6.1. EDSR 04-16-2018 ��i
Eof
lk — - Request for Action
River
To Item Number
Economic Development Authori 6.1
Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by
General Business Aril 16, 2018 Amanda Othoudt,EDD
Item Description Reviewed by
Director's Report Cal Portner, City Administrator
Reviewed by
Action Requested
Information presented for discussion only to keep the EDA updated on development activity.
Background/Discussion
BUSINESS VISITS
Four BR&E visits have been conducted. Four more are scheduled. Please RSVP if you are able to attend.
MISCELLANEOUS
Beautification Awards
Beautification Award Program is advertised on our social media outlets and platforms. Our first
applications of the year are expected in May.
Site Selector Guild Conference
The city participated as a Gold Sponsor along with DEED,APEX, GRE,IRRRB, GreaterMSP,and the
cities of Fairmont and Becker.Andy Cohen, CO-CEO of Gensler,a renowned global design firm
presented on autonomous vehicles. I had the opportunity reconnect with 48 guild members from around
the world. As a Gold Sponsor, our delegation hosted a lunch with 11 guild members. This is a unique
opportunity to network one-on-one with each of the members and sell our community!
Youth Skills Training Program
ISD #728 received good news this month as a letter of intent was approved for the Youth Skills Training
Grant.Amy Lord, CTE Coordinator has started the RFP application. They would like to thank you for
your partnership and support.
EDA Retreat
Staff is planning to schedule an EDA retreat on Friday,May 25, 2018, to discuss goals, strategic plan and
establishing a framework for a marketing committee as discussed at the March 19, 2018, meeting.
Agendas and supporting information will be sent out soon.
NEW POLICIES
Staff is working on two new policies for the acquisition and sale of city-owned property. Draft policies
will be available for review at the May 21, 2018, meeting.
The Elk River Vision
A Y�elcoming community nvith revolutionary and spirited resourcefulness, exceptional p D W E H E D D Y
service, and community engagement that encourages and inspires prosperity ,g /` UR
Revolving Loan Fund Balance Reports
At the request of members, a copy of the Revolving Loan Fund report is attached.
Financial Impact
N/A
Attachments
■ Revolving Loan Fund Report
■ Golden Shovel Q1 2018 Report
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Golden Shove%N I
GROUN D13 REA 1<1 NG
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
COMMUNICATIONS
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Prepared for Golden Shovel Agency
43 East Broadway Street
City of Elk River Economic Little Falls, MN 56345
Development Phone: (320) 639-0110
Toll Free: (888) 266-4778
www.GoldenShovelAgency.com
Quarterly Analytics Report
Q1 2018
Confidential:This report is intended solely for the use of the addressee and may contain confidential information.Any dissemination,
distribution,copying,or other use of this document is strictly prohibited.
Website: City of Elk River Economic Development http://econdev.elkrivermn.gov
What's new for your Economic
Gateway Website?
Firstuarter has been full of new improvements.
q
Our cutting-edge innovations provide you with
the most efficient technology we can offer so
your community always looks exceptional. Our
initial focus of 2018 has been to provide updates
that ensure security, enhance your website's
capabilities, and improve site functionality. By
providing you with more responsive tools, your
site is always running at top efficiency. Golden Shovel is working to help your organization meet market
demands.
Here is a list of Quarter 2018 improvements and enhancements that you received:
Google reCAPTCHA
All built-in forms (public submission and contact) have been upgraded to use reCAPTCHA v2, which offers
a more attractive and user friendly interface.
Formtools Implementation
Golden Shovel has implemented a third-party tool which allows us to create simple custom-use forms while
avoiding outside branding.
Report Maker Security Improvement
The Report Maker tool's PDF export functionality was modified to prevent users from being able to view
previously exported reports from another user.
Residential Real Estate Improvement
Modifications were made to the new residential real estate template based on client input to optimize the
appearance and functionality.
Improved Projects Video Support
The validation on the Projects' module's video path field has been updated to allow special characters in
YouTube video ids.
Staff Page Filtering Continuity
The responsive staff template has been updated so that upon submission of a contact request, all previous
filters are reapplied to the reloaded page.
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Groundbreaking Economic Development Communications Page 1
We also have many exciting developments planned for this year and we will share these exciting
developments on your monthly GateKeeper meetings and through our newsletter.
Where have we been lately?
Our team started the year strong traveling across
the country and we have attended many events
and conferences. We are always staying on top of
the best practices and new trends in the
economic development industry so our clients
have the most current information.
• Economic Development Association of
Minnesota(EDAM) 2018 Winter
Conference- Minneapolis, MN.
• International Economic Development Council (IEDC) 2018 Leadership Conference - Las Vegas, NV.
• NET Conference 2018 - St. Petersburg, FL.
• California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED) - Monterey, CA.
Don't get behind!
There is always something new out there!
Technology evolves everyday and strategies need
to adapt. Our expert webinar series is a valuable
resource, available to you at no additional cost,
and the sessions are planned and prepared to
specifically keep you informed of economic
development trends and technologies. Last
quarter we hosted some great sessions including
the following:
• Please Mind Your Business - Presented by Mark Hays, SizeUp LBI National Sales Executive. Do
you mind your business? More specifically, do you mind your small businesses? It is widely known
that the heavy majority of net new jobs created over the next 10 years will be from entrepreneurship
yet most economic developers are spending the majority of their time recruiting big business. During
this webinar we took a look at just how crucial small businesses are to a local economy. Did you
miss the live session?Watch the recording here!
• How to put funding muscle behind your strategic plan - Presented by Tom DiFiore, President of
National Community Development Services(NCDS). Strategic plans and the strategic planning
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Groundbreaking Economic Development Communications Page 2
process are vital to organizational relevance and value. And they often create new energy and
enthusiasm among staff and volunteers. But without new resources to implement them, these plans
often fail to meet heightened expectations, or risk becoming the dreaded binder gathering dust on a
shelf. In this webinar we shared five-steps to make sure your strategic plan gets funded and fully
implemented. Watch the recording here!
• Bringing Success to Small Towns - Presented by Aaron Brossoit, CEO of Golden Shovel Agency.
The economic development industry is changing faster than ever as new approaches and
technologies are being deployed. Learn how virtual reality, regional connectivity, big data and lead
tracking are adding fresh sophistication to small town economic development marketing. Through
examples and case studies of progressive cooperatives, you'll see how utilizing these new
technologies can convert an aspirational success story into qualified business attraction leads.
Watch the recording here!
• What kind of economic developer do you want to be? -We recognize how busy economic
developers can be and we know the job is demanding. Golden Shovel offered the opportunity for you
to just listen and learn and take a little time for yourself to hear from your peers and introduced a
panel of economic developers who have experienced success and are leading their communities
through growth and transformation. Watch the recording here!
Save your seat for our upcoming Free Expert Webinar!
Advance SEO for Economic Developers: A Look Behind the
Curtain
Advanced SEO involves a complex process that begins with a content strategy.
Ultimately, the goal of search engine optimization (SEO) is for a website to pull up
at the top of an organic search. With so many websites available, Google spiders
have to crawl websites to determine what they are about and then to determine if
a site is authoritative/valuable or not. Golden Shovel Agency will demystify
advance SEO and share content strategies on this free webinar. Registration is
free, but space is limited. Register here and save your seat today!
Now it's official. Spring is here and it's time for growth. That is always good news for economic
development and our friends across the country are seeing activity warm up...so, we are looking
forward to an exciting second quarter and look forward to seeing you soon!
The Golden Shovel Team.
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Groundbreaking Economic Development Communications Page 3
Community Awareness as a Website Strategy
Building a successful community awareness campaign begins with a
robust content management strategy with strategic SEO processes. Even
when metrics can play an important role for an organization and for many
cases, help to better understand how things work, Golden Shovel Agency
clients that see the most growth in their website traffic regularly send out
success stories and relevant content to build a following. That's why we
believe community awareness is the key for a successful website strategy.
Metrics
The following metrics are mainly intended to provide you with a general
overview of your website's performance through Q1 2018.
' Elk River [T GO TO REPORT
All Web Site Data
Audience Overview
UAll Users Jan 1,2018-Mar 31,2018
100.00%Users
Overview
• Users
120
60
... Jan 15 Jan 29 Feb 12 Feb 26 Mar 12
■New Visitor ■Returning Visitor
Users New Users Sessions
719 682 917
Number of Sessions per User Pageviews Pages/Session
1.28 2,814 3.07
40JO
Avg.Session Duration Bounce Rate
00:01:56 50.60%
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Country I Users • Users •
716 716
%of Total:99.58%(719) %of Total:99.58%(719)
1. United States 637 88.97%
2. South Korea 27 13.77%
3. Peru 26 13.63%
4. Philippines 811.12%
5. Canada 610.84%
6. Brazil 2 10.28%
7. Mexico 2 10.28%
B. Russia 2 10.28%
9. Germany 1 0.14%
10. Spain 1 0.14%
Most Visited Pages
Pepe Tide Pa eviews • Pe views •
2,814 2,814
%of Total:100.00%(2,814) %of Total:100.00%(2,814)
1. Elk River Economic Development-Imap 628 22.32%
2. Elk River Economic Development 513 18.23%
3 Elk River Economic Development-Elk River Economic Development Site 138 -4.90%
Selectors-Available Sites and Properties
4. Elk River Housing and Redevelopment Authority 131 4.66%
5. City of Elk River Economic Development Featured Projects 87 =3.09%
6. Elk River City News-Financing for business 67 02.38%
7. Elk River Economic Development Business Financing 64 2.27%
B. Elk River Economic Development Staff 60 2.13%
9. Elk River Economic Development Resources 55 1.95%
10. Elk River Economic Development Community Profile 54 01.92%
11. Elk River City News 49 01.74%
12. Elk River Economic Development Housing Resources 49 01.74%
13. Elk River Economic Development News 49 01.74%
14. Elk River Economic Development Business Directory 43 E 1.53%
15. Contact Elk River Economic Development 34 §11.21%
16. Elk River City News-Engineering a better community 34 1.21%
17. Elk River Economic Development Authority 34 1.21%
18. Elk River,MN Amenities 32 1.14%
19. Elk River City News-Hearth building new senior housing 31 11.10%
20. Elk River City News-Informational Meeting for Interested Developers 31 1.10%
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Visitors Acquisition Channels
Default Channel Grouping Users •I Users Contribution to total:I Users
719 719
%of Total:100.00%(719) %of Total.100.00
(719)
1. ■Direct 381 52.19%
2. ■Social 179 24.52%
3. ■Organic Search 146 20.00%
4. Referral 23 3.15%
5. ■(Other) 1 0.14%
Visits by State and City (Top 10)
1 489
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Region Users •I Users •
603 603
%of Total:83.87%(719) %of Total:83.87%(719)
1. Minnesota 489 80.16%
2. Illinois 22 j3.61%
3. Texas 14 12.30%
4. Wisconsin 811.31%
5. Florida 711.15%
6. Virginia 711.15%
7. Nebraska 610.98%
8. California 510.82%
9. Kansas 510.82%
10. North Dakota 4 10.66%
CRY users •IUsers
599 599
%of Total:83.31%(719) %of Total:83.31%(719)
1. Elk River 143 22.88%
2. Minneapolis 94 -15.04%
3. Saint Paul 20 3.20%
4. Chicago 17 2.72%
5. St.Cloud 17 2.72%
6. Big Lake 14 2.24%
7. Zimmerman 13 2.08%
8. Otsego 12 1.92%
9. Monticello 11 01.76%
10. Saint Michael 11 01.76%
Google Analytics
Total Visitors : 719 Rank by Keywords 832 Followers 831 Likes 244 Followers
New: 682 • Elk river economic (vs. 819 in Q4) (vs. 819 in Q4) (vs. 234 in 04)
Returning: 37 development: #1 of
268,000 pages
0 Elk river economic
growth: # 1 of
160,000 pages
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