The perfection of websites
Posted on: 01-23-2012 by: Edgar Reihl
Many people I talk to have the idea that once you’ve developed your web site, you are done. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth!
There are several reasons for that. First, if you don’t bother to update your site, your visitors are not going to return. They may view it once, but if nothing ever changes, they will soon lose interest.
The same is true for search engines. If you don’t keep your content fresh, they will lose interest in you too! It won’t be long before you start dropping lower and lower in the search engine results page (SERP).
There is almost always something you could be doing to improve your site. If not updating the content, then improving your on-page SEO. Make it a habit to review every page of your site on a regular basis looking for ways to make it better.
It’s not a bad idea to have friends, customers, and clients give you feedback on your site. Don’t jump on every negative comment however– web site design is very subjective, and it’s not uncommon for people to have quite different opinions about style. A web site is essentially an exercise in human interface design. It’s art, if you want to look at it that way.
You’ll probably have to be your own critic as far as SEO is concerned, unless you have a consultant that can look over your work.
Here’s one tip for you that you can act on right away.
Does every one of your pages have a meaningful title tag? The title tag is what shows up at the top of the browser window, what gets bookmarked, and what search engines rely on the most. Yes, it is true– the title tag is ridiculously important in terms of how your site is ranked. And by the way, do not use “Home” for the title of your home page! Home is not a keyword that anyone searches for. Your site visitors should be able to figure out which page is the home page without putting that in the title, if your navigation is any good.
Ideally you want to use your most important key words for each page in the page title tag, then weave them into the page description meta tag and finally the actual content of the page. Title tags should be no more than 70 characters in length, including spaces. You should try to use those 70 characters as fully as possible because they are very important to SEO. Use a word processor like Microsoft Word to count the length for you– it’s too tedious to do it manually. You can use a dash or a vertical pipe to separate words in your title. And DO NOT use the same title tag on more than one page! Part of the tag, like the name of your business or organization, can be the same on all pages. But you should include other terms in the title to distinguish the purpose of each page, like “services, products, contact us” or whatever.
For title ideas, visit our portfolio section and check out some of our sites.
Have fun optimizing your site! The job never ends, if you’re dedicated to perfection!
Many people I talk to have the idea that once you’ve developed your web site, you are done. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth!
There are several reasons for that. First, if you don’t bother to update your site, your visitors are not going to return. They may view it once, but if nothing ever changes, they will soon lose interest.
The same is true for search engines. If you don’t keep your content fresh, they will lose interest in you too! It won’t be long before you start dropping lower and lower in the search engine results page (SERP).
There is almost always something you could be doing to improve your site. If not updating the content, then improving your on-page SEO. Make it a habit to review every page of your site on a regular basis looking for ways to make it better.
- Could you choose a better title tag?
- Are your page descriptions as good as they could be?
- Does you copy read as well as it should?
- Are you weaving your best keywords into the title, page description, and content without overdoing it?
It’s not a bad idea to have friends, customers, and clients give you feedback on your site. Don’t jump on every negative comment however– web site design is very subjective, and it’s not uncommon for people to have quite different opinions about style. A web site is essentially an exercise in human interface design. It’s art, if you want to look at it that way.
You’ll probably have to be your own critic as far as SEO is concerned, unless you have a consultant that can look over your work.
Here’s one tip for you that you can act on right away.
Does every one of your pages have a meaningful title tag? The title tag is what shows up at the top of the browser window, what gets bookmarked, and what search engines rely on the most. Yes, it is true– the title tag is ridiculously important in terms of how your site is ranked. And by the way, do not use “Home” for the title of your home page! Home is not a keyword that anyone searches for. Your site visitors should be able to figure out which page is the home page without putting that in the title, if your navigation is any good.
Ideally you want to use your most important key words for each page in the page title tag, then weave them into the page description meta tag and finally the actual content of the page. Title tags should be no more than 70 characters in length, including spaces. You should try to use those 70 characters as fully as possible because they are very important to SEO. Use a word processor like Microsoft Word to count the length for you– it’s too tedious to do it manually. You can use a dash or a vertical pipe to separate words in your title. And DO NOT use the same title tag on more than one page! Part of the tag, like the name of your business or organization, can be the same on all pages. But you should include other terms in the title to distinguish the purpose of each page, like “services, products, contact us” or whatever.
For title ideas, visit our portfolio section and check out some of our sites.
Have fun optimizing your site! The job never ends, if you’re dedicated to perfection!