Forum - October 2018

We started off the Forum with an introduction and welcome from Americaneagle.com owners, Tony and Mike Svanascini, who gave attendees an update on the latest and greatest from Americaneagle.com. Our keynote speaker, Melanie King, Manager of IT Projects & National Accounts at Dairy Queen, discussed their project with Americaneagle.com and the success they’ve seen thus far!

Studying actual data from your website can help you greatly improve how effectively you are accomplishing your goals with your audience. In this session, Tim Ahlenius, Director of Digital Strategy, discussed what kind of data is captured by your website and through Google Analytics, along with how these tools can be used to gain further insight into your site’s performance and your customers/visitors.

This session was intended for professionals who already have a good working knowledge of utilizing website data and other performance tools such as Google Analytics, but want to be able to take a deeper dive into the world of metrics and reporting. We discussed reports to pay attention to, important metrics and dimensions to utilize, and much more.

When a person goes online to use Google, it’s critically important that your website ranks as highly as possible in returned search results. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is what makes your website stand out from the competition. In this session, subject matter experts discussed the latest insights in successful SEO / SEM and the newest industry trends. In addition, the presentation covered the latest updates from Google this year.

What do marriage, talking to your teenager, and participating in a website-build project all have in common? Communication is the foundation of all of these endeavors. Building or relaunching a website is comprised of many moving parts and it can be a challenge to keep the project moving forward in a harmonious fashion. Our top project managers as well as a long-time customer, Capstone, talked about the “glue” that holds everything together and how to overcome the occasional road blocks that may pop up.

Your sitemap is the foundation of your website. It also plays a critical role in major search engines (such as Google) being able to find your landing pages when crawling for information. Sitemaps can become “untidy” from years of different people working on them. If you feel that your site map is suffering from “too many cooks in the kitchen” syndrome, then this session was for you. This presentation focused on how to clean up your sitemap and make it the effective tool it once was. In addition, we discussed the in-depth relationship between the successful use of content and a well-functioning sitemap.

A great marketing calendar is essential to keeping your business in front of the right audience. Even the most creative of marketing efforts will fail if they are not backed by an effective method to keep them on track. In this session, we discussed how to create a marketing calendar and how important it is to successfully communicate your message to visitors and customers. Marketing calendars ensure you maximize effectiveness across various channels in a cohesive and strategic way. Watch the recording to hear about tips on the do’s and dont's of marketing calendars and how they can play a big role in your success.

Regulations regarding websites get more demanding every year. Whether the topic is the protection of personal information or website accessibility for people with disabilities, it is difficult to not only keep up with the latest information but also even know if you are in compliance. During this session, our top subject matter experts made sense of the complicated areas of complying with ADA/WCAG, GDPR and more! This session was meant to help you better understand your obligations under these regulations and ways you can grow closer to compliance.

It’s not just ecommerce sites that are concerned about driving more web traffic and increasing conversions. In this session, we discussed strategies around how informational-based websites can direct more visitors to their site and also increase the rate of which users convert or take action. We also reviewed the current trends related to these topics!

If you were looking to have some fun and also learn about what 2019 is going to bring to the world of ecommerce, then this session was created just for you. In an entertaining and interactive format, our subject matter experts morphed into game show hosts to reveal everything you needed to know about improving your customer's ecommerce experience in 2019.

It’s hard to imagine that the Internet has only been accessible to the public for less than 30 years. What was hot on the Web only 5 years ago is now considered ancient history. During this session, we polished off the Americaneagle.com crystal ball and made some bold predictions about the future of the Internet. We had an exciting group of presenter who each discussed the road ahead from their own unique perspective and area of expertise.

TV and radio advertising can still be a powerful part of a marketing plan to reach your target audience. However, these mediums must be done correctly if you are going to maximize their effectiveness. During this session, our subject matter experts shared some market-tested strategies on how to get the most out of TV and radio spots and the part they play in your overall marketing efforts.