Website Design, Keywords, SEO and Your Business: How to Integrate Them

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

• 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