Originally appeared in HighRankings Advisor Newsletter

Throughout this series of articles I've recommended taking a few steps backwards to view your site from the user perspective and from the perspective of the search engine spiders. I've stressed tracing every element you place in the site back to your original specifications. The reason why this is so crucial is so you don't go off on tangents and frustrate your users. A website about weddings could have sections on travel, clothing, home buying and parenting, but does it really make sense to tackle all that? Wouldn't customers prefer a site that specializes in that one special day and not necessarily everything else that may follow it? The search engines will also appreciate it when you stick to the topic at hand, because it helps them determine what your site is all about.

Before rolling out your website to the public, make sure all clues about finding and using it are directly built in.

 

Checking Under the Hood
When testing a website, the first thing I do is look at the source code itself. I check to see if Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are tucked away in a separate file instead of filling up the homepage with useless code. Whenever I see preloaded images and a mouseover JavaScript, I know right away the page will likely contain a universal navigation bar at the top of the page, which spiders may ignore. If easily finding the website in the search engines is a business objective, it would have just failed one of my tests.

Since Title tags are so important, I assign a poor score when a site has a Title tag that states, "Welcome to My Website Name." "Welcome" is not a keyword customers use to find sites. I check for keyword placement (or lack of it) throughout the source code including content, behind images, in link descriptions and navigation labels. By this time, I have my Sherlock Holmes cap on and am hunting for all the clues I know are needed by search engines to help return accurate search results. I also look for signs of bad SEO advice that might be incorporated into the design such as hidden text, bloated Meta tags and keyword-density overload.

 

Is There a Path To Follow?
After analyzing the source code, I look at the page layout on the homepage and attempt to figure out where I'm supposed to go next. The objective for consumer-oriented sites is to sell something or to generate leads. With ecommerce sites I may find myself wandering into a maze of catalogs and product descriptions, or (if they designed a store with departments) I might be guided in an organized fashion. If the online store bombards me with offsite ads, I assume they don't want my money or they wouldn't be sending me away.

Next I look for opportunities for site abandonment. The most obvious reason is the user may be overwhelmed with options and not know what to do when they first arrive. The site should ease them into its inner sanctum through some introductory content, and clearly labeled links to the main sections. There should also be clear click paths to hot areas they may want me to visit. For example, if your website offers discounted items, you might suggest the user go there first and then guide them to other product categories while they're there. If your navigation makes your user feel confident they will arrive where you say they will, they'll keep clicking.

Informational websites are often cluttered so it helps to break resources and news into categories. Place the most popular ones above the "fold." Once inside, it's easier to branch out into sub-sections. By preparing topic-specific web pages you've naturally made them ready for search engines and directories.

 

If You Don't Visit Your Website, Who Will?
What will entice people to return to your website? Here are some ideas:

1. When presenting news, use RSS feeds and Blogs. Search engines love them and visitors will rely on you to keep them informed and entertained.

2. Offer contests and incentives.

3. Enter contests. For instance, I found sites that were worthy of a return visit (and sometimes even a link) while I was a judge for a website contest.

4. Partnerships. Team up with websites that add value to yours.

5. Articles. Share knowledge, hire a columnist, submit or solicit articles.

6. Create opt-in email notifications for announcements.

7. Write and sell an e-book and let others sell it from their site as an affiliate.

8. Join forums. Volunteer to moderate in areas you specialize in.

9. Newsletters. If you write it well, they will come.

10. Expertise and customer satisfaction. The key to continued sales and referrals is happy customers. The key to repeat traffic is providing a valuable website.

Before putting your website online, try using it from the perspective of searchers and customers. Put yourself in their moccasins. This is the best test of all. It amazes me how many times I have to put on my reading glasses to magnify the text so I can view a page without straining. I often wonder if the people that own websites with teeny tiny text ever try to use them. Then there's the website I tested that had no content at all. It was made up entirely of graphics, including the text. No search engine could crawl it, special-needs users would struggle with it and slow modems would choke to death loading it.

Don't expect to upload web pages to a server and then walk away and miraculously make money or be famous. It takes a lot of hard work as well as testing, testing and more testing!