According to a Hubspot survey, 27% of website traffic comes from organic searches and the use of keywords. To better understand these concepts, business owners must take stock in the art of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO is the action of taking a website and optimizing it, in hopes of it ranking highly on a search engine (ex Google) whenever people search for services or products.
How you design your website matters when it comes to growing (and keeping) your client base. This is because SEO and web design are tightly linked. To reach the top of search engine result pages (SERPs), or at least land on the first page, businesses should adhere to a few simple web design guidelines. Without a proper SEO strategy, your site is likely to get lost among competitors as well as whatever other internet fodder is out there.
So, let’s go over four tips to consider when designing your website with SEO in mind.
1. Optimize Site Structure
Focus on making your web design well-structured and capable of easy navigation. Your visitors will thank you for the user-friendly space. A clean layout also reduces the amount of traffic that bounces off the site, which negatively affects your SEO ranking. When the information and content on your website is easy to find, potential clients will be more likely to engage with your business.
Double-check your navigation bar to make sure it addresses the main points on your site. Making sure that this feature is simple and useful helps keep navigation intuitive, thus resulting in an engaged audience.
This should include (at the least): * Home Page * Products/Services * About us * Contact us
You should also be sure to update your website and produce new content every so often. An outdated website might deter potential clients! Keep your aesthetic clean and easy to renovate when necessary.
2. Web Design for Conversions Design your website with conversion rate optimization (CRO) in mind. You want to keep in mind that having visitors to your site will not necessarily affect your bottom line. CRO refers to the process of taking your target audience and engaging them with a call-to-action.
The potential for your traffic to become customers rests in your ability to guide them to the desired action you want them to take. This could be filling out a content form, enrolling in email/text notifications, booking a service, or buying a product. Consider utilizing suggestive buttons throughout your website to easily guide your potential customers to desired actions.
3. Coding Avoid Flash sites as they are difficult to optimize. For some background on the subject, Flash is a multimedia software program which, during the turn of the millenia, dominated the internet. This software needed users to install Adobe and update their system to fix bugs. Not to mention the security for these sites are often compromised and the risks run deep.
Due to their difficult nature, these kinds of websites are less likely to rank well in search engines. The major design elements of your website are best when utilizing elements that contain HTML and CSS.
4. SSL Speaking of security, you want your web design to incorporate some form of safety measure to protect you and your visitors. This will undoubtedly raise your SEO ranking! A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate is a security measure which provides protection against hackers.
This internet defense covers customer information as well as your organization data. Privacy, authentication, and integrity is all possible by obtaining this certificate. Simply purchase your SSL certificate, activate, and install while in the design process of your site. This step should always come before launching your website.
Having a solid web design is about more than just being aesthetically pleasing. The structure and function of your site not only helps with visual appeal but also raises your SEO rank. And by raising your SEO rank, you are more likely to gain new clients and grow your bottom line.
