0 How to Build an Optimized Website: Content

• SEO
• by Alex Stepman
• 12.21.2019

Good content is good writing--we're sure Hemingway would agree.  In a previous post, we introduced a method for inexperienced website owners to build and optimize a new website. To maximize efficiency, consider four key jobs.  1. Website Design 2. Website Development 3. Content Creation 4. Conversion Optimization  To successfully complete these jobs, a new website owner may need the help of experienced professionals, including top-notch design and development pros who understand website optimization.  However, designing and developing an artful website with lightening-fast speed is not enough. You will not attract the customers you deserve if you do not provide good content. Content: What is Google Looking For? Content can refer to images, videos, infographics (or more), but text is the cornerstone of an optimized website--and the best way to attract an audience. For Google, specifically, text is the best way to achieve a high placement on the search engine results page (SERP). As Google notes in its help pages, "Steps to a Google-friendly site": "Provide high-quality content on your pages, especially your homepage. This is the single most important thing to do. If your pages contain useful information, their content will attract many visitors and entice webmasters to link to your site. In creating a helpful, information-rich site, write pages that clearly and accurately describe your topic. Think about the words users would type to find your pages and include those words on your site." It's worth noting the emphasis on writing here: useful information, information-rich, words. Google is looking for good writing.  SEO Writing vs Good Writing It is an irony that most writing about SEO is not good writing. Despite frequent admonitions to create "good" content most SEO writers do not follow their own advice. This is not a comment about relevancy. Sites like Search Engine Land, Forbes, and Search Engine Journal produce information-rich content--tailored to an audience. And this is not to say that the SEO world does not produce any good writing. Jayson DeMers, a contributor to Forbes, is an engaging writer who writes about SEO with clarity. Unfortunately, SEO writing often uses jargon or makes vague assertions about the definitions of key words or phrases. The jargon and vagueness serve a purposes--one intentional, one not intentional. Using jargon, writers create a shorthand for the in-the-know. Making vague assertions, however, writers creates a confusion for those not in-the-know. Simply put, jargon and vagueness alienate the majority of readers. Most SEO writing is created by SEO wonks for SEO wonks. For this reason, online business owners trying to learn SEO may feel alienated and confused. Online business owners must look elsewhere for good writing. But, as any business owner can testify: there's not enough time to read SEO articles and good writing. The lesson? To appeal to a wide audience write clear, jargon-free prose.  What is Good Writing? So how do you write "information-rich" content that is also good writing? The SEO world offers many guides on "content," and many suggest optimizing the technical aspects, such as the meta tags, alt tags, and headings. However, to create the best content you must think of the language itself--the words. You can tick all the SEO boxes--the tags and headers and keywords--while also offering good writing.  Good writing feels necessary--writing that stays with the reader. Good writing makes an impression. Good writing is meaningful.  Think about syntax--how you arrange the words in each sentence. Think about sentences that perform several functions. Good writing performs several functions in nearly every line. For example, a line might convey information about a product and make a connection to the reader. A good line might make us see and feel. There are many guides to good writing. One recent guide, favored by our head copywriter Seth Pollins, is Dreyer's English by Seth's friend, Benjamin Dreyer.  In future weeks, we will explore the topic of content and content marketing in detail. For now, just remember: great content is the third step to a fully-optimized website. Check back for part four: conversions.  

0 How to Build an Optimized Website: Website Development

• Website Design
• by Alex Stepman
• 12.11.2019

Spock is perhaps the most famous left-brained character--he'd be a great choice for a website developer (photo source).  In a prior post, we introduced a simple method for inexperienced website owners to build and optimize a new website. To build a successful website, consider four key jobs: 1. Website Design 2. Website Development 3. Content Creation 4. Conversion Optimization  To successfully complete these jobs, a new website owner may need the help of one or more experienced professionals. Unfortunately, many professionals--especially web design and development professionals--do not know how to build and optimize a website for online success.  As we noted in our previous post: For aspiring website owners, it is essential to guide the work so that optimization is considered from the beginning. To do so, you should possess a basic understanding of design, development, content creation, and conversions. Today we will discuss website development.  Website Development If website design describes a website's “front-of-the-house” appearance and usability, website development describes the “back-of-the-house” programming. Working in tandem with your designer, your developer should make your website work for both users and search engines like Google. Many new website owners presume the same person can perform both design and development. Of course, this is possible. In reality, most design folks have no aptitude for development, and vice versa.  Since these tasks are so different, requiring different parts of the brain, you will rarely find a pro who can perform both with skill.  Dominant right-brain folks are often more intuitive and creative. Website design is about the appearance and feeling of your website, so the best designers are often right-brained. Dominant left-brain folks are often more logical. Since website development is about the technical background of the website, the best developers are often left-brained people.  The Work of Web Development When your designer is finished creating the look and feel of your site, your developer will take control. The developer's work is based on the designer's work. Guiding this process you must assure that the designer creates a site that can be easily optimized. In certain cases, a website can not be optimized because the designer included unworkable elements. Web crawlers, for example, cannot index Flash technology. Coding each page, the developer will make the site browser-compatible while assuring the site loads quickly. Many developers can make a site work for browsers, but many of the same developers make mistakes that prevent search engines from crawling your website. As a result, your site will not be added to the search engines' databases--not because your site violates SEO guidelines, but because search engines have no access to your site. Simply put, many web developers simply do not know what they're talking about--especially in terms of website optimization.When hunting for a developer, make sure he/she can explain the technical elements to you in simple language. And, of course, make sure you learn a little about development so you can hire only the most intelligent, logical website developer--someone like Spock! Quality website development is the second step to a fully-optimized website Check back for part three: Content Creation.

0 How to Build an Optimized Website: Website Design

• Website Design
• by Alex Stepman
• 12.08.2019

You do not need a stock photo of a happy PC user to understand the value of website design... Search engine optimization (SEO) describes the techniques applied to a website to improve user experience and increase search engine exposure. An experienced SEO firm will optimize each of these elements. For a website owner, however, optimization might mean any technique that will help his/her site succeed online. This is like Google's view of SEO as making "small modifications to parts of your website."  In the end, the best form of SEO is SEO that works. Unfortunately, most website owners must cut through the techno-jargon of SEO firms to understand their meta tags from their backlinks.  Here's a tip: Optimize your website from the beginning. If you are thinking of building a website, and you want to assure your site is optimized for search engines, you've come to the right place.  How to Build an Optimized Website To build an optimized website, you need web design and development expertise or the help of a good web design and development team.  Unfortunately, not all web design and development professionals understand how to build websites optimized for search engines.  Most design and development teams can build a workable and attractive site--but if the site is not optimized, and does not attract and convert visitors, it is no more than a high-priced business card. In other words, a site without optimization is a waste of money. For aspiring website owners, then, it is essential to guide the work so that optimization is considered from the beginning. Building a Website: Four Key Jobs To build a fully-optimized website consider four key jobs: 1. Website Design 2. Website Development 3. Content Creation 4. Conversion Optimization  Website Design People often confuse website design and website development. Here's a simple view: Website development is the “back-of-the-house” programming of a website—how each page is coded and how the different pages interact with each other. Website design is the “front-of-the-house” appearance and usability of a website. To build an optimized website, choose a website designer who can build a beautiful website that is easy to navigate. "Easy-to-navigate" is the most important element of good website design. Visitors appreciate an easy-to-navigate website. More importantly, perhaps, search engines pay attention to design elements like ease of navigation when surfacing search results.  A poorly-designed website might not even be "crawled," and the site will not be added to the search engine's database.  To summarize: Quality website design is the first step to an optimized website that will attract and convert customers. Check back next week for part two: Website Development.