Lesson 12 – Website 101

Website 101

To understand the importance of websites in business and the basics of how to increase website traffic, improve SEO, write web content, and use WordPress.

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Lesson Resources – Website 101

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Video Transcript – Website 101

Objective: To understand the importance of websites in business and the basics of how to increase website traffic, improve SEO, write web content, and use WordPress.

“Welcome to Website 101, Volunteer Managers! We’d like you to take a moment and think about everything we’ve learned so far.

From Google and search engines to webinars and emails, each digital skill ties back to one of the most important concepts: Websites!

More than 70% of small businesses have websites! Websites are so fundamental to business operations that it’s estimated that businesses could lose 70-80% of their potential customers if they don’t have a website.

This means that website skills and strategies are increasingly becoming even more essential to employees and entrepreneurs alike. Every kind of organisation likely needs a website, and careers in the business, marketing, and creative industries require familiarity with websites.

Careers aside, understanding the importance of websites and how they work can help you use the internet astutely and safely. Which is precisely why we’re going to dive into website basics in this Module! We’ll empower your knowledge of websites so you can help share and spread your organisation’s mission in your community.

We’ll start by breaking down how websites work. How do stakeholders find websites? How can your organisation get more visitors to your website? We’ll answer these questions and more by exploring the concepts of website traffic, design, and SEO. Unlike highway traffic, website traffic is good! – it’s simply a measure of how many people click on and use a website.

You can increase this traffic and reach more people by using the power of SEO, or Search Engine Optimization. Essentially, this is the strategy used to make a website more visible in search engines.

For example, consider how you might use Google search to find a service or product… Maybe you’re having issues with your car, and you need to find a mechanic. You open your browser, go to Google, and search “mechanics in [insert the name of your town]” to find some… Now, you’re likely going to choose one of the mechanics that pop up on the first page of your Google results, right? It’s the same with the majority of internet users.

But what happens if the best mechanic in your town doesn’t have a website? Or, what if they don’t come up as one of the first search results on Google? How is anyone supposed to find them?

This is where SEO comes in! These strategies help businesses, organisations, and websites come up on the first page of search results based on the keywords of their business. So, in this case, the keywords were “mechanics in [insert the name of your town].” Keywords are essentially the words customers use to find a website, business, or answer using a search engine.

Think of a website as a ‘digital storefront.’ The more traffic and reach a website can get, the more visibility the organisation gets!

SEO is becoming increasingly essential in digital marketing. This starts with understanding how to write and create optimised content for websites. Of course, we know website marketing and SEO can’t be learned in a day… But, by providing a basic understanding of these concepts, we can help you feel confident and keep up with the latest marketing trends.

We begin this journey in the reading portion of this Module. Get ready to understand the importance of websites in business and the basics of increasing website traffic, improving SEO, writing web content, and using standard website software such as WordPress… Here’s to learning!”