Your Website: Design it, optimize it, and promote it or don’t even bother

What is the purpose of having a business website if nobody can find it? Or if they do find it, what if it looks like it was done by a junior high kid in 1997? Seriously. Why spend a bunch of time writing content, then spend a bunch more money designing the graphics, only to have your site sit there and DO NOTHING or make you look like an amateur? Correct me if I’m wrong, but the whole point of having a business website is marketing. The idea is to get as many eyeballs as possible looking at your site. Alas, “if I build it they will come” just doesn’t work.

Fact #1 – Most people are going to come to your website via a search engine. So why do so many sites commit cardinal sin after cardinal sin when it comes to designing for the search engines? Your site needs to be designed to cater to the search engines. Specifically, it needs to be designed so that it targets the key words that people are going to type when they are trying to find you. It is mind boggling how many sites are built and designed without any thought given to how the site will fare in search results.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is EVERYTHING when it comes to building traffic to your site. Let me repeat: EVERYTHING.

Fact #2 – Once you’ve built the site, you need to promote it. Sorry, putting your website address on the back of your Honda Civic isn’t going to cut it either. You need to get out there and get other sites on the web linking to your site.  The best way to generate inbound traffic is to write content that is actually worth linking to! Inbound links to your site from other sites are very important when it comes to your sites ranking in the search engines.

Fact #3 – If you look good, you are good. If you look bad, you are bad. Plain and simple. It goes against everything you mother ever taught you about judging a book by the cover, beauty being on the inside, etc. Sorry, but people will immediately judge your company and its business competency based on the graphic design and layout of your site. It is a cold hard fact. You know its true because you do it every day. Put up a shoddy site and everyone who visits your site will think you are a shoddy company. Ouch. Time to call a graphic designer?

Tags: SEO