visitor experience

We’ve been hearing about personalized search since 2007. We’ve even seen some advancements from Google in 2008 with the launch of the SearchWiki. To make even more advancements with personalized search, earlier in December, 2009 Google announced that they made even more enhancements. Now, whether a searcher is signed in to Google or not, their search results will be “personalized” just for them based on their web history.

So what exactly does this mean for the website owner? Take your keyword rankings with a grain of salt. After all, what you see in search results may not be what searchers see (unless personalization is turned off). Instead, pay close attention to your analytic data to see how your website performs as a whole. The basics of search engine optimization still hold true. Keyword selection and optimized titles, meta descriptions, and website copy are still super important. But for total SEO success, website owners should also concentrate on:

1. Web design and usability.
   Create a website that uses clean, up-to-date code and easily sends your visitor to a call-to-action. If your website is old, or possibly new, but designed by an inexperienced web designer, it is in your best interest to invest in a new website.
2. Web page load times.
   Slow loading web pages could mean lower rankings all together. There are many factors that affect a page load time (too many images, large images, hosting bandwidth etc.). You should talk to your webmaster if you feel your webpages do load slowly.
3. Visitor bounce rates.
   If your bounce rate is above 50% for any given page, then look at the content of that page. Does your copy say too little, or is there too much copy on that page? What about the calls-to-action? Is your message clear? The longer a visitor stays on a website, the more apt they are to make a buying decision.
4. Fresh content.
   Is your content being updated on a regular basis? If not, your website will suffer. It’s been known for some time that Google wants to show the most relevant search results to the searcher. If your content is stagnant, well, then it’s not relevant. Keep it updated, fresh, and relevant.

In conclusion, stop fretting over that #1 spot on Google. Instead, work towards making your website the best it can be and let the visitor behavior on your site tell you if your SEO efforts are working.

I think this question has been asked ever since the dawn of Google. Website owner after website owner have pondered over this question, while SEO after SEO have tried to give a definitive answer.

Recently, the good folks over at Search Engine Roundtable released the results to their April 1st poll: “How Long Should it Take to Rank Well on Google?” Out of the over two-hundred respondents, the largest response was 3-6 months (35%), followed by 6-9 months (19%). In my experience, a well-optimized website will take approximately 3-6 months to rank well. A website that has not been optimized at all….never!

Three to six months for a site to rank well on Google may seem like a long time to the anxious website owner who really wants to prove their site a success. However, with millions upon millions of websites trying to rank on the first page of the SERPs (search engine results pages), it takes that amount of time for Google to revisit your web pages enough times to build up the trust factor. Also, Google looks at many different factors of a web page in order to give it high rankings in SERPs. And, those factors change all the time – which can seem to be a bit unfair to even the most diligent of webmasters.

Such factors that Google takes into account include:

• Age of the domain
• Use of keywords in the Title tag
• Relevancy of keywords in the body text
• Link popularity of the site (or web page in question)
• Anchor text used in inbound link
• Relevance of inbound links
• Quality of content & freshness of content

Google also looks at factors that may negatively affect a website. These factors include:

• Duplicate title/meta description tags
• Errors in site code which distracts search engine spiders
• Duplicate content of any kind
• Participation in link farms or link schemes
• Keyword stuffing (basically overusing keyword phrases)
• Keywords in Title do not match content
• Hidden keywords
• Disobeying any of Google rules (see Google’s webmaster guidelines)

One thing that I have learned in my many years of optimizing websites. A website is only as good as those who maintain it. I’ve also learned that once you get the hang of what Google likes, they change the rules. However, with all this said, it doesn’t matter how well a website ranks on Google. What matters is the visitor.

As a professional SEO who has done optimized a ton of websites for various industries – this is what I suggest.

• Have a plan – what do you want visitors to do when they land on your site
• Know your audience and produce well-written, useful content for them
• Make it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for – don’t hide important information
• Make your calls-to-action prominent and consistent
• Maintain your content – if a product or service changes, update your site accordingly

So instead of worrying how long it takes to rank well on Google. Start thinking about your visitor and what is important to them. Afterall, your in business to get business from humans, not search engines.

Not sure if your site meets Google’s (or Patti’s) guidelines. Contact us for a complimentary website review.

You’re a business owner who has spent thousands of dollars on a new website. You can’t wait for all of the response and customers you’ll receive from said website. Months pass and …. nothing happens. Your website can’t be found on the internet; customers aren’t flooding your in box with inquiries; and the only people who have commented on your website so far are your employees, and your relatives.

Why does this happen? Most times it’s either A. your website is not optimized so it’s virtually invisible on the internet; or, B. there are no calls-to-action on the site. We’ll talk about SEO another time, today, let’s explore the almighty “call-to-action”.

What is a Call-to-Action?

Simply put, a call-to-action is the end result you want from your visitor. Many business owners don’t clearly define their website goals before the design process begins. This is a huge mistake that can cost even more of your already stretched budget to fix after the fact.

Before jumping into the design, ask yourself “what do I want my visitors to do when they land on my website?”

Some examples of a call-to-action are:

• Fill out a contact form
• Subscribe to a newsletter
• Register for an event
• Download a white paper
• Subscribe to your blog

Whatever the action is, the steps leading to that action also need to be very clear. Wording and color of a call-to-action are just as important as the placement. Make the action clear, visible, and enticing. Avoid phrases like: “click here”, “read more”, and “more”. Think about how many websites you have visited that have such lame action phrases. Do you ever click on them? Probably not.

Messaging Your Call-to-Action

The message in the call-to-action needs to be clear and simple, but not boring. Some examples of this include:

• Buy Now, Save 50%
• Receive SEO Tips Weekly
• Read Our Gardening Articles
• Download Software Whitepapers
• Get Started Now
• Free Instant Quote

Grab your audiences attention. Make the action appealing. The visitor has landed on your site for a  reason, make it easy for them to make the desired action.

Conclusion

A website needs to be more than just a pretty picture. Think about what you want your visitors to do on your webiste. Then, make it easy for them to do so. You’ll be happy you did.

Small business owners approach me every day regarding their website performance. They have a website, which they feel is great, and are confused as to why the general the public aren’t swarming the site. There may be many reasons why websites doesn’t receive visitors. Small businesses can increase the amount of website traffic by avoiding these five most common website mistakes.

1. Search Engine “Unfriendly” Design

When a small business makes the decision to get a website, they must be aware of the different ways a website can be designed. There are web designs that are search engine friendly and a whole lot that are “unfriendly” to search engines. Flash websites may be pretty, but they have a very tough time getting indexed by search engines. Websites designed using Frames may be inexpensive, but your site will virtually be invisible.

2. No Website Plan

Every website must have a plan and goals. The largest mistake small businesses can make with their website is not defining their website goals. Ask yourself “what do we want the visitor to do when they land on our site?” If you’re not sure, then your website goals are not clear. Clear goals help convert visitors into customers.

3. Lack of Calls to Action

There is nothing worse than landing on a webpage and having to search for the information that you’re looking for. By placing clear calls to action on your website, your visitors will be more likely to make an action instead of hitting the back button.

4. Poorly Written Copy

Small business website owners typically work within a tight budget when launching their website. Hence, they tend to write the website copy themselves. If you do write your own website copy, make sure you have other business professionals proof your website before it goes live. Grammatical errors or typos will cause the website visitor to immediately leave your website.

5. Ignoring Search Engine Optimization

Websites do not attract visitors by themselves. Your website needs to be positioned high on search engines in order to reach your target visitor. Search engine optimization is the process of improving a website’s online visibility by researching keywords your target visitor uses to search, implementing these keywords in specific areas of the content and code, and building links to the website. This process takes time and energy. When in doubt, it’s best to consult with an SEO professional.

Have you ever visited a website just to find yourself immediately going back to your search results? Maybe you couldn’t figure out what the company does. Or… maybe you were referred to this company and just wanted to get specs on a certain product, but instead you find yourself clicking around their website aimlessly and could not find the information you were looking for. If this has happened to you, you’ve been victim of poor usability.

There is blog post by Eric Enge on Search Engine Watch titled “Usability and SEO, Which comes First.” In his blog Eric stresses the usability and visitor experience are far more important than SEO. I whole heartedly agree with Mr. Enge. I’ve managed many website redesign projects where the company president wants their website to reflect their sales brochure. However, website visitors are looking for more robust information than what a sales brochure can offer. And many web developers (well, the inexperienced ones) are so eager to please the client that they produce flashy websites with lack luster content. The result is high bounce rates and dismal website conversions.

While SEO is very important, what is more important is to clearly define the purpose of your website. As with anything, if you do not have a clear plan, you can not achieve success. The same holds true with websites. Once you determine the purpose of your site, then you need to determine what it is you want visitors to do when they get to your site and then make it easy for the visitor to do so.

I encourage you to read Eric’s blog and pay special attention to the basic questions every website owner should ask before jumping head first into a website design project.