SEO Website Marketing

Often new website owners ask me how to get traffic to their new creation. Some have been known to stare at their computer in an attempt to will visitors to the site. The truth is, the Internet is evolving every second of every day. And with that, it becomes more difficult to establish a viable presence—or does it? Follow these easy steps and carve your slice of the cyber pie. Step One: Preparation Before going out to proclaim the glory that is your website, first make sure it's in tiptop shape. Was your website carefully and professionally constructed? That includes content copy. It's vital that your copy (the text on your website) be written well, including a logical flow, clarity, good sentence structure, wise word choices and proper grammar/punctuation. Studies reveal the average Internet visitor is getting more sophisticated and expects features, such as proper language use (whether English or another language). Fail in this area and you'll lose business. It's t...

Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported. Use Alt Text for images and animations. This way, if images don’t load, the user will still see some messaging. Make flash content available in another format. Not all visitors have flash downloaded to their computer. These guidelines (Web Design Guidelines)can help you provide a streamlined experience for the customers that come to your web site. And that, in turn, can lead to sales and repeat customers.

Don’t clutter your pages with unnecessary details. Avoid frames. They make it difficult for visitors to bookmark your site. Avoid horizontal scrolling. Avoid splash pages or animated content. Avoid new browser windows. Avoid flash-based content unless required. Use meaningful graphics to show real content.

Make it easy for search engines to find and list your site. Use page titles. Make your titles unique to each page, and use relevant keywords on each page. Add a site map. Use meta tags. Only use relevant keywords in your meta-description. Be aware that your content is constantly crawled by search engines. Keep your content original, update it frequently, and vary keywords and phrases to try different ways to attract customers. Develop simple, logical internal navigation. Make sure it’s easy for visitors to link between related sections and pages in your site.

Make it easy for visitors to browse and buy the products they’re looking for, and give them a smooth, reassuring checkout experience. Tips for an easy browsing and buying experience. Make sure your product detail page includes all the relevant information a typical user needs to make a purchase decision. Add related content to cross-sell and up-sell. If you have additional information, provide buttons so the user can access that information without leaving the page. Don’t discourage visitors with required registration and poor shipping charge policies. Provide easy access to your shopping cart. Give customers the option to continue shopping or proceed to checkout. Include all necessary features in the shopping cart process. Provide product details in the cart, including the image of the product, and a link back to the product page. Make it easy for visitors to edit the shopping cart (change quantities or options, delete an item, etc). Reassure customers at the right time and place. Pro...

Typically, visitors scan content on the Web instead of reading it. Keep your information as clear and concise as possible. Use summary descriptions, subheads, bulleted lists and short paragraphs. Use keywords you’ve selected for your search marketing campaign in your web page content, so the pages will appear in an organic search. Put your key message first. Include one idea per paragraph. Highlight keywords. Make your points on each page clearly but quickly, using as few words as possible. Don’t provide a PDF for online viewing. Convert everything to HTML if possible. Design printable versions of pages. Use a standard one-column format for easy reading. Use high contrast for easily legible text. A familiar example is black text on white background. High-quality graphics, good writing, and use of outbound hypertext links increase credibility.

Include search if necessary to help visitors find relevant content. Keep search features simple and visible. On home pages, search should be a type-in field and not a link. Keep the search input field wide enough to contain a typical query. Try to keep search results useful. People rarely look beyond the first page of results. To increase sales, make sure your search results link to product pages.

Improve the user experience with a good layout that employs a clean visual design and straightforward text. Use a consistent layout. Define global and individual page templates. Use a clean visual design—don’t clutter a page with images. Use color and contrast to guide a user through the Web site. Use headings, lists and consistent structure to increase legibility. Make sure pages can be seen on lower resolution screens (800x600. Keep calls to action at the top of the page, so the user does not have to scroll to find them.

Help potential customers find what they are looking for as quickly and easily as possible. Design your site with a clear hierarchy. Use descriptive categories. Maintain consistent navigation. Use breadcrumbs to let visitors know where they are. Use color to distinguish between visited and unvisited links. Use local navigation to link to related content. Guide visitors to similar products, related products, background information, author biographies, product reviews, customer testimonials, etc. Provide multiple ways to find products. These can include browse, search, wizard, featured products, top-sellers, related products, etc. Make sure your logo is clickable and takes the user to your home page. Make sure each page is an effective landing page. Visitors should know exactly where they are in the site and what they are looking at. If your site promotes different items in the same category, visitors should be able to view other items easily. Remember, most visitors will not start out on...

The “call to action” is the primary action you want customers to take when they visit your web site. For example, if you want someone to add items to a shopping cart, or even just go deeper into your site to learn more, you might put “Add to cart” or “Learn More” buttons at the top of the page, in a place that stands out from other content. Focus on one primary action per screen. Don’t clutter too many products on one screen. Make the call to action button clearly visible. Make sure visitors can see the call to action button without having to scroll.Don’t bury the call to action under pages of information. If you have a lot of information, consider using a pop-up box with additional info or tabs to consolidate.

There are a few helpful things you can do to evaluate the effectiveness of your web site: Ask people to look at your site and tell you what they think. Go through the experience of trying to buy something on your site, and ask friends and family to do the same. Note the ways the customer experience can be streamlined. Set target dates for improvements and stay on track. Test your site with different browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Safari and Firefox. Know your visitors and your target audience. Survey customers shortly after you launch so you can make improvements right away.

If you market products, services or content online, one of the best ways to improve your results (traffic, sales leads, conversions) is to improve the experience of the people who visit your website. It may sound obvious, but the easier you make it for customers to find the products or information they’re looking for, the more likely they are to make transactions. Set of guidelines to help you maximize the effectiveness of your website. General suggestions Including a call to action Making your site easy to navigate Simple page layouts Incorporating search on your site Writing for the Web The purchase process: browsing, buying, checkout Creating a search engine-friendly website What to avoid Provide alternative content for images Reference : Yahoo! Search Marketing