Website Best Practices
Most small businesses don’t have the resources to hire in-house experts in everything that needs to be done. So, most entrepreneurs end up with a DIY mindset. Instagram seems easy enough. And maybe you got some help with the technical aspects of your website. Then you had that meeting about getting more emails out. You hired a coach and read some blogs, but SEO is still a bit of a mystery. Does all this count as part of website best practices?
When you piece everything together, it can come off very disjointed and not optimized at all. Without a unified digital marketing strategy, you end up wasting money. Developing a successful, holistic digital marketing strategy takes time (and some money). But it benefits you not only in your user experience but also with your SEO.
And that’s why I wanted to share these website best practices!
WireFrami
Website Structure
The first step to following website best practices is to develop a simple design, especially if you’ve invested a lot of money in your website design. Simple is always better.
Your site needs to be easy to navigate, fast to load and mobile friendly. You want your page navigation & menu to be visual and intuitive.
Page design needs to be simple, but the website structure itself must also be simple. Structure your site with a home page, a main topic (page listed on the menu), your subtopic page (not necessarily included in a menu or a submenu), and then a content page. And you can even use wireframing or a wireframing map for your site structure. This simple site structure generally ends up looking like a pyramid.
Another thing to keep in mind is your use of URLs. Make sure that the main purpose for each webpage is included in the URL.
If it’s clean and easy for humans, it’s also good for Google and their bots for crawling it and categorizing your site.
Good Website Structure = Good SEO
Design Aligns with Marketing Strategies
Many times, companies start with designing a website and only later get to developing marketing strategies. It’s possible to make it work that way, but it is easier to align a website with a marketing strategy than to align a marketing strategy with a website. If you feel like you have never-ending revisions to your site, you probably need to revisit your marketing strategy.
Your website is often where potential customers first encounter your brand. Thus, the user experience on your website builds a foundation of trust and credibility – to an even greater degree if your customers make purchases online.
Website best practices support your marketing efforts. That’s the whole point of having a website. Sometimes businesses forget that no matter what’s happening on the website, it’s always selling something – an appointment, an idea, a product, or a service. So, every word and image need to (gently) persuade.
Do Keywords Matter for Website Best Practices?
SEO is as much an art as a technology. It starts with research. Keyword research requires an in-depth knowledge of the company goals and an understanding of the marketing strategy. Many a website has been optimized for keywords that are technically correct but bring no conversions.
The tech part of keywords is about placing the right words in the right place in the content without over-optimizing. Throwing extra keywords into website copy can even make it so that Google ignores your website!
Also, page structure is as important as the overall website structure. Headers, H1, H2, and H3 tags are all critical to SEO. To make things more complex, Google changes the rules (algorithms) regularly. If you take this on yourself, remember it requires up-to-date knowledge to know what’s current.
And Last but Not Least – Don’t Forget the Footers
Footers are far more critical than you might think. They are on the bottom of every page, so sometimes, they are overlooked. So, it’s customary for your footer to contain a way to contact you, your privacy policy, and your social media links. A professional would add their license number.Also, if you do email marketing, add a sign-up link.
Users expect to find these in your footer, so this is another way to fulfill user expectations.
In Summary
Website best practices include many elements. First, there is the core website design and structure that aligns with your marketing strategies. Then there is your SEO-optimized content with keywords and images. And don’t forget the footer!
Here at MizBiz, we work with you to develop a holistic digital marketing program. We amalgamate the pieces you have in place already with tried-and-true website best practices to help you grow your business.
