An Effective Website - 3 Key Elements

First of all I think I should start this article by defining what I mean by an effective website. I view an effective website to be a website that has:

• Achieved a targeted level of traffic
• Achieved a targeted quality of traffic i.e. visitors are arriving on the website with intent
• A website that has the power to convert, to make the visitors do what the website owner wants them to do it

This is the element that is most important in giving your website the power to convert, to convince visitors to your website to take the action that you would like them to take.

A well designed website should first of all have clear and simple navigation, wherever on the website the visitor is it should be easy for them to get where they would like to go next. So plan the website map carefully and think through what information your website needs to convey and then break this down into sections off the main menu and finally into individual pages.

Develop a design style that is visually enticing and interesting, make a visit to your website as enjoyable as possible but don’t make your website so complex that it takes to long to download. This will typically be the case if you include too much flash work.

Keep your copy clear and concise and keep each page ‘copy light’, don’t over-face visitors with to much information, give them enough to know what you do and what you offer. Tell them why they should deal with you and give them a call to action to prompt them to do what you would like them to do next.

You will often see SEO experts write that ‘content is king’ and for sure it is probably the most important factor in developing a successful website presence. Getting content correct really starts with your choice of keywords. Keywords are the phrases that you believe people who wish to find websites such as yours will type into the search engines.

It is important to decide what these keywords are so run searches across several main search engines for the words and phrases you think are correct and see what comes up. Also use Google Adwords for a while and run campaigns on the keywords you think are correct for you, see how many clicks and page impressions you get. If a keyword is too popular you may not be able to get to the top of the search engines for that keyword, on the other hand there is no point in being top of the search engines for a keyword no one ever uses. Get the balance right between these two factors.

When writing copy particularly for your Home Page it is important to think about keyword density. Use your main keyword on your Home Page as it will be your landing page and is as such the page you would most benefit from being at the top of the search engines. Type in your desired keyword to the search engines and see which websites come up, check out how many times these websites feature the keyword on their landing page and try to pitch yours at about that level. However it is important that getting your keyword density correct doesn’t affect the flow of your copy.

Have a latest news, information or blogs section on your website. Keep it up to date and fill it with interesting, useful content, the kind of information that will be of interest to your target market. Upload links to your updates to social networking websites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, you’ll be amazed now much quality traffic it will bring.

Good quality links can not only bring quality traffic to your website directly, they will also have a beneficial effect on your search engine rankings. The search engines view a link to your website as a vote of confidence in it.

There are several ways to build quality links. You can join a few link exchange websites and look for link exchange partners. Try to exchange links with websites that have content relevant to your own and also ideally those which have a good Google Page Ranking.

List your website in free directories where possible but focus your efforts on those with a Google Page Ranking 3 or better which do not require a reciprocal link. One way links are better for search engine position than link exchanges.

In the last section I mentioned the value of writing articles that will be of interest to your target market. You should also upload these articles to as many article directories as possible as these directories will offer a link to your website with every article published.