I am offering several non-credit workshops at Piedmont Virginia Community College (PVCC). The following brief descriptions are on this page. A link to the full description is provided in each section below.
Best Practices for Your Web Site
Write More Powerful Web Site Copy
Usability Testing: Discover the Truth About Your Web Site
Improve Your Web Site with Google Analytics
Best Practices for Your Web Site
Thursday, March 4 and 18, 9-11 a.m.
Wednesday, May 5 and 12, 6-8 p.m.
Overview
30 seconds. That’s how long you have before visitors to your website decide whether to stay or move on to your competitors. Learn how you can improve your site (without necessarily changing your graphic design), and turn visitors into customers.
In the first meeting, we’ll look at sites that work, and ones that don’t. You’ll learn what to look for and how to assess your website. You’ll review a list of research-tested best practices for site structure, navigation, content and design. Before the second meeting, you’ll assess your own site using a checklist.
In the second meeting, you’ll bring your completed checklist, discuss your findings, and develop a prioritized list of changes that will help your site produce the results you want.
Audience
Business owners and managers. Marketing, communications and web managers at organizations of any size.
Write More Powerful Web Site Copy
Monday, March 8, 15, and 22 3-5 p.m.
Wednesday, May 19, 26 and June 2 6-8 p.m.
Overview
Turn your website visitors into customers with writing that drives interaction and response.
You’ll learn how to
- clearly communicate who you are and what sets you apart from competitors
- distinguish features and benefits
- create credible, hype-free messages
- structure copy for search engine optimization
- persuade readers to take action
In three sessions, you’ll review what works and what doesn’t work on the web, write copy for your website and review and discuss your work in class. The instructor will share tips from years of experience in direct response copywriting, marketing and web consulting
Audience
Entrepreneurs, marketing managers, copywriters.
Usability Testing: Discover the Truth About Your Web Site
Wednesday, March 24 and 31 3-5 p.m.
Monday, May 3 and 10 6-8 p.m.
Overview
Want to know what visitors really think of your website? There’s a fast and easy way to find out.
Usability testing is a method for
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sitting down with people who are representative of your market
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watching how they interact with your site
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asking well-paced questions
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taking notes on the results
- identifying changes that your site needs.
You can get reasonably reliable results with just three to five testers. And testing with just one person is better than not testing at all.
In the first session, you’ll learn how to set up a usability test, find testers, facilitate a session and prioritize changes to your site.
In the second session, you’ll pair up with another participant and do usability testing on one another’s sites.
Audience
Business owners, marketing managers, web site managers.
Improve Your Web Site ROI with Google Analytics
Thursday, April 15 and May 24; 6-8:00 p.m.
Overview
Learn how visitors use your website, whether your content is effective, and what needs improvement. Use Google Analytics, a free and powerful tool, to find your site’s strengths and weaknesses and make your site more effective.
You’ll learn how to sign up for Google Analytics, and how to produce and work with reports on your site’s traffic. The first class will introduce Analytics.
During the interval between the two classes, you will sign up for the service, embed the tracking code in your website, begin watching the data come in, and experiment with viewing reports. A group site will be established for questions and interaction between the two classes.
In the second class we will review your data, look at your website, and discuss how to apply the information in your reports to your website and brainstorm ways to make it more effective.
Audience
Business owners and managers. Marketing, communications and web managers at organizations of any size.
Contact me for a no-cost, no-obligation conversation about your marketing challenges.