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Be Obvious. Be Simple. Be Smart: Tips for Designing a Stellar Website

05 2008 Friday

By Sarah Lamansky in Featured

You have the layout complete. The text is done. Let’s Build! Wait. Make sure you have all your ducks in a row first before throwing up any old website. Stand out, be different, and showcase your product in a stellar setting. Check out these tips for designing a website that will quickly convert traffic to sales! Clean code with a crisp marketing message, coupled with a search engine friendly design might just knock the socks off any search engine that comes crawling your way.

Slappin’ Ya in the Face Obvious

You’d be surprised by how many people say, “…but my phone number is right there!” …But is it, really? Is your call to action on your website so pronounced that it practically hits your potential buyer-customer square between the eyes? If not, you might want to fix that. Studies show five seconds is all you’ve got to captivate your audience with a bright call to action, or a custom graphic to make it obvious. Hook, line and sinker them with a sheer cut, eye popping call to action! Whether it’s a “Call Today”, “Book It”, or “Buy Now” - make sure the Pick ME cue is apparent and obvious to your target audience.

Get Ready to Rumble…

We’re all human. Competition runs in our blood. Everyone wants to be first or “the best”…carry this attitude over your website and you are sure to beat out your competition! Your website is your virtual store, and if you don’t possess this thinking already, you need to. Invest in your website, as its seen 24 hours a day, seven days a week by potential clients all over the world. Be prepared and get educated, as a website is a terrible thing to waste. The good old days of tweaking things here and there and wham! …top ten placements, is over. Invest your time and hire a good SEO firm to help you market your business the right way.

Find out who’s the hottest in your industry and make it a goal to beat them. With over 180 million searches on the web today, it is imperative to research keyword phrases that your competition is going after. What are their marketing tactics and are they working? Do they have an email campaign located on-site? What are their credentials? Does the website offer coupons, discounts or hot deals? It’s the internet my friend, the competition is steep and all bets are off. So, roll up your sleeves, put on your gloves, and get ready to rumble! Or, research an internet marketing firm that specializes in both search engine optimization and website design that can fight the battle for you.

Simple Simon Wins

Being a “Simpleton” ain’t all that bad these days. Just because the world turns at record breaking speeds doesn’t mean your website has to. Too much going on, whether there are words upon words, or graphics up the wazoo, can do more harm than good. Be cautious before slapping up just any old image or using too much text to get your point across. We all know that “Content is King!”, but Optimized Content reigns supreme. By strategically placing the right keywords in your Title Tags, Meta Data Tags and throughout the body of your website, your business will benefit. Clean design, concise code, and fresh marketing ideas that are clear to the end user will help you get the leads and generate the desired sales you are looking for.

Optimize, Optimize, Optimize!

Search engine optimization…what’s all the hype about!? Internet competition is booming -open your eyes and smell the code! If you have a beautiful website, but it’s not converting…you’ve wasted your time and money. A well built website with search engine optimization in mind is a goldmine at your finger tips. What’s the first step in optimization? Researching and determining a list of keywords that will drive traffic to the site and convert into sales. Test out various keywords, find out what your competition is and let it ride. For the keywords that don’t convert, bag ‘em. Expand your focus to reach broad based keywords as well as long tail keyword phrases. The narrower the keyword is, the more likely the user will convert on your page.

Widgets are In

What is a widget? Widgets aid in the process of interacting with your target audience. When your potential customer/buyer installs your widget on their webpage, blog or social media networking profile - you have won a valuable friend! Widgets provide a great way to strengthen the bond between your existing customers and any newbie’s who are interested in your product. Get new customers and provide a widget for them to interact with you. Personalization is “key”. Almost anything can become a widget - from games to stock tickers or audio players - put your thinking caps on and give your customers the option!

Smarty Pants Always Test.

This is true. Successful websites are successful because webmasters test their work. A great way to test your website to see if your design is working is through the A/B Split method. These tests run concurrently, at least for a couple of weeks to gain true results. A/B testing provides real world, data-driven, unbiased results based on your target market. There is now even an easy to use A/B Split testing program through the Google Website Optimizer tool! Check it out and win big. Go ahead - be a smarty pants…you know you want to!

Time to Analyze

Yes, folks - it’s time to analyze. You might think the hard work is done, but it’s now time to see if all your work has paid off successfully. You’ve created this gorgeous website perfectly equipped with clear calls to action, clean code and search engine friendly site architecture - now what? Let it ride and hope for the best? NO! Test, test and analyze your findings.

Does your hosting company offer a stats program? If so, fire that baby up and analyze what is working, what can be tossed out and what needs to be amped up. Focus on unique visitors, time on site, referrals, and what keyword phrases are driving the most targeted traffic. A stat program is your friend, NOT your enemy. Embrace your website’s analytics and learn from them to tailor your website, your search engine optimization and your business model after this information. Google also has a free analytics program that involves placing a simple code before the </body> tag on pages you’d like to track. Fast, effective and proven.

If you are a “do-it-yourselfer”, I hope these tips helped you with the marketing of your business. If you are too busy and are looking for a firm to handle both the building of your website and the marketing - research a good SEO firm. Count on a professional internet marketing company to shine through and get your hard work to pay off. Good luck!

About:

Sarah Lamansky is a Search Engine Marketing Manager at Mannix Marketing, Inc. in Glens Falls, NY. Please contact us for all of your search engine marketing, website design/development and advertising needs. With a positive approach, streamlined goals, and over Ten Years in the search engine optimization industry, We Get You Found On The Web AND increase your sales. For website tips, advertising ideas or a FREE search engine optimization quote, please contact us. Got ten minutes? Let’s talk.

Web designers, what spiders want from you?

05 2008 Monday

By Ahmed Bassel in Featured

As a web designer what should you know in order to build a search engine friendly website, what points you need to cover and what tools you need to use.

First let’s all agree that we professional web designers do write good semantic markup and not the old fashion table based designs. This is something essential, why? Because search engines are just like people, they don’t like to read a lot of unnecessary markup and get board quickly that they might leave your website before they crawl it all. They also can’t determine which part of the markup is important and which is not such as lists, menu or titles.
That’s why you should make sure that you are inserting the right markup in the right place. I’m not saying that writing the semantic markup will boost up your traffic and put you at the top of the SERPs but it will make crawling and understanding of your website much easier.

Now how do we make the search engine spider while visiting our website knows the good pieces of that site? That’s very simple and we will come to it.

Header

Let’s start our journey; what you need to do first is to add the regular Meta data at the top of your HTML header, title tag followed by keywords tag, and finally the description tag - in this order; then you can attach JavaScript’s and CSS files. Why? Because search engines will read these pieces of information the first thing, so if they are at the top you will make their life much easier.

Please note that every page has its own unique Meta data, so don’t duplicate the Meta data and use it on every page of your website.
Footer, the power

Let’s tackle something else, let’s talk about the footer. Footer where you add the copyrights and some other links is a good place for another navigational element using your keywords listed in <UL> as you did with the navigation above.

This is not spamming and we are not stuffing the page with tones of unnecessary links, for some websites this could be very good especially if your website have long pages, so when users reach the end of the page (if they did scroll) they will find another navigational assistant.

Your body, the gold mine

Now, let’s go to the next part of your exercise, it’s the body; the base of all the good information that search engines are crawling to find.

In the body of your HTML make sure to start your markup with the menu or your navigation DIV and give it an ID call it navigation or menu or whatever you want to call it, by this the first thing search engine finds when it comes to the body is the navigation where usually your most important keywords are listed there.

Put these navigational elements in a list <UL> because that’s what they are; and each one of them are titled with a description of its function. By this; search engine can crawl your whole website (Make sure that your navigation is consistent and exist in every page of your website, this is purely usability issue).
Note: If you are using flash, images, or JavaScript’s navigation then you better stop that as they are unrecognized by search engines and not accessible or usable at the same time.
Now you have built your navigation with links of your most important keywords and told the search engine that these are important items (as they are listed at the top of your body tag and are built as links, and each has its title attribute). Isn’t that’s fun and simple?

Note: adding the navigation at the top of your body tag doesn’t mean that it will appear at the top of the page, with CSS you can control that and float it to the right or left on your page.

Now we’ve covered two of the website parts, lets’ now dive in the most important part of your page. The content part where all the good stuff could be found (assuming you are building a good website that can benefit the mankind).
Since this part of the website is totally different from website to another and from webpage and the other even in the same website, so I will give general recommendations.
First start your content area with breadcrumb, breadcrumb is something very important for every website, it tells the users where they are, and it’s a good place to add your keywords to it with descriptive title attributes.
Breadcrumbs are supposed to be at the top of the content area and, they are the first thing a search engine read when crawling this area.

Second add to your content area the most important keywords as heading for that part, use <H1><H2><H3> for that. By this search engine spider will understand that you are pointing it to an important area of your website. The idea is to use the appropriate markup to present your content.

Note: it’s not recommended to stuff your page with keywords and links, so use them wise and carefully or it will turn on you. What is good for users is good for search engine spiders as well. Search engines are tools people use them to reach their goals.

As a web designer you can control the placement for each element inside that area and according to it’s impotence you can take it upper from the markup side.
Your recommendation for the layout is very important in this stage, that’s why you should have a strong understanding of the nature of every page in the website and every section.
Connectable

Try to make your pages reachable by two to three clicks and are connected to each other where I can reach the first page from the third one and vise versus. You also want to decrease the links to external pages, so avoid elements as much as you can that are pointing to other website (this is differ from website to another depending on their nature and objective).
While we are talking about links; put into your mind to limit your page links to 100 according to Google recommendations.

Always use title tag and link attributes for your images and links, this is very good place to add extra keywords (but don’t use this to spam the spiders).

File size is considerable

While building your page always remember light is good, so try to avoid 200KB websites and try to limit your self with 30 to 40 KB with higher text to code ratio.
Rich Internet Application

Try to avoid adding your content that has your most important keywords inside flash, JavaScript’s, AJAX or images. Don’t hide that valuable content from the search engine spiders. Always remember that building a website is for professional and you are that one, your recommendations should be for the client and the user benefit.

Let’s sum it up

I think by this I’ve reached the end of the story on how should you as a professional web designer build your website, what are the good elements and how to structure your layout. You should know that there are a lot of elements that control website ranking, what we’ve discussed here was the web designer part of the equation and nothing more. Always depend on the standard instead of trying to work around the system.

My aim of this article is to highlight the web designer part for designing usable and in the same time search engine optimized pages.

About the author

I’m currently employed as Creative & Media Manager at Linkonline a wholly owned subsidiary of LINKdotNET in Cairo, Egypt. Most know me as web designer, search engine optimizer, user experience consultant or any combination of the three.

Webmasters: Five Ways To Increase Conversion On Your Site

04 2008 Monday

By Will Kalif in Featured

Five Powerful Tips for New Webmasters Being a new webmaster can be a challenge. There are a thousand different ways you can go and a thousand different things you can do. Here are five powerful tips to help you gain a good understanding of what you really need to do to make your website a success.

Tip One: Realize that your website is not a website; It is a collection of web pages. And each web page is an individual unit that should stand on its own. This sounds funny but it is very true, and very important, particularly for the new webmaster. The large search engines have made the web one big website. People search for things and will re-search and flip through websites with no concern for website loyalty. They are looking for answers to their questions and the search engines have made it easy to use the whole web as an answer finding tool. You will, over time build visitor loyalty but it will only come once visitors develop confidence in the quality of your website.

Tip Two: People will not click on your advertisements, product banners, or other affiliate sales stuff unless you give them a reason to. No need to put up pages with lots of affiliate links in the hope of making revenue -unless you give them good content that helps them make a decision to buy. If you put up recommended products for them to buy you need to explain to them the benefits, features, and the pros and cons of the product. Web customers come in two different types. The first type is ready to buy. And they will go directly to the big retailers. The second type and this is the type you are looking for, is gathering information that will help them make a good buying decision. Give them good information and give them the tools they need to make an informed buying decision. If they want to buy something they will just go to the big online retailers. Your role as a little webmaster is to enhance their understanding and help them in unique ways to make buying decisions.

How to Get What You Want from Your Website Designer

04 2008 Tuesday

By admin in Featured

If you’ve been involved in the design of your company’s web site, you probably already know how difficult it can be to convey the type of website design you want.

Website design is a matter of personal taste. What one person finds attractive and professional, you may not and vice versa. Oftentimes, what you want is a matter of “I’ll know it when I see it,” but unless your graphic designer is a mind reader, that’s not enough information to assure you’ll get what you visualized in your own head.

Below is a list of questions to help you solidify in your own mind and communicate to your website designer the look and feel you believe would best represent your company.

Website Design Questions

Do you prefer website designs that contain many different colors

(<http://www.reductionengineering.com/> as an example) or designs that use

fewer colors (<http://www.reissbuilt.com/>, for instance)?

Do you prefer bright colors (as on http://www.hmroyal.com/>) or muted

colors (as on <http://www.reissbuilt.com/>)?

Do you prefer website designs that have white backgrounds behind

the text (like <http://www.isternplastics.com/>) or colored backgrounds

behind the text (such as <http://www.purgeusa.com>)?

Do you prefer sites with black type for the main text (such as

<http://www.reliable-resins.com/>) or those with colored type for the main

text (like http://www.naturalgas-electric.com/)?

Do you prefer website designs with a horizontal layout (such as

<http://www.rotomachines.com/>) or a vertical layout (like

http://www.elmonteplastics.com/)?

Regarding navigation, which button locations do you prefer - horizontal across the top, down the left (as on <http://www.dbi-global.com/>) or the right side

(http://www.elkayplastics.com), in blocks (as on <http://www.be-ca.com/>),

or a combination of some horizontal and some vertical (as on

<http://www.jomarcorp.com/>)?

Do you want a straightforward, rendering of the logo,

or would prefer something with more color gradation or artistic treatment

(<http://www.utility-savings.net/> as an example)?

Does your company have a motto or tagline that should be incorporated into the design?

If yes, do you prefer the site tagline in a straightforward, headline-style format or do you prefer a more stylized format (as on

<http://www.evidencebags.com/> or <http://www.tecpapersdigital.com/>)?

Some sites have faded terms related to their businesses embedded in

images (<http://www.unitedpolychem.com/> and <http://www.pilotfishseo.com/>,

as two examples) -Do you like this technique?

Do you prefer sites with actual product images (as on

<http://www.elmonteplastics.com/>), or those with stock photographs that

evoke specific responses, such as a sense of dependability or

professionalism (<http://www.hmroyal.com/>, for example)?

Do you prefer website designs with straightforward, realistic photographs of

products or those that contain artistically altered images of products

(<http://www.airpowerusainc.com/>, <http://www.rotomachines.com/> and

<http://www.evidencebags.com> are examples)?

Do you prefer to have your product images on the left side (as with

<http://www.firestonepolymers.com/>), along the top (as with

http://www.polysort.com/ntm/index2.html) or down the right side (as with

<http://www.airpowerusainc.com>)?

Are there any logos for industry quality, certification programs or

association memberships that should be part of the site’s design? (See

<http://www.hmroyal.com> for example)

Of the sites you viewed above, please provide feedback on the following questions:

Which sites from the list of examples do you like best? And why?

Which do you dislike the most? Why?

As you review the sites, which company logo placements do you feel are the most appropriate for your company?

Which color schemes do you prefer, as you look at these sites? And why?

Which color schemes do you absolutely hate? Why?

Are there any other web sites that you have seen that you like or feel demonstrate the style of design you prefer?

Answering each of these questions will go a long way in helping your graphic designer to create a website design that satisfies your graphic sensibilities.

Angela Charles is president of Pilot Fish, a website design and SEO firm based in Akron, Ohio.

How To Make Your Website Structurally Sound

04 2008 Thursday

By Erin Ferree in Featured

You’ve decided to build a website. Great! Your first step is to determine its structure, the pages you want to include and the information you want provide to visitors. But how to begin?

Your first instinct may be to make your site different from everyone else’s. After all, trying to differentiate your business is what you’ve been doing throughout your branding process.

Building a website is like building a custom home

When you create a custom house, you can arrange your floor plan however you want, paint the walls as you please and fill the house with furniture you love. Your goal is to create a unique space that stands out from everyone else’s.

In the same vein, there are elements of your website where standing out makes sense. For example, the overall look of your site and your copy should be different from other sites, especially those of your competitors.

Differentiating your website is good for your small business to a point. What you don’t want to do is re-engineer its basic structure.

Standing out isn’t always the stable way to build

Underneath it all, even the most unique custom home has the same foundation and spacing between studs in the wall as every other house on the block.

By following underlying principles of construction, builders help ensure that the house is structurally sound. Why not use the same approach when it comes to your website? That way, your site is far more likely to work well for you.

To use site building rules, of course, you need to know what they are.

Rule 1: Do competitive research

Before someone sets out to build a custom house, they’ll probably do quite a lot of research looking at other houses, determining the architectural styles that appeal to them, and perhaps even checking out homes in the neighborhood where they want to build.

The same goes for your website. You need find out what you’re up against. Once you’re familiar with competitors’ sites, you can make sure that your site will not only be different in the right places, such as look and feel and content, but that it will also be comparable in the right places.

Most likely, your competitors have been building their sites for some time and probably updating them to answer customer questions and market their businesses more strongly. You don’t want prospects to pass you by because your site doesn’t answer an important question that a competitor has addressed.

Visiting other sites and making notes of basic structure, business information presented, customer questions answered and even relevant tools and articles gives you a jump start on creating a site that facilitates apples-to-apples comparisons.

Rule 2: Plan your site architecture

As you may suspect, planning your site architecture is like drawing up architectural plans for a custom house, where you plan just what you’ll include and what will go in each space. For example, do you want a library? A formal dining room? And where will you put the piano?

Similarly, for your website, you must decide the pages you’ll include and the information on each page.

When planning your site architecture, think about what you’d like your website to do for your business. Do you want it to bring in clients and close sales? If so, pricing information and even a shopping cart can help do that. Do you need your site to get media attention? Then a Media Room might be the key. Make sure to include the pages and content required to get the job done.

In addition, think about how you plan to expand your website in the future. At the beginning, designing a website of more than 10 pages can overwhelm a small business both in terms of budget and time required to write the content.

But, if you create an expanded site map at the beginning a website wish list if you will then you and your website strategist can determine which pages will be most important in helping you reach your goals. You’ll also have a clear roadmap you can use to add on to your website as your budget and schedule allow.

For more about the pages to include on your website, see this article: Pages To Include On Your Website.

Rule 3: Name your pages in a way that makes sense

Have you ever walked into an unfamiliar house and been unable to find your way around? You probably asked the hostess where the kitchen was so you could drop off your pot luck dish or the way to the bathroom.

On a website, though, visitors don’t have the luxury of asking where things are. So you want to make it as easy as possible for them to find the information that they need.

Some small businesses want navigation button names to be clever or interesting. But, it’s important to think about the website visit from your customers’ or prospects’ point of view. They often come to your site looking for specific information. Even if they’re just browsing, they want an organized way to look around where clicking a link takes them to the page they expect. Remember that visitors don’t have a lot of time or the patience to bumble around your site.

You see the same navigation buttons on every site you visit for a good reason. Established usage conventions have trained visitors to look for names like “Services,” “About” and “Contact” when they’re out browsing around. Capitalize on this and your visitors will be able to find what they’re looking for quickly keeping your site and your business in their good graces.

Following these three simple rules makes it much more likely that your website is structurally sound and that your visitors will have a great experience there instead of a frustrating one.

Erin Ferree is a brand identity designer who creates big visibility for small businesses. Her ebook, “All The News About Email Newsletters” will tell you everything you need to know about desiging, writing, and sending out an email newsletter to stay in touch with your clients and prospects. http://www.elf-design.com/products-mini-newsletter.html

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