Jay Taylor of Search Engine Watch eloquently explains in his article that you CAN create websites that are both search engine and customer friendly. Many times, we tend to focus more on the search engine friendly part of the equation that we fall into the trap of 'depreciating' the value a visitor (and potential customer) friendly site has for the end customer.
The important this is to keep in mind what interests the customer, what they believe differentiates you from the competition and ultimately triggers him/her to carry on with purchasing your product or service.
The author provides 5 steps you can follow in order to create a website that successfully targets both search engines and customers, and ultimately increase your rankings...
source: Jay Taylor (article: 5 Steps to Create a Website That Both Your Customers & Search Engines Will Love)
Step 1: Understand Your Customer
This seems obvious, but business owners tend to design websites that are appealing to them, rather than figuring out what is appealing to their customers. The way you perceive your products or services may be very different than how your customers perceive them. If you don’t already know, figure out why your existing customers buy from you, rather than your competitors, and make this differentiation readily apparent on your website.
Communicating this value proposition to prospective customers as soon as they enter your website can mean the difference between whether or not they choose to stay on your site, and whether or not they choose to do business with you.
Step 2: Don’t Attempt to Create a Work of Art
Websites don't have to be beautiful. They just have to be useful and engaging to your target audience. This is not to say your website should not be attractive, but unless your selling art, it does not have to be a work of art. Instead, focus your energy on creating aesthetics that appeal to your customers, emphasize credibility, and improve your brand.
Different aesthetics appeal to different audiences. For example, if your target audience is women ages 18 to 28, the colors, fonts, and imagery you choose to incorporate in your website should be very different than if you’re targeting men ages 45 to 55.
Additionally, emphasize credibility and improve your brand by utilizing a professional design. A website that looks cheap can undermine the credibility of your business and detract from your brand.
Step 3: Create Purposeful, Well-Written Content
The purpose of the content on your website should be to inform your reader, rather than to attract search engines. Your content should be well written, concise, and purposeful. Poor grammar, excessive verbiage, and content without a clear purpose will turn off readers, and potentially result in lost customers.
For each page on your website, ask yourself the following questions
- What is the purpose of this page?
- Will my customers find this information valuable?
- What is the impression I want to make on the person reading it?
- What is the action I want the reader to take?
Step 4: Provide Easy-to-Use Navigation
User-friendly navigation is key to allowing your customers to quickly and conveniently find what they’re looking for on your site. Incorporate navigation in both the header and the footer, so your customers have easy access to it, regardless of where they are on the page. If your site has lots of pages, consider including a drop-down menu for easy access to pages deep within your site.
Also, consider including a sidebar menu that allows for an alternative way to access pages deep within your site. For example, ecommerce sites often list product types in the header navigation and list brand types in the sidebar menu, or vice versa. This gives the customer the option to search by product type or brand, rather than forcing them to search by one or the other.
Step 5: Measure & Improve
Once all of these elements are in place, measure the results by determining your key performance indicators (KPIs). Of course, you want to monitor your search engine rankings, but understanding how those rankings contribute to increased quality traffic, and conversions is essential.
For example, if you own an ecommerce store, your KPIs should include purchases and shopping cart abandonment rates. If you own a brick and mortar, your KPIs may include contact form submissions, phone calls, and the percentage of those form submissions and phone calls that result in sales.
Utilize tracking software such as Google Analytics and know where your customers are coming from, and the steps they are taking that result in conversions, and those that do not. Use this data to continuously improve both your website and your SEO strategy.
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