Website Design and Internet Strategy for Business Owners

You’ve worked hard at identifying the keywords that will drive traffic to your website.
These keywords have to be integrated with website design to start driving traffic to your website. Then there is the issue of conversions. So the design, code and content must be integrated for a successful website business. Discuss all of the below factors with your website designer and content writer if any.

Website Design: The Fundamentals

There are thousands of website design companies out there and you can choose any. Ask for quotes from a few of them to analyze their services. The rates vary as per services and pages. Ecommerce websites cost more than information websites. Inquire if maintenance and hosting services are included in the pricing.

• Insist on the website design coding being done in CSS. It’s convenient if you want to change a style later on and is very SE friendly.
• Templates may be cheap, but then your website wouldn’t stand out. That’ll affect conversions and you lose the money you set to save.
• The call to action must be clear and outlined but not outrageous.
• Choose colors suitable for your business. It modulates the mood of the visitor.
• The classic white background and black text is the best. Top copywriters follow this and leave color spaces around the edges of their pages.
• Do not compromise on site navigability. A visitor must get what he came to the site for and any additional information must be easily available for him to see.
•  The <a href=”http://www.w3.org”>World Wide Web Consortium </a>is a standard for coding. Ask for the w3.org validator for XHTML and CSS to be added once the site is done. You can then check the accuracy of the coding yourself.

Integrating Keywords with Website Design
The diligent work you did for finalizing your keywords find a place here. Once the keywords are integrated in the design there is a better chance of your website coming up in SERPs.

• Filenames: Try to use the keyword in the file names, both the webpage and the image file if any. For phrases use hyphens to separate words.
• HTML Tags: Search Engines Read the HTML part of a website. So use your keywords in the

Title tag (70 characters) Header Tag Bold, Strong Alt tags Hyperlink text Description tag (155 characters) Keyword tag (170 characters)

• Anchor Text: The phrases used to link to a web page are called anchor text. Keep the anchor text to a webpage close to the key phrase of the web page. Use the anchor text on the website and from outside to link to the webpage.

Fundamental SEO Requirements of Website Design
These small requirements make your site easily to spider for search engines and they pick up all of your site and add the pages to their index.

• Site Architecture should be structured and neat.  Avoid going more than 3 levels deep as far as folders are concerned.

Bad Example: http://www.xyz.com/bicycles/seats/leather/productname.aspx
Good Example: http://www.xyz.com/bicycle-seats/productname.aspx

• Robot file: This file tells the search engines where to go and where not to.
• Sitemap: Is available in 2 versions HTML AND XML. Have both versions on the website. The xml version should be submitted to search engines. It tells the search engine that these are the web pages on the website. The HTML version is to aid your visitors navigate the website.
• 301 redirects: If you are revamping your website with new software and keyword rich URLs, do not lose the value of the old pages. Redirect them to new relevant pages using a 301 redirect that tells both visitors and search engines to go there.

 The One and Only Integrator: Content
Content integrates all factors together. Even a totally ecommerce website needs names and description of products. DO NOT copy and paste content from the web. It’s a crime and you could be prosecuted. Content is king. It tells the visitor what your website is all about, what options are available and how they can avail those facilities. Spend a lot of time doing your content.

• Good original content is the best optimizer ever.
• Use your keywords in the title/headline of the content and the body of the content coupled with great style
• The ideal content length is 350 words or more.
• Use synonyms of the keyword
• Having a well structured website ensures that there is smooth flow of content from section to section

These factors integrated together can create a successful website. Make these factors an essential criterion for an internet strategy for your business. Together this strategy coupled with some plain hard work will save you a lot of time and money.

Until next week, when we discuss other strategies of bringing visitors to your website.

Regards,
Sangeeta

Targeting the right keywords is half the work done.

How to Find the Right Keywords? The Process

If you are starting your site from scratch, selecting keywords at this stage is a time and money saver. If you are redesigning your website, this is the time to outgrow your previous mistakes.

If you are wondering what keyword has to do with website design think again. It determines whether your website architecture will have a folder or linear structure. If it is a folder structure then how many levels? Suppose you are a company selling confections. You are designing an e-commerce website. You may have two or more options for website architecture

This will give you a directory structure of

http://www.xyz.com/cakes/category/productid
e,g http://www.xyz.com/cakes/wedding/12345-aabcde
http://www.xyz.com/candy/category/productid
http://www.xyz.com/chocolate/category/productid

OR
You can have this

This will give you a directory structure of

http://www.xyz.com/weddings/category/productid
http://www.xyz.com/bithdays/category/productid
http://www.xyz.com/thanksgiving/category/productid

Now, Using <a href=”http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com>Wordtracker</a> to determine the search phrases customers use to find the ‘ cakes’ we find people are searching for wedding cakes, birthday cakes, diaper cakes and so on.

Naturally the second option is a better website architecture structure. It can grow both laterally and longitudinally. It’s more suitable for search patterns hence later it will be easier to optimize.

The best way to do a keyword search is to write down the phrases that describe your website’s purpose. Start with:

5 one-word phrases

10 two-word phrases

5 three-word phrases

Run them in a keyword tool. You will be amazed at the results.

Save them in a spreadsheet.

Selecting the Right Keywords

Your spreadsheet probably has a thousand keywords. It’s best to have a base keyword in mind around which your site will evolve. Keep these in mind before you start selection

• One word phrases are the hardest to rank for because they require a high number of backlinks which is difficult for a new site.
• Their conversions are also the worst because people are not searching for that product or information. They realize it as soon as they type it and see 44 million websites for ‘cakes’.
• Two phrase keywords are good to optimize for as they have more searches and hence more conversions. But they are difficult to do so especially for a new website.
• Three phrase keywords may be few but are relatively easy to optimize for. It’s best to start with three word keywords.

Select the 3 word phrases most suitable for your site.

The other factors that matter are

• The number of competing sites
• The strength of those competing sites

The problem with free tools is that they do not show the competition. For this the best way to do it is manually.

Open Google, type the phrase and see the number of websites that come up for each page. Examine the sites on the first page. They will be the sites you will be competing with. Open each site, check their page rank and the backlinks to their site.

You can download the Pagerank toolbar at

http://toolbar.google.com

To check backlinks type the following code in Google search bar substituting the site name with your website name.

link: sitename.com

Select a long string for 3 word phrases whose searches rank more than 5 per day. This is the starting list for keywords for your site. Repeat the same procedure for two word phrases.

At this stage it may be suitable for you to leave out 1 word phrases.

Integrating the Keywords in your Website Design

All efforts at selection are useless if keywords are not properly integrated in design

2 tips before starting:

Do not optimize for more than 3 keywords on one page

Preferably optimize for related keywords

Example:

Virtual Offices in Irvine Orange County (keyword)

-Virtual Offices

-Virtual Offices Irvine

-Virtual Offices Orange County

Get your website designer to use these search phrases in the page in Title tags, Keyword tags, Header tags and Alt tags. While writing the content for the page make sure you use the phrase at least twice in 350 words of content. Use synonyms of the keywords.

Wow… that’s quite a lot of work done.

Until next week,

Regards,

Sangeeta

Below are some additional free small business resources apart from those listed in the ebook.

If you do not have a website yet, identify the most successful competitor website. Use that website as a base to find out more about the behavior and demographic profile of your customers. Compare it against two other competitor website. Believe me, it will prove quite an education and give you new ideas. You will be able to identify the weaknesses of each website and hence your planned website will be better than the others.

I would like to add a few more resource URLs to Ajay’s list for business research

http://www.google.com/adplanner

http://www/google.com/trends

http://www.quantcast.com

http://www.google.com/insights

If you already have a website ask for a comparative analysis from an SEO company or a website marketing company. Most of them do it for free as an initial requisite of their marketing needs

Keyword Selection Strategy

Choosing keywords for your website is the most critical phase in an Internet strategy. Normally first a website is designed, the tabs are added and then the keyword is chosen. This process is too lengthy, costly and time consuming. If you have the keywords decided earlier in your strategy, SEO aspects like filenames, titles, metatags, alt tags can all be taken care of during the web design stage itself. Most companies that offer SEO website design services work this way.

To identify keywords work this way.

Write down 5 to 10 one word phrase that describes your business or website purpose.

Next write down 5 to 10 two word phrases that describe your business or website purpose

Again, write down 5 to 10 three word phrases that describe your business or website purpose

Then create a table of those words.

Using a keyword tool as listed below or in the book list the number of searches for each keyword.

Phrases that rank highly for searches are the ideal ones to aim for. At this stage however put them in your probable keywords list. The problem with optimizing for such phrases is that the competition for such phrases will be higher in multiples. For new businesses, especially small businesses running on tight budgets the strategy should be to optimize for a larger number of three to four word phrases, where the competition is much less. This is called the long tail search theory, whereby the volume of searches for high search phrases are made up by optimizing the website for larger number of keywords for smaller number of phrases.

Wordtracker, does have a free version of keyword tool. I rate it as one of the most authentic free keyword tool. Go to http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/. You can also confirm cross check your keywords at https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Aim to optimize for local searches first and then for national searches. Local searches have a better conversion rate. And a Global presence is the first step to becoming a national presence.

Do not target more than two or three keyword phrases per page. Create a unique page for each of your services or products. These pages can also be used as landing pages for PPC campaigns.

If you are confused consult an SEO expert on keywords. Do not compromise on this as it will determine the direction of your internet strategy.

Regards,
Sangeeta

Let me start by thanking you all for the tremendous (and voluminous!) response by questions, queries, suggestions and of course criticism…

(Psssst.. for those of you who asked me who I am to analyze Ajay’s book, I can only say that if you are reading this blog post I am successful enough in my work to analyze this book)

Well, Ajay’s book is what he says it is “just a comprehensive knowledge” of internet strategy for small businesses.

Planning or setting up a business on the internet is a daunting and an arduous task for most. There are several parameters to be taken care of. It’s a question of

Why to do it

Where to begin

How to do it

What is the best way to do it?

Ajay’s ebook tells us the why, the where and the how very precisely. As for the best way to do it, he leaves it for the reader to decide.

Quite a lot of business users ask us about the relevancy of having a website. Another set do not want to spend money on upgrading it.

Ajay argues that small businesses benefit more from websites than

large businesses as large businesses already have brand recognition. Customers, especially in the US check products online before entering a store to make a purchase. Small businesses or relatively unknown businesses can benefit out of this.

Does your business really need a online presence? Still in doubt? See these stats.

Source: Nielsen Online, December 2008

An average surfer spends 38 hours from his home and visits an amazing 65 domains. So he is not just replying to emails, he is searching or researching

The next question is 124 million websites out there, do you stand a chance? Yes you do, if you are smart enough to analyze your business and client behaviors and plan accordingly.

However, one of the requirements for a successful online business is that the product or the website should stand out. It has been observed that businesses can become successful sooner if they have

1. A niche product with a well defined niche market. e.g. selling organic produce to health conscious stores or customers
2. A product, very different from products available in the market, e.g. the iPod. In this case, Apple first created the market and the demand.
3. A remarkable business idea like the Aeron chair or Starbucks, where the product fires your imagination and is being most talked about either because of the atrocious price or unique offer.

Do a lot of research on what you want your website to be.

1. Primarily an information site
2. An e-commerce site
3. A combination of both?

These issues will help determine the orientation and budget of your website. To make a website popular you need to add a lot of unique content. Content is the best way to make a site popular and in these days of viral marketing content is said to be king. Load your website with information on products as to how to the product is good or useful or remarkably different from other products. Make your website stand out from other websites. Seth Godin in his book ‘Purple Cow’ says in this age of bombarding of information and ads to prospects we have become immune to all the stuff. Only the remarkably different stand out.

So come out with remarkable new business ideas. Remarkable website idea. Or a remarkable product.

United States: Average Web Usage on Home Panel Month of December 2008
Sessions/Visits Per Person	36
Domains Visited Per Person	65
PC Time Per Person	37:56:49
Duration of a Web Page Viewed	00:00:54
Active Digital Media Universe	153,326,129
Current Digital Media Universe Estimate	222,723,436

Source: Nielsen Online, December 2008

An average surfer spends 38 hours from his home and visits an amazing 65 domains. So he is not just replying to emails, he is searching or researching

The next question is 124 million websites out there, do you stand a chance? Yes you do, if you are smart enough to analyze your business and client behaviors and plan accordingly.

However, one of the requirements for a successful online business is that the product or the website should stand out. It has been observed that businesses can become successful sooner if they have

1. A niche product with a well defined niche market. e.g. selling organic produce to health conscious stores or customers
2. A product, very different from products available in the market, e.g. the iPod. In this case, Apple first created the market and the demand.
3. A remarkable business idea like the Aeron chair or Starbucks, where the product fires your imagination and is being most talked about either because of the atrocious price or unique offer.

Do a lot of research on what you want your website to be.

1. Primarily an information site
2. An e-commerce site
3. A combination of both?

These issues will help determine the orientation and budget of your website. To make a website popular you need to add a lot of unique content. Content is the best way to make a site popular and in these days of viral marketing content is said to be king. Load your website with information on products as to how to the product is good or useful or remarkably different from other products. Make your website stand out from other websites. Seth Godin in his book ‘Purple Cow’ says in this age of bombarding of information and ads to prospects we have become immune to all the stuff. Only the remarkably different stand out.

So come out with remarkable new business ideas. Remarkable website idea. Or a remarkable product.