So many tips, so little time. But you’ve stuck with it, followed all the best practices and you have a fantastic site.
You’re ready for the world to see it and happily imagining how all your hard work and planning will pay off when your site is out there generating tons of business and impressing the world. What? It’s not out there? Well, that could be because you forgot about this little tip.
Tip #8: A Website Should Be Search Engine Friendly
Chances are the world is going to discover your site through the search engines. Even customers who know your site’s address may still go to search engines to type in your company name or web address to reach the site, rather than typing the address directly into a browser.
You don’t care how it’s done, all you know is that if a person goes to Google and types in “really great product”, you want your site to be listed at the top.
There are a lot of components that go into making a site search friendly – from the design, to the keywords, to the server your site is hosted on. While there is no magic bullet, if you build a quality, standards-compliant web site, you’re already ahead of the game.
When dealing with search engines, you want to keep one important word in mind: text, text, text. Search engines cannot “read” pictures. They cannot read flashing buttons or sparkling images or cool animations. Eliminate the unnecessary bells and whistles and focus on the content. Chances are you don’t need your logo to blink and sing the National Anthem. If you have quality, well organized and well-written content on your site, you have a better chance of being ranked highly in the minds of your visitors and in the search engine listings.
You will also need to consider the keywords that your potential customers will be using to find your site, because even the most fantastically built site in the world won’t hit their radar if they’re searching for keywords that aren’t included on your site.
Keep in mind that “search engine friendly” does not mean “top of Google”. It simply means that when search crawlers visit, your site does not drive them away or land your site somewhere in obscurity.
Building a search engine friendly site starts in the planning phase (if you’re keeping up with these tips, you’d better not be surprised!) and should be executed throughout the development process so that by the time your site is ready for the world, it’s also ready for the search engines.
Is your site search engine friendly? What have you done to make sure it is?
Read More In The “Building A Good Website” Series
- Tip #1: A Website Should Be Informative
- Tip #2: Information Should Be Well Organized And Properly Distributed
- Tip #3: Information Should Be Relevant
- Tip #4: A Website Should Be Easy To Use And Navigate
- Tip #5: A Good Website Contains A Call To Action
- Tip #6: Forms Should Be Easy To Use And Understand
- Tip #7: News, Blogs And Social Media Should Be Updated Regularly
- Tip #8: A Website Should Be Search Engine Friendly
- Tip #9: Your Website Should Be At Least As Good As Your Competitor’s
- Tip #10: A Website Should Be Part Of The Big Picture
