written by Shannon Lynd on Monday, February 18, 2013
Last week, my partner, Allison Alesi, presented the following top 10 website tips. It's not necessarily the top 10 things you should do or not do, but the top 10 things to review or evaluate for you own website.
- The copy or content on your website should be written for both human and search engine audiences. This means that you need a strategic plan for using keywords and descriptions effectively.
- The copy you use for printed brochures and presentations shouldn't be used word for word for your website copy. People read differently on the web and you need to take different reading patterns into consideration.
- Your website will rank higher if it is submitted directly to the search engines. While most search engines crawl your website for information automatically, you will have much more success if you submit it to the search engine with a siteplan, so that the search engine knows exactly what to search and index.
- Website design has a direct impact on your company's brand. If your website appears dated, people will assume that your company doesn't keep up with technology trends and that you too might be out-dated.
- All information on your website must be kept current or removed. When a site visitor finds one bit of out of date or incorrect information, they might assume that everything on the site is incorrect.
- Your website should have an easy to use menu that structures information as your customers and prospects see them, not necessarily how your company is organized internally.
- Your website should have a call to action. It should ask the site visitor to do something - register, download, read, call, email.
- Your website domain should be something you can say without having to spell it out. If you have to say "abc dash store.com", your chance of being remembered is significantly decreased.
- Don't use visitor counters, "under construction" or too many gadgets on your website. They make your site look amateurish and take focus away from your business.
- Make sure your website has a copyright statement, and that it's up to date. You own what you write, and you don't want your competitors to be able to steal it.
And two bonus tips!
- Inspect what you expect. Make sure to check and understand your website analytics - know how your site is being used, what pages are visited more frequently and how long people stay on your site.
- See how it looks on a smart phone. Smart phone usage is increasing exponentially, so you need to know if your site is usable from a smart phone or tablet.