My last blog introduced my new mini blog series, “Improving The Foundation of your SEO Campaign.” This week we focus on the first of four fundamental steps to make sure you have the strongest possible start to your internet marketing.
Have a quality web design.
Before anything else, including on-page optimization and offsite activities…your web design comes first.
This part is very difficult for some people because it requires you to look at your site from an objective point of view, and ask yourself some difficult questions. Would you want to come across your website on page one search results? No, really; if you Googled something in your industry, would you be more willing to buy from or engage with a site that had a web design like yours? If not, why not?
In fact, if you haven’t done this already, one thing you should do is Google a few of the keywords you’d like to target and get a feel for what your competition looks like? Can you compete? Can you do better than them?
There are a lot of elements in web design that you should consider when assessing your site, including:
- Is it user friendly and easy to navigate?
- Does it look professional and give the right impression of your business?
- How does it compare to your competition?
- Is your contact information easy to find?
- Is your content relevant, interesting and informative?
Even if you are already well established in terms of search results, this should still be something you consider. Why?
This is traffic data for a site that had a new web design and it kind of speaks for itself. Although we were having a relatively successful campaign in terms of SEO (although we hadn’t gotten to page one yet) the overall traffic indicated that we weren’t getting much in the way of return visitors. Once we improved the overall design, the impact was immediate.
I understand that site design has had a history of being somewhat cost prohibitive, especially for the smaller client. But today, there are a huge number of resources at your disposal to help you create a quality website design at minimal cost. You can use any number of services that offer web-hosting and existing templates that you can customize, for example. Another option is to find a web design company that offers the quality you want at a price you can afford.
Whichever you choose, remember… This is your store front and the design will (rightly or wrongly) indicate to your prospective clients about the quality of the product or service you offer. Make sure you are sending them the right message.
Next week, we will be looking at how to examine your backlink profile.
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