Introduction

Most companies employ a web designer to create their website thinking the job is done when they see a lovely swanky website created for them in place of their old outdated site. It is crucial to have a website that is designed in such a way that it will keep the end user engaged. However, apart from the aesthetics of a well designed site it must also employ SEO [Search Engine Optimisation] techniques to ensure that it ranks well with the search engines [Google | Bing | Yahoo]. Is there much point in having a company website if people can’t find it through the searches they conduct online? Did you know that 1 out of 10 web designers does not think SEO is necessary. Now that is a seriously scary statistic! Web designers are primarily interested in making your website look nice, and are not concerned whether your site is found on the SERPS [Search Engine Results Page]. A digital marketing agency however is interested in getting your website top of the organic listings and being found by those users who are looking for services and products that your company offers. The purpose of this article is to outline that a dual approach i.e amalgamating SEO and Web Design together will yield a better outcome in terms of generating unique user vists to your website.

Is my website search engine friendly?

This is a question you will need to ask your Marketing manager. If your website is not search engine friendly, it is a sure fire way of losing a significant amount of traffic to your website. You have to remember that end users only find your site through the relevant searches by way of the search engines. Can you afford to miss out on gaining some potential clients, especially in today’s climate? If not, you must look to optimise your website so it can be found easily online.

The biggest challenge for any company is trying to win new business. Communicating effectively with your target market via your website can help you do just that.Do you have a massive marketing budget to spend on promoting your website though traditional advertising/marketing channels? The answer more often than not is no. Traditional marketing can be an effective strategy but it is not targeted, and can also be cost prohibitive. Good website design must incorporate SEO techniques in order to guarantee success. Digital marketing agencies are more qualified to give you the right advice in this area. As a rule of thumb they get to know your business needs first before any recommendations are made. As a result, you won’t be buying design solutions that are solely image driven as opposed to being business driven. Finding the optimum solution for the design of the website [look & feel] and analysing an SEO strategy is what we do best in Superior Internet Marketing.Whatever strategies we devise they are designed to adapt as your business grows and changes in the future. A digital marketing agency sees your website as a digital sales person, a unique tool that has the power to increase sales revenue. A website with poor design will fail to generate interest with the end user. As a result they will leave your site very quickly if it does not appeal.

Limitations of Design Only Websites

Websites that have been designed without any form of SEO in mind can cause havoc with the search engines. Web designers use a lot of splash to make a website appeal more to the end user, but this can have an adverse affect on your website being ranked as the spiders [programs that crawl webpages] have problems with it. You will need to see if your website has any of the following.

• Content: Is the content on your website relevant? Is it being updated on a regular basis?Good content is very important for keeping the end user engaged. Google also likes websites that are regularly updated, so it will be good for SEO purposes.

• • Splash Pages: Do you have a splash page on your homepage? Often come up as banner images with a link for example “Click Here To Enter”.
    • If “Enter” link is embedded in the Flash object, it can prevent Spiders following the link
  • Flash Menus:Does your site have flash menus?
    • If so, important to know that they can’t be seen by the Search Engines.
  • Flash Content & Image: Does your site have important content and keywords in Flash and images?
    • Please note spiders can’t read the text in the flash image.
  • Title Tags Mistakes:Are your title tags different for every page of your site? Are they exceeding the 65 character limit? Are they overstuffed with the same keyword?
    • If so the search engines will see this as spam. Your Title Tags must be unique for every page on your site and be constructed properly.
  • Unfriendly Urls: Does your website have friendly urls?
    • An example of a friendly url [domain.com/page- title]
    • Example of Dynamic URL: domain.com/?p=24578
  • Friendly urls are good for end user experience and the search engines.
  • Empty Alt Altribute: Do the images on your website have empty alt attributes [ie no description associated to images on your site]? Because search engines can’t see images, there must be a description for these images.
    • Having Alt altributes associated This can help with rankings in Google images.

Features Your Website Must Have

Good website optimisation and enhanced webpage design can make a big difference in terms of success or failure of your website. Googles job is to provide the best user experience so your website must have good appeal and site structure. Some considerations when updating or building a new website.

• • Target Market: Do you know who your target market is?
    • Large Companies/ SME Sector/Business Owners/Business Individuals
  • Competition: Have you researched your competitors websites?
    • Required for insight, knowing your USP’s, your strenghts & weaknesses versus your competitors.
  • Logo Creation
    • Think of what you want to convey through the logo? Ensure that it inspires trust/confidence.Must revert back to Homepage.
  • Tagline
    • Think of a catchy tagline that describes your company or service well. Keep it simple, short & sweet.
  • Social Media Buttons
    • Include Facebook [ F ], Twitter [T], Youtube [ YT], & [RSS]. Make sure the buttons are visible on webiste, and not hidden where user has to search to find them.
  • Website Content
    • Know goals of site so as to communicate effectively with your market place.
    • Know your keywords, build a keyword list. Optimise keywords based on traffic source and relevancy.
    • Include relevant and interesting content.Keep user’s interest & minimise distractions.
      • Update on a regular basis (News/Blog/Articles)
  • USP
    • Know your value proposition & include some testimonials to inspire trust.
      • Position value proposition above the fold on the Home Page.
      • Each page | One purpose | Have an outcome in mind
      • Avoid options (leads to confusion). “A confused person does not take action”.
      • Target 1 Keyword per page, helps website rankings & conversions.
      • Good call to action on each page. Examples [Prominent & findable phone number /Collect eMail Address/Download Articles etc]
        • About Us Page/Must have credibility/Talk about your results, services and benefits.

         

         

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