These days, people are relying more and more on the Internet for many of their…
There’s an easy way and there’s a hard way. Yes, there’s an easy way of creating websites, and that takes no more than a few minutes to a few hours to do. But if you’re serious about creating an online presence, then it will take much more than that. You’d have to invest time and effort if want to have a place in cyberspace that visitors will gravitate to, one that will make them want to stay and keep on visiting. If you’ve hired (or are planning to hire) a Web developer to create this kind of website, then you should make sure that they are doing the following things.
You may already be aware that keywords are important because they allow search engines to match your site with searches made. While continuous KW research should be done as you add more content, it’s vital that you search for keywords prior to putting up your website. This will keep its entire architecture focused on your audience.
But first, you need to pinpoint who your target audience is. You need to ask, “Who are those people who will search for the products and services that I’m offering?” For example, if you’re selling baby clothes, then your audience is certainly not the baby population. Men are less inclined to be interested in clothing (except, perhaps, their own), and teens are not often very keen on shopping for their little brothers or sisters. Therefore, your potential visitors are more likely to be grownup women (mothers, grandmothers, aunts, etc.) who’d love to see the little ones wearing those adorable outfits.
So, when these potential customers search online for baby clothing, how do they search? What do they type in Google or Bing? What questions do they ask? They could be looking for the latest baby fashion, affordable baby outfits, Halloween costumes for girls (or boys), hypoallergenic fabric used on infant wear, and even information on how to properly wash baby clothes.
So, by knowing what people ask and who are asking them, your SEO specialist will be able to find keywords that are specific to your target market. The design of your site will likewise revolve around this piece of information.
Your Web designer should also strike a balance between aesthetics and functionality. For example, lots of photos will make your site attractive (well, that actually depends), but will the search engine be able to crawl and index the text that’s embedded on those images? Also, your design expert should carefully look into how easy or difficult it is to navigate your site, such as if there are broken links, if there are links or pages that the search engine spider can’t crawl, and so on. In short, search engines should be able to index the content of your site with ease.
Web searchers are not the most patient people in the world. A visitor who comes to your site will wait only a few seconds for it to load– if it doesn’t, they will immediately go somewhere else. Therefore, your Web specialist should take a close look at what features could slow down loading time, such as plugins, ads, streaming video, and the like.
This graph by Pew Internet shows that more Americans are now using smartphones, a rise from the previous year, while there’s a significant decline on the number of people who have no mobile phone or who use other types of cell phone.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that more and more people are using their mobile devices to go online. According to a January 2014 report by Pew Internet, 58 percent of American adults have a smartphone (up from 56 percent in May the previous year) and 42 percent have a tablet. Also, the organization’s May 2013 report says that 63 percent of cell phone owners use their mobile phones to go online.
This said, your Web designer should make sure that people can enjoy their experience on your site, regardless of what device they are using. This does not only include how it looks, but also how easy it is to navigate using different platforms. For example, can they easily go from one page to another using a touchscreen rather than a mouse? And again, your site should be optimized for speed, even if they’re using their phones.
And while your site needs to be able to adjust to those small smartphone screens, it should also be pleasant to look at, even if your visitors are using a 30-inch monitor.
An analytics code is a tracking code that you put in your web pages so Google can generate a report on the statistics of your site. This includes traffic and traffic sources, as well as advertising, pay-per-click viewing, and so on. Why is this important? Because it will give you a treasure trove of information, such as which sites are directing traffic to yours, which pages are performing well and which ones are doing poorly, how long visitors stay, where they are located geographically, and more. This will allow you to take advantage of those pages that are doing well, and improve on those that aren’t, and you can create content that will most likely satisfy the audience that you already have.
Social media drive a lot of traffic to websites – Facebook was responsible for over 15 percent of site visits, according to the report by Shareaholic in December 2013; Pinterest drove almost 5 percent of traffic referrals; and Twitter, 1.12 percent. Therefore, you need to make sure that your Web specialist makes it easy for your visitors to share your pages.
And while more people are using “share” buttons to tell others of what they like, it’s still prudent to make important information on your pages printable, such as your address and a map of your location, the items that you’re selling, and so on.
Creating a website is an investment, both in time and effort, so make sure that you plan ahead before you plunge into the process. Discuss these plans with your Web developer, and make sure that they include the above in the design process.
