stop! and read this before you hire a website design firm
to design or redesign website!

search engine design
what is it and how should it help your website?

Search engine design is one of those things that you hear little about. It does, however, play a very important role in the search engine visibility of your website.  I can't tell you how many clients tell us they wish they knew what they learned from us BEFORE they invested in designing a new website. If you are in the planning stages of a new website, or website redesign, now is the time to plan for search engine optimization. We realize that you may be one of the thousands of companies that has already build the site and now needs to figure out how to make it visible to search engines. Don't worry, all is not lost.

Here are some things to consider, no matter what stage of website development you are in...

Website design should be far more than the attraction factor.
How you use the power of the Internet as a medium will impact its potential to support your bottom line.  Website performance is increasingly dependent upon search engine visibility, so it makes sense that you want to do everything you can to improve your website's performance on Google, Yahoo, MSN and other search engines.

If you are like most businesses out there, you confidently assume that your website team, website designer or vendor is designing your website for search engine friendliness. Unfortunately for most businesses with website, their website design is not search engine friendly.

Search engine design is the deliberate use of website interface design and page construction to help search engine bots and spiders to "see" your site in order to support ranking in keyword searches that connect you to your audience.

If you are preparing to design or redesign your website, you may want to consider purchasing a custom 
Search Engine Website Design Planner .
(click here to view search engine design planner details)

If you are determined to go it alone, or want to see how well you can do it yourself,

Here are 5 very basic recommendations for effective search engine design:

1. Never fall in love with a website design that is invisible to search engines.
Think of a site that is not search engine friendly to be like building a store in a remote area with no street numer, address, directions or signage...your customers have no way to find you on their own. The design of your website should support search enginge visibility and promote interactivity that supports your business goals.

2. Resist the temptation to rely on flash or java on your home page.
Although attractive, few websites overcome the search engine optimization weakness of these interactive treatments. We've talked about this in previous articles, but the bottom line is that unless you already have ample traffic coming to your website and don't need to be search engine visible, leave the flashing to the marquee players like Victoria's Secret, ESPN, and Nike.

3. Text is your best friend.
Text is a vital component of a search engine optimized website. When the text on your website is carefully and deliberately managed to support your search engine strategy, based on the keywords that will put you in front of your target audinces, you are actively supporting your website in meeting your audiences online. Because every search engine has different "rules" which do change without notice, text has become a vital part of search engine optimization.

4. Perpetuate your brand.
Be sure to extend your brand experience to your website. Consider your website to be the virtual extension of your business...the 24/7 receptionist, sales person, customer service representative, etc. Your brand (logo, color pallete, content, calls to action, etc.)

5. Embrace the interactive nature of the Internet.
As simple as this may sound, it is surprising to see how many businesses mistakenly view their website as a way to duplicate their brochure, catalog or offline marketing. The Internet provides unique opportunities to empower your audiences to manage their own experience on your website, qualify themselves as prospects, deliver vital statistics of what website visitors are doing online. This data is invaluable in managing the long-term performance of your website so you can continue to improve conversion of website visitors to customers.

We find that many website designers, web firms and developers don't fully understand the importance of search engine design. (they will secretly admit it to us when we are asked by their client's to evaluate and optimize the website they created for the client).

Not sure if your website is search engine friendly?
Want help developing requirements for the search engine optimization of your website design?
Contact us today, you'll wish you did it months ago!

NEW!!!  ----- Search Engine Website Design Planner -----
It breaks our heart to see the disappoinntment in our client's eyes AFTER they've invested thousands of dollars (or more) in a new website design only to find out that the designer's version of "optimized" is a far stretch from what the search engines consider optimized. 

The truth is that most website designers really do't understand search engine optimization and how to integrate it into your website so that your website behaves as an interactive marketing tool that the search engines can find and present to your audience upon keyword search on Google or other search engines.

Our goal is to empower you to get the best possible outcome from your website designer, so, we've developed a 15 point outline from which you can use to guide your designer to create a website that will be search engine friendly.

What we do: We will evaluate your existing website against best practices and basic foundational search engine optimization criteria. We identify weaknesses and areas of opportunity to improve search engine friendliness so your site has a better chance of being crawled and seen by the search engines.

What you get: We will provide you with a 15 point outline that you can easily integrate into your RFP, provide to your designer before they begin the design process. If your website is already live and you just don't think you're getting the perfomance you need to get a return from your investment, we can help.

Contact us  BEFORE you invest another penny into website design!
This is one of the easiest, most cost-effective and efficient ways to insure you are getting the best possible value from the investment you make in website design.

ask an seo expert!

Have a question not yet covered yet in emails or articles?  Drop us a line!
Also, be sure to add your email address to our list   on the right  > >