It is not an easy task to optimize your website for the best viewing experience, but in this article, I will explain some of the key elements in creating the best results.
The most obvious tip is to make the site user friendly, but a factor that, perhaps surprisingly, many web designers seem to overlook. Simply put, you need to make sure that your website is easy to use and does not get bogged down with slow loading times. Remember that web surfers want to find the information that they seek quickly and without having to wait for ages or try to navigate around a poorly designed interface. Placing a navigation bar at the side or top of the page is a good start, as is having a simply laid out sitemap which is easily accessible from any page on your website.
To maximize the number of hits your site gets, you need to seriously consider the search engines since most people will probably come to your website by way of Google or another major search engine. Search engine optimization (SEO) is done by simply using phrases and keywords across your site to ensure that it is in the highest rankings of the search results.
To get a high search engine ranking with a site that, say for example, is advertising trips and tour guides to France, you will want to write up a list of a number of keywords. For example, some of these keywords could be France holidays, trips to France and France tourism etc. Once you have decided on the keywords relevant to your website, you need to place this words and phrases as much as possible around your site. At least one of these keywords should be ideally placed in the web address of your site along with headings, paragraphs, image title and of course the main heading on the front page.
Remember however, not to go overboard with keywords and make sure that they fit seamlessly into the content of your site otherwise they can become like spam which will have completely the opposite effect to proper search engine optimization. To create an outstanding website, you need to plan it carefully and be patient while doing so. It is not something that can be done overnight. Depending on the information, products or services that you are offering on your website, you will typically need a contacts page, FAQ page, About page, Privacy Policy, links and a site map.
If your website is an online store, then you will want to be trying to up-sell as much as possible. This means having a system that recommends other products to your customers based on what they have in their virtual shopping basket or what they have ordered from you before. These recommendations, if given correctly, can make a world of difference to your sales.
Offering free software trials, bonuses, some occasional freebies and special offers will also make customers happy and any promotions you have are best placed on the front page of your website where they will attract the most attention as soon as viewers come in from the search engine links.
Finally, before you publish your website, you should proofread it at least a couple of times to make sure that there are no errors. Trying to get it online as fast as possible without paying enough attention to the details is a grave mistake and can make the end result look very unprofessional. Checking the grammar, spelling and syntax of the entire content of your site is not a particularly difficult task and must be done before going online.
It is important to remember that you end goal is to sell your products or services, if applicable, and this is done by marketing your site effectively and hopefully turning the surfer into a customer. This means that first impressions count for everything and creating quality, original content and having an easily navigable and fast site is the only way to achieve this.
A really great read. I’m learning a lot in here. This article is really comprehensive and stresses important points on making your website better.
You really got some nice ideas here Rich. This article is really systematic and speaks a lot!