakery.com

It’s time to take a look at meeting your customers in the middle—that is, how your website can unite
your visitors’ wants with your business needs. We’ll walk through how to think like a customer and
design your website accordingly, all without losing sight of your own goals.

So you’re starting to design your site. As you do this, keep your goals in mind, but also consider what
your visitors are looking for. Marrying what you want people to do on your site and what they want to
do is the secret to success.

Here’s an example. Think of the last time you went to a website looking for a phone number. Maybe you
wanted to ring a shop to ask a question or get directions. Was the number easy to find?

If you’re a business, be sure to put your phone number in a very visible location—maybe even highlight
it—on every page of your site. You might even consider adding some text encouraging visitors to “call
now.” And make your Contact page easy to find, in case that’s their first stop.

Also, it’s a good idea to allow mobile users viewing your site to call you with just one click.

So, back to our local bakery. Let’s say you want more locals to visit the shop. Meanwhile, your customers
want to know how to find you when they’re craving some fresh baguettes. Including maps on your
website along with specific directions can make you both happy.

So, what other things visitors might be looking for on your website? Prices? Special offers? Certifications
to show you’re qualified to provide a service?
By making sure all of these things are easily available, you match your business goals with your visitors’
needs.

And If you’re interested in learning how to measure what your visitors are doing on your website with
analytics, check out our lessons on that topic, too.

Now let’s talk about content, or the actual words on your pages.

The words you use should be so much more than just a sales pitch. In most cases you want to avoid
technical jargon and chest-beating about how great you are.

Instead, explain how you can meet the needs of your customer or solve a problem they have. By framing
it in terms of what you can do to help visitors, your content will be much more engaging, not to mention
more helpful.

To achieve this, write in a tone that’s confident, but not intimidating. Unless your audience is made up
of astrophysicists, explain concepts in everyday language.

Tell a story to help connect with your visitors. Things like testimonials or videos starring satisfied
customers whose problem you solved, or letting people write reviews about your products and services
directly on your site can really help.

Remember, every second counts. People won’t be on your website for long, and they may scan words
quickly or not at all. But images, headlines and clear navigation can help them find exactly what they’re
looking for before they move on.

Design and build your website with your business goals and your visitors’ desires in mind, and it will
have a much better chance of success.

Key learnings

When creating your website, consider how to combine your business goals with what your visitors want.
In this lesson, we’ll talk about:
Using your site to further your business goals

Thinking like a customer

Telling your story online.

Check your knowledge

Addie is drafting a description for the About Us page of her bakery website.

Which do you think works best?

- Addie needs to write in a tone that’s confident, but not intimidating.

-
- For her business, everyday language would be suitable, but it may not be appropriate for
businesses such as law firms. The tone Addie uses should tell the story of the business and what
it offers.
-
- The second option uses far too much business jargon. A vision statement might work for a tech
startup, but for a bakery it’s too confusing. In this description, there is no mention of the fact
that the business is a bakery.
-
- Option three comes across as arrogant and over-confident. It’s trying to provide a sales pitch,
rather than explaining how the business could meet the customer’s need.

Home – The Digital Garage

Home – The Digital Garage

My Learning Plan

Online Courses

Live Training

Remote Working

Certification

Tools & Resources

Help & FAQs

Feedback

My Profile

Sign out

FUNDAMENTALS OF DIGITAL MARKETING: MODULE 3/26

Build your web presence

In this module…

Hello! Welcome to our lesson on website usability. That’s digital speak for making it easy for visitors to
find what they’re looking for and accomplish what they want. We’ll go over the best ways to improve
usability, from how to provide simple and clear navigation to the importance of a consistent layout.
We’ll also explain how your writing can make your site more effective.

Sound good?

First, let’s look at navigation: the stuff that guides visitors around your site.

Good navigation means arranging your site in a way that makes sense for your visitors.

If you have a physical shop, like a bakery, think of how your goods are grouped there. Big items like
cakes and pies might be in one area, while individual treats like croissants and cupcakes are in another.

On your site, you can organize things the same way, and have the main menu navigation tell visitors
what they’ll find in each section, like signs in your shop.

In spite of all of this, your site may not make perfect sense to everyone. That’s why including a search
box might be a good idea, especially if your site has lots of pages or products. Put the search box in the
same place on every page of your site, so it’s easy to find, and visitors who are in a rush will always be
able to find it, and whatever they’re looking for.

One last thing to consider about navigation: When people visit any site on the web, they expect things
to work a certain way.

Say you’re browsing a site and you want to get back to the home page—what do you do? Click on the
logo.

This is something visitors will expect, and it’s common to nearly every website, so be sure your logo is
clearly displayed on every page, and that a click on it takes them “home.”
That’s navigation navigated. Now let’s talk about style and the way your site looks and feels. Everyone
has their own tastes, but there are some general guidelines to follow.

First, consider your page layout. It should be consistent across your site, with similar fonts, images and
other design elements.

When it comes to color, you may be inclined to go bold to grab attention. But online, most people are
used to reading dark text on a light background. You’ve worked hard to create your content—make sure
your visitors’ eyes don’t cross when they try to read it.

You also need to be conscious of where on the page your content ends up. Don’t make people scroll
down too far to see the important stuff. Use headers and bulleted lists to help them quickly scan your
pages and decide if it’s worth their time to stay.

Write for your audience. Are they a highly technical bunch? Then jargon is A-OK. Otherwise, write for
the everyman.

Another tip? Encourage visitors to take an action while visiting your site. This is called – can you guess it?
– a “call to action,” and it can help them understand what to do next.

Want them to pick up the telephone? Tell them to “Call now.” Hoping they’ll pay you a visit? Point them
to “Get directions to our store.” Or nudge them to make a purchase with a “Buy now!”

So, let’s review. When you’re creating a website, try your best to make it easy to use. Give visitors a
clear roadmap to your site’s pages, keep design consistent throughout, write content that speaks their
language, and give them the experience they’re looking for.

Key learnings

Visitors to your website should be able to navigate and interact with your site easily – that’s called
usability. Bring them back again and again by:

Providing simple and clear navigation

Creating a consistent layout

Writing relevant and effective content.

Check your knowledge

Addie wants to make her website easy to navigate.

Which of the following features should Addie include on every page of her website?

- Visitors to Addie’s website should be able to quickly find what they need. Addie can do this by
using a side menu and a search bar. For best practice, these should stay in the same place on
every page of the website.
-
- Visitors should also be able to get back to the homepage quickly. For a lot of websites this is
done by selecting the logo.
-
- About Us information is useful for drawing people in but isn’t needed for every page.

You’ve heard the expression “you only get one chance to make a first impression,” right? Well, it holds
true online, too.

This lesson can help you avoid common mistakes in your website design that can drive visitors away.
We’ll cover how to make sure your pages load fast, making your site mobile friendly, general
accessibility and the quality of your content.

First, you need speed. Internet users aren’t famous for patience, and if your pages take too long to load,
they’ll leave.

There are lots of technical things that you, or whoever builds your website, can do to speed things up,
like choosing the right technologies and hosting solutions. But there are also some simple fixes.

If you have images on your pages, use the smallest ones you need. Ditch large, high-resolution files if
they’re only going to appear as thumbnails. Plenty of software programs can resize or compress images
to make them smaller, and this translates to faster loading times.

Simplify your design. Generally, the more you limit what your visitors’ browsers have to download and
re-use, the faster pages will load. Use the same background image across many pages, and ask whoever
is building your website to be efficient with code and scripts. If you want to test how you’re doing, try
opening the site on your mobile – using a data connection, not WiFi – and see how quickly it loads.
Next, make sure your website is easy to use on a mobile. More and more people are using their
smartphones as their primary device for browsing the web, and if your site is difficult to use on these
devices, you’ll potentially lose customers.

The easiest way to have a mobile-friendly website is to build it that way from the start, using an
approach like “responsive design,” which automatically detects the type of screen being used and
displays the site accordingly—doing things like stacking text and photos vertically on a smartphone
being held upright.

If you want to get a sense for whether your site is mobile-friendly, try Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test
tool.

Keep in mind things like swiping or tapping, which are unique to touchscreens. Be sure the components
of your website respond properly to these kinds of “inputs.”

Using widely recognised icons and making content clear and well organised will help visitors using
smaller screens to find what they need.

Next, make it easy to find your address and phone number. Many devices are equipped with GPS and
mapping features, which can help visitors on-the-go. And of course, when accessing your website from a
mobile, it should be easy for visitors to give you a ring.

You’ll also want to remember that people will be viewing your site on different browsers—like Chrome
or Firefox—and different platforms, like Windows or Mac. Do a test run from as many computers,
devices and browsers as you can. Does your site look right in every case? Are you prompted to
download plug-ins? That’s an extra step that may send visitors away.

Last, remember that your website is not just for selling—it’s for solving.

Imagine you’re a visitor. Ask yourself, why am I here? What am I trying to do? What problem am I trying
to solve?

For example, if you own a bakery that makes custom cakes, someone is probably visiting your site
because they need one. You could write pages about your decorating style and inspirations. But a
testimonial and photos from a real-life customer might be a better bet.
So those are some common mistakes that trip up many websites. To avoid them, make sure your pages
load quickly, and look and behave properly, no matter what device and browser a visitor uses.

And think of your customers when you create content. Answer their needs, and you have the best
chance of bringing them in.

Key learnings

When designing your website, watch out for mistakes that often chase customers away. In this lesson,
we’ll outline some ways to avoid frustration, such as:

Quick-loading pages

Mobile-friendliness

General accessibility.

Check your knowledge

To make the homepage of her local bakery website interesting, Addie wants to add some media
elements to it.

Different elements will cause the page to take longer to load, so she needs to get the right mix for the
site.

Can you put the following elements in order from the ones with the longest load time to the shortest?

- Here’s the right order:

-
- 2-minute HD advertising video for the bakery
- Large high-res, full-screen background image
- 20-second explainer animation
- Low-res compessed thumbnail image
- Twitter button that links to Twitter page
- Text descriptions
- People expect websites to load quickly and might leave if they take too long, so you want to
make pages load fast while keeping the overall design you want. Choosing the right media mix
and hosting solution can help with this.
-
 - You should design your web pages efficiently using compressed images and not too many large
files such as videos. It’s good to test how long it takes for a business website to load on different
devices and connections before it goes live.

- Next steps

- Pick a few of your favourite websites and load them on different devices and browsers. How do
they look? Do they take a long time to load or require additional software? Do their designs
make it easy to find information?

Plan your online business strategy

From identifying your goals to knowing how to track your progress, this topic will show you how to put
your best foot forward when creating a digital business strategy. Learn how to stand apart from the
competition and how to impress customers at every point of their experience.

So you want to know more about online business strategy, or perhaps improve your current strategy?

In this lesson, we’ll explore how creating an online business strategy can have a positive impact, what a
good strategy looks like, and common things you can implement to achieve your business goals.

An online business strategy helps get all the ideas out of your head and into a usable format. This can
help define objectives to work towards, and increase your clarity and focus.

Imagine you’ve set a new fitness goal to become more flexible. Now, going for a 10 mile run may be
great for your cardio, but it won’t help you achieve that bendy yoga position you’ve got your eye on.

In order to do that, you’ll base your workout around key areas that will help you achieve your goal, in
this case becoming more flexible. Running may be a part of it, but stretching is more likely to help you
succeed. Likewise, identifying actions tailored to your goals will provide you with a better understanding
of how to meet your business needs.

So where do you start?

The first step is to clearly define your goals. Perhaps you’d like to increase sales by 20%, or identify 100
potential customers? Setting goals will provide you with direction and a clear path to follow.
Next up is articulating what your business stands for. This can be represented by a simple sentence,
generally referred to as a mission statement. For example, this might be “to inspire healthier
communities” or “to provide fun spaces for everyday fitness”.

You also need to identify your Unique Selling Point (or USP) – this is what makes you stand out from
your competition online. Find out what makes you different by looking at businesses doing similar
things, and work out what sets you apart. For example, if customer service is what sets you apart from
your competition, this is your Unique Selling Point.

Understanding what you want to achieve can help you make the right decisions at the right time. Here
are some typical goals and the strategies that can be used to address them:

Increase sales: If your goal is to improve online sales, driving more traffic to your website can help.

There are many many ways to achieve this, from paid advertising to content marketing.

Next up: Increase awareness of the business or brand

Social media is a popular way to increase brand awareness to both new and existing customers. It
provides a platform to express your values, personality, and engage with your audience.

Finally: Grow your email marketing list To encourage customers to sign up to email marketing, try clearly
communicating what your audience can expect to receive, whether it’s exclusive content or member-
only updates.

So how do these benefits stack up in real life? Let’s take a look at Rachel’s Kitchen, who used a strategy
to maximise their impact online.

If this lesson has got you thinking about your own online business strategy, be sure to explore the
additional resources at the end of this topic to learn moret

Key learnings

An online business strategy can boost your chances of digital success, helping you to define clear goals
and focus your online activity. In this lesson, we’ll explore:
How an online business can benefit from a business strategy

Best practices when creating a business strategy

Examples of common goals and popular strategies to achieve them.

Check your knowledge

Sam has recently decided to launch an online fitness coaching service. He has registered a domain name
and set up a website, but is unsure of how to launch his business online in a way that will help him grow
sustainably.

Help Sam create his own online business strategy, by selecting the correct steps he should take.

- Sam will find it easier to put together his online strategy once he’s figured out the company’s
goals, written a mission statement and identified the company’s USP.

Once his strategy is in place, he can launch his website, develop a targeted digital marketing campaign,
and establish a client base.

Next steps

Now that you understand why developing a business strategy is important, have a think about your
online presence and what it is you want to accomplish. Answer the following questions to help identify
your goals, mission statement and USP. 1. Goals – What do you want to achieve by being online? (i.e.
more sales or greater brand recognition) 2. Mission Statement – Which values are important to the
business? (i.e. fair trade or protecting the environment) 3. USP – What makes you stand out against your
competitors? (i.e. customer service, price point or quality) Next time you’re surfing the web or social
media, take a look at other businesses and note what makes them stand out. Try listing brands that
resonate with you and see what you can learn from them.

In this lesson we will look at the differences between online and offline customer behaviours. We’ll also
cover how audience segmentation can help you choose where to focus your digital efforts when moving
online.

So what are the key differences between a customer in a physical shop and a customer online?

Imagine you just set a personal goal to improve your fitness, and now need new running shoes. In the
offline world your journey might go a bit like this:
You visit the local shopping centre, going from shop to shop. Ultimately, you make a decision based on
price, quality, returns policy, friendliness of staff, and stock availability. You process all that information,
head back to the store with the shoes you liked best, and make the purchase.

When it comes to online purchasing, you’re likely to engage in four distinct stages throughout your
online shopping journey. Theses principles are described in the “See, Think, Do, Care” framework, and
offer a useful way to identify where a business should invest effort in connecting with customers. Let’s
take a look at our shoe shopping example, while highlighting these four stages:

In the SEE stage, you notice that some of your friends have taken up running, and are posting maps of
their favourite routes on their social media accounts. This inspires you to start running yourself. In the
THINK stage, you get your phone and type ‘what are the best running shoes for beginners?’. This
introduces you to a whole lot of online content, from blog articles to targeted ads, giving you more
factors to base your decision on. Eventually, you make your purchase, which makes up the DO stage,
and perhaps post a photo on social media. This last step of sharing your purchase is part of the CARE
stage.

Keep in mind that customers don’t necessarily experience all four stages every time – your individual
journey might begin at the THINK stage, or end at the DO stage.

Now let’s combine offline and online activities together. Imagine you are in the sport shop having just
tried on the new running shoes. You get out your phone and search for them online – perhaps checking
if they are cheaper elsewhere. The chances are you might buy online after visiting a physical store- an
approach called ‘showrooming’.

Understanding the differences and similarities between online and offline shopping can help you create
a more balanced online customer experience.

So how can you identify where to focus your efforts online? To choose the right channels, find out out
who you’re talking to, when you should talk to them, and what you should talk about. This is called
audience segmentation.

You can segment customers in many ways, from basic demographics like age and gender, to specific
interests. For example, segmenting customers by location may benefit an e-commerce store if certain
products are only available to ship to specific areas. Segmentation can also help with your online
advertising; as most channels allow you to target paid advertising to specific audiences, based on
information like what an audience likes or dislikes. You can also make your ads appear only to people
within a certain radius of your shop or business, which can be handy when offering promotions to local
shoppers.

To wrap up, when it comes to taking a business online, think about the customers and put yourself in
their shoes: which channels do they use most? How do you engage differently with them online and
offline?

Key learnings

When taking a business online, understanding how customers browse on the web is an important factor
in ensuring your online efforts are rewarded. In this lesson, we will explore:

Customer behaviours online, and how these overlap with offline behaviours

The “See, Think, Do, Care” framework, and how to use this to help understand the online customer
journey

How to group your audiences using audience segmentation.

Check your knowledge

-Although Omar has a successful market stall, his goal is to develop his online business- so focusing only
on his offline marketing skills wouldn’t help.

Selling at a cheaper price on the website could be a risky decision so early on. While some retailers do
engage in this practice, others price match. Given that e-commerce is new to Omar, it would be less
risky to keep the online and offline pricing the same to start.

Identifying all audiences will allow him to decide when he should engage with them, and what he should
talk about – helping to increase his chance of success online.

Lastly, while paid online advertising might be an effective channel, Omar should consider all possible
options and see which fits his business needs best.

Next steps

Think about the last product that you bought online and then look back at the See, Think, Do, Care
framework explored in this lesson. Map your journey through the touchpoints you encountered before
making your purchase. Think about: 1. What initiated your interest in the product? (See) 2. How did you
go about doing your research? (Think) 3. What finally made you hit that ‘Buy Now’ button? (Do) 4. Did
you leave a review or post an image of your purchase online (Care) Now think back to your business
scenario: what types of content could you use at each stage of the customer journey to encourage
people to make a purchase?

Customers are the key to success, which is why understanding and nurturing them is so important. In
this lesson we’ll look at the importance of customer touchpoints, how to use them to map the journey
customers take online, as well as how improving the customer experience can help you achieve your
goals.

So how can you make a customer’s experience better? Let’s start by explaining customer touchpoints
and why they’re important. A touchpoint is any stage when a customer, or potential customer, comes
into contact with a business.

Touchpoints are used a lot in offline business, particularly in retail. They can be receipts, bags, signage,
customer service counters, and many other points along the way. Online, they can be a valuable way for
businesses to build brand loyalty and trust. When a customer encounters a touchpoint multiple times,
such as online ads, this provides consistent value and creates ongoing positive associations with a brand.

While people don’t all look and think the same, the way they buy things, and the touchpoints they
interact with, have many similarities. To understand online user behaviour, you need to establish what
those touchpoints are and where they take place.

To identify them, try mapping the journey a customer takes. Once you know the steps they take to get
to you, you can plan how to impress them at every stage. Imagine a marathon – once you know the
route, you can plan in strategic points to rest, drink, or top up your energy levels. The purchase journey
is the same – knowing the route gives you an understanding of exactly how you need to strategise your
online approach.

Because there are so many potential interaction points, figuring out the journey may seem
overwhelming at first. To make it easier, try putting yourself in the customer’s shoes.

Ask yourself:

Where do I go when I need answers?

Where do I normally spot new brands or businesses?

What helps me make a purchase decision? And

Do I see a brand again after I’ve made the purchase?

Another option is to ask customers directly about the route they took to find you. A simple face-to-face
or online survey can break this journey down step-by-step, making it clearer and easier to visualise.

Once you understand the route a customer takes, it’s all about making sure the relevant touchpoints
chosen are effective in drawing people in. If you have a website, does it tell a potential customer what
they want to know whilst keeping existing customers interested? The more value a site has to someone,
the more likely it is they will want to return to it.

Social media is another great tool to develop touchpoints and can help give a business character and a
personal feel. Remember your customers are real people – so connect with them in a way that’s
relatable and engaging.

Once your touchpoints are set up, remember to regularly review how they’re performing. For example,
if your product or service is suddenly becoming popular with a new audience, like teens, you may need
to make adjustments to your touchpoints, so that they resonate directly with that age-group.

To wrap up, here are some quick reminders to help you work on your own touchpoints:

Think about the journey you take as a customer when you buy something, and apply this information to
your business scenario

If you can, talk to customers to get real-world info on the touchpoints they encounter

Analyse touchpoint performance and optimise your message if required, so that the customer’s needs
always come first.

Key learnings

Create the best possible online experience for customers by understanding how to make the most of the
moments when they interact with a brand. In this lesson, we’ll explore:
What customer touchpoints are

How to map common online customer journeys

How to identify customer touchpoints that generate business goals.

Check your knowledge

Holly owns a dance studio. To improve sales of dance classes, she is reviewing how her marketing team
could update the company’s online presence.

As part of the rebrand, the team listened to customer feedback and mapped customer journeys. They
identified two things online customers generally struggled with: navigating the website and finding the
business’s contact information.

Which of the brand’s touchpoints should Holly modify to help address her customer’s feedback?

The customers have been experiencing difficulty in navigating the website, so Holly and her team should
look at how they can improve the website’s design and page layout.

Customers also found contact information difficult to locate. Holly can make this information easier to
find by creating a clear ‘Contact Us’ page, and by including contact details in the footer of every page.
She can also include it in her email marketing campaigns, which will allow customers to contact the
business without having to visit the website.

Next steps

Think about the customer journey and how touchpoints affect it. Taking your business or a business of a
well known brand as an example, put yourself in the customer’s shoes and map out the customer
journey from start to finish. At every touchpoint, make sure to answer the following questions:

What value does this touchpoint provide you as a customer?

Does this touchpoint match up to your expectations of the brand?

How could this touchpoint be improved to provide the customers with a better experience?

Healthy competition keeps us on our toes and increases our drive for success. In this lesson, we’ll
explore how to identify what makes a business stand out online, why you should be checking out your
competitors, and what tools can help you get ahead of the game.
Let’s start with this question: what makes you stand out?

Imagine you own a basketball gear shop. What would make your brand distinct compared to other
sports shops selling basketball equipment?

Maybe your shop’s exterior is painted in bright red, or you have an eye-catching window display, or
perhaps you’ve even hired someone to shoot some hoops outside to grab people’s attention as they
walk by.

As a physical store you need to stand out. The same is true in digital. When we identify what makes us
different from the competition online, we call that our Unique Selling Point, or USP.

A Unique Selling Point is a clear statement that describes the benefits you offer, how you might solve
your customer’s needs, and what distinguishes you from the competition.

4 key questions to ask yourself when defining your USP are:

Who is my target audience?

Who are my competitors?

What problems does my target audience have?, and

How can I solve them?

Once you ask these questions, you can piece together a concise statement that incorporates the
answers. Here are a few pointers to remember.

Speak in a human voice. Be as natural and relatable as you can and remember, you are trying to attract
people, not robots.
Shout about it. Your USP should be displayed on your website, social media, and other marketing
materials. A good USP won’t appeal to everyone, but that’s ok. Build a USP that is tailored and speaks
directly to your target audience.

Other things to consider while working on your USP are your strengths and weaknesses. To do this, use
a SWOT analysis, which will help ensure business decisions are well informed. SWOT stands for
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

Ask yourself:

What is it we’re good at? These are your strengths

What can we do better? These are your weaknesses

How can we grow, change and improve? These are your opportunities

What is happening or could happen, both internally and externally, that might affect us negatively?
Those are the threats.

While constructing your USP, it’s a good idea to check what the competition is up to. When starting a
competitor analysis, make sure to utilise the free tools available online. Start with search engines, which
can offer the most immediate answers.

Simply search for your key terms and make note of:

Who appears in the top results on search engines for your product or service

Which keywords appear on their website, that is, what words are they using in the page titles on their
website, and

What messaging they use on their social media.

Another way to stay up to date with what competitors are doing is through signing up to alerts systems.
Free tools like Google Alerts show you who is talking about certain topics online, so they help you keep
your finger on the pulse. Try setting up alerts for key products or services, as well as your own business
and competitor names. You’ll then receive notifications when the terms you enter are discussed online,
and be able to see how your business or the business you work for compares.

Let’s take a look at how these tips can be applied to help you stand out online:

So what makes you different online? Use the tips from this lesson to find out what your competition is
doing, and use a SWOT analysis to identify what makes you stand out.

Key learnings

Understanding the competition is a key component of your online strategy, enabling you to position a
business correctly in the marketplace. In this lesson, we’ll explore:

How to identify what makes a business stand out in a busy marketplace

Why Unique Selling Points (USPs) are important and how to construct them

Online tools available to help you research the competition.

Check your knowledge

Bobbi owns a protein shake company, which has been trading for 3 years. Her products are stocked in a
number of gyms, but the company has not seen much growth in recent months. Bobbi would now like to
break into the online market to boost product sales.

Which of the following actions should Bobbi take to identify opportunities for online business growth?

- Ensuring Bobbi’s company has a strong USP could help it attract new customers online. Being
unique is an effective way to stand out in an already crowded marketplace.

Bobbi could also look at what her competitors are doing to find out what’s working well for them, and
what isn’t. This would provide her with a broader market view, and would highlight potential
opportunities which she could use to formulate a strategy for her own company’s growth.

By conducting a SWOT analysis, she can identify opportunities that will allow the business to grow – as
well as highlight weaknesses she could resolve.
Next steps

It’s time to see what the competition is up to. Take ten minutes out of your day and use a search engine
to research the following terms: 1. A business name – this will show you the competition for keywords
and branding. 2. A product or service – this will show you who the competition is for that product or
service. 3. Include your location – this highlights competitors who are local to you, that offer the same
services. These searchable terms are ‘keywords’ that are associated with a brand or product. These
keywords are what people will use to find a business or product online, so it’s important to know who or
what else appears when customers search the web.

In this lesson, we’ll cover how setting and tracking specific goals can help you understand and improve
business performance. You’ll also learn about Key Performance Indicators and how these can be used to
evaluate the effectiveness of processes most important to achieving your goals.

Let’s dive in: Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, are quantifiable measurements used to focus
attention on the metrics most important to meet business goals. They are also useful in helping a team
understand how progress will be tracked and measured.

There are many ways to construct KPIs, but they should all be measurable, practical, achievable, and
provide direction. So what does a KPI look like in the real world?

Meet Ryan. He owns a chain of fitness centres called ‘Fit Gym’. He needs to make sure that he has
enough customers to keep the business growing. To do this, Ryan wants to sign up at least 50 new
members per gym a month. This would be his goal. To help achieve this goal, Ryan now needs to set KPIs
that will measure the efforts his staff make towards meeting this target.

Here are the KPIs Ryan has identified for his sales staff, based on actions that can help improve
membership sign-up rate.

The sales team should: - reach out to 20 prospective customers per day – respond to all online queries
on social media and email within 15 minutes of receiving them during working hours; and – renew or
upsell 8 existing gym memberships per month.

Analysing results against these KPIs will accurately assess which employees meet the expected standard,
and help identify who needs additional sales training. When you consider your business or the business
you work for, remember that a KPI can be anything that gets you closer to achieving your goal. From
sales calls to posts on social media, email list sign-ups to customer satisfaction ratings, make sure you
choose the KPI that best fits your needs.
So how do you know what your KPIs should be, and how do you measure them? KPIs should be specific,
measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. By creating them this way, you can ensure they will be
clear and achievable. Try creating your own KPIs and see if you can answer the following: a. Is this KPI
specific enough? B. Can it be measured? C. Can employees attain this? D. How relevant is it to the wider
business objective? E. And lastly, when is it due to be delivered or carried out?

An example KPI could be to increase sales figures by 25% compared to last year. This is both specific and
measurable, and reviewing your previous sales figures will allow you to determine whether or not it’s
attainable. Increasing sales is key for business growth, which would be an overall business objective, and
comparing year on year makes it timely.

Remember to evaluate both KPI results and the KPIs themselves on a regular basis, and respond to the
data accordingly. For example, if Ryan’s sales employees are struggling to meet the 15 minute average
response KPI due to the volume of enquiries, perhaps he needs to consider increasing the number of
staff per shift to meet the demand. This will ensure prospective customers remain happy when their
enquiries are responded to quickly, as well as ensure his staff don’t burn out.

When it comes to setting goals and KPIs in your own business environment, ensure that they’re specific,
measurable, attainable, relevant and have the forward thinking to help you achieve your long-term plan.
Take some time now to think about the KPIs you would set, and how you could measure these to get
closer to your goals.

Key learnings

When marketing your business online, it’s important to use the data and metrics available to evaluate
how your online activities are performing. In this lesson, we’ll explore:

Why setting goals and KPIs is so important to online businesses

How to construct a KPI using the SMART framework

How to analyse data gathered to help improve online marketing efforts.

Check your knowledge

Ryan has written some KPIs to help his fitness centres achieve the business goal of “improving overall
client satisfaction”.

Review these four KPIs. Which do you think fit the criteria of being specific, measurable, attainable,
relevant and time-bound?
 - The KPIs you’ve selected are:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Time bound

Think about how you could improve the remaining two KPIs that were not quite right. Do they need to
be more specific or time bound?

Next steps

When you consider your business, or the business you work for, remember that a KPI can be anything
that gets you closer to achieving your goals. Have a think about the types of KPIs you could introduce.
Come up with five goals, and then five KPIs that measure how close you are to achieving those goals. Ask
yourself: 1. Is this KPI specific to the goal you want to achieve? 2. Can this KPI be measured? 3. Is this KPI
actually achievable? 4. Is it relevant to what you want to achieve? 5. Is the KPI time bound? When
should you measure it? Weekly? Monthly?