What it Takes to Create a Successful Web Site
5 Steps to Success
1.) Content
There is no substitute for good, relevant content!
Stay focused and build out on the main theme of your web site.
Keep in mind that "search engine friendly" content focuses individual
pages on specific topics/keywords.
2.) Design
The design of your site is important. It needs to be aesthetically pleasing,
with navigation that is easy to understand. UI (User Interface) testing is
critical. Use focus groups, friends, even co-workers to make sure people
understand the point of your site, and how to find what they are looking
for.
3.) SEO
Search Engine Optimization...
SEO relates to a number of things, including the programming code,
keywords/phrases, placement of content on the page, topic focus, meta
tags, header tags, and more. Most search engines acquire their listings by
sending out a "spider" (also known as a "robot") which "crawls" the pages
of your web site, following any links it finds, and "indexing" the results.
Because it is just an automatic program, it cannot actually "see" your web
site.
Instead it relies on interpreting the code and text it comes across as it
works it's way through your pages.
How you have structured this code, and the text your pages contain can
seriously effect how your site is "ranked" in the search results for a given
search term or phrase.
4.) SEM
Search Engine Marketing comes into play after you have done the first
three steps.
This is where you submit your site to search engines and directories,
research niche places (sites, search engines, directories, wiki's, etc.) to
list your site on, and pursue myriad other opportunities to promote your
web site. It is also where you develop a link building strategy. It is vitally
important to have a network of relevant sites linking to you. A solid
network of links accomplishes two things, it helps your rankings, and it
brings in its own qualified traffic.
5.) Conversion
What good are visitors to your web site if they aren't doing what you
want them to?
This is where you need to develop landing pages with clear action items.
Your visitors need to immediately get what they can do here, and take
the action you want them to.
This requires careful design and much testing. You need to constantly
monitor results, analyze your metrics, try new approaches, and roll out
the winners. Develop, Test, Rinse & Repeat.