How to Boost Your Chances at Having a Successful Web Site (Part 2)

By Robin Nobles
Posted Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Web Site Design --

If at all possible, keep your Web site design very simple. Don’t use frames, excessive graphics, database-generated pages, Flash home pages, or lengthy JavaScript. Each of these design strategies can present problems for you when you’re trying to get a good ranking with the search engines, which is where you’ll probably get the majority of your traffic.

So, if you hire a professional Web designer, make sure he or she knows that you want the design kept simple.

Let’s face it - when YOU go to a Web site, you would much prefer a simple Web site, wouldn’t you? You want to find what you’re looking for quickly and easily. You don’t want to have to spend time trying to find something. And, you don’t want to see a Flash movie that crashes your computer or that keeps you from getting into the site where the real content is. You want the CONTENT!

In fact, one study shows that Americans experience "search rage" if they don’t find what they’re looking for within 12 minutes.

Keep that in mind when you’re designing your own site. Use simple, clear navigation. Include a site map that has links to all of the pages in your site. This site map is valuable to both your users and the search engines.

Keep graphics to a minimum, and only use them when you want to point the eye to a certain location.

When you use graphics, here’s something else to consider.

Let’s say that you are a real estate agent, and your home page is covered with your awards, a picture of you, and maybe the logo of your company. Do you think your visitors care about your awards or your picture? No! They want to see pictures of the houses you’re selling! They want to learn about the schools in that area or the crime rate. They want to see a mortgage calculator. They want to see content! Put yourself in the shoes of your visitors and think about what your visitors want to see, not what YOU want to show them.

If you use a picture of a house on the main page of your site, use a picture that has a happy, smiling family in front of the house, obviously pleased with the new home that you’ve sold them. Visitors will automatically put themselves in the picture with the happy family, and they’ll be more receptive to becoming a potential home buyer. But, just a picture of a home on the main page of your site doesn’t evoke those emotions.

Or, if you sell toys, don’t just have pictures of the toys. Have pictures of smiling children playing with the toys! Appeal to the emotions of your Web site visitors.

Keep in mind another thing regarding graphics. The search engines can’t "see" the graphics. So, if you have a page that is loaded with graphics, there’s no way that the engines can know what the page is about. Therefore, offer a paragraph or two of text above the images that describes what the page is about. Give the engines something to index, and your pages will have a better chance of visibility in the search engines.

Build Valuable Content --

When people come online, they generally aren’t looking to buy something. Instead, they are looking for information. Consider your own Web site. What information can you provide that would help attract visitors (and search engines) to your site?

Let’s say that you have a local store that sells TV’s. Could you create content that would be beneficial and possibly provide cost savings to your Web visitors? For example, are there any little tips you could offer to extend the life of a TV? Or, could you write content that focuses on the latest innovations in TV’s? What about a page that deals with the history of television? The more content you build, the stronger you’re making your Web site, and the better chance you have that the visitor will return. Plus, as a huge bonus, the engines love a content-rich site, so you’re boosting your chances at better search engine rankings.

Remember that you’re also “introducing” your online business to these visitors. You’re creating name recognition and credibility. So, when the visitors are in the market for a TV, won’t they consider an online business that they can trust? Make it your goal to be that online business!

Robin Nobles, Co-Director of Training, Search Engine Workshops, teaches 2-, 3-, and 5-day hands-on, search engine marketing workshops (searchengineworkshops.com) in locations across the globe. She also teaches online search engine marketing courses (onlinewebtraining.com) and has two books available through Amazon and other bookstores.