One of the biggest mistakes businesses often make when it comes to SEO is to have massive amount of content on a site that is poorly designed or lacks a “call to action“. This is frustrating for the visitor/prospect that will probably leave your site right away. Below are some steps you can implement to avoid this issue, as well as tips to design/develop a site that customers and search engines will like.
Step One: Understand Your Potential Customers
A lot of business owners tend to develop online stores or websites that are appealing to THEM. Do your research and design a site with the components or elements that your “target market” is going to like. If you are selling women’s shoes, make sure you are using nice soft colors (pink, light purple, etc) . These are web design/marketing elements that you have to have in order to increase your sales conversion. Keep in mind that the more time visitors spend on your site, the better for your rankings. In addition, the right “call to action” has to be on your homepage to make sure these visitors follow the “NEXT” step you want them to follow (add an item to cart, check SPECIALS page, submit a form, sign up for a seminar, etc). You have to communicate this value “proposition” to visitors as soon as they enter your website.
Step 2: Don’t Attempt to Create a Masterpiece
Websites don’t need to be “pretty” but they do need to look professional/clean to deliver that first GREAT impression. Make sure your site has the right functionality and that emphasize credibility that is very important to build/improve your brand. As i mentioned earlier, make sure that you are designing the site to make sure the “target” market you are going after are comfortable with your design and content. A website that looks “cheap” can destroy the credibility of your business and detract from your brand.
Step 3: Create Good Content
Your main goal when writing content for your site is to INFORM the reader. I have seen plenty websites with content that was done to trick the search engines “algo” to obtain better rankings. Your content should be concise and with a purpose. The less the better in some instances. Additionally, every page on your site should have a purpose so visitors know what the next step is after reading your content.
Step 4: Easy Navigation
Having an easy navigation is key. A user-friendly navigation will allow customer to quickly find the service or product they are looking for. When developing your top navigation, make sure you are using a “medium” size font to accommodate users accessing the site using mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPad, Galaxy phones, etc. Mobile traffic is now nearly 21% of all the traffic out there.
Make sure your icons and left/right navigation includes or widgets are easy to access on mobile devices. For top menus/navigation I will recommend using H1 tags. You can make this text look “pretty” by editing your CCS style sheet file.
Step 5: Measure & Improve
Once all these elements are in place. Make sure to measure the results by analyzing your Google analytics reports. You will probably want to check your bounce rate report as well as how long (time) visitors are staying on your homepage, category pages, services or product pages. A good way to track this data is by creating “funnels” in Google Analytics. This “funnels” will also give you a better understanding on website traffic, card abandonment, form submissions, etc. Last but not least. monitor your website rankings. This new UNIQUE content will help your organic visibility.
Conclusion
When design and writing content, keep in mind that you are writing for “humans” and not the search engines. Your “sales pitch” needs to be GOOD and accessible to people and not just search engines.
