Friday, October 9, 2009

Web Design For Search Engines

By Alex McMillan Boyle

When you hire a web designer to build you a website, quite often the main focus is spent on aesthetically pleasing graphics and a professional look. However, a professional look is pointless if your website doesn't function well of properly and doesn't attract any traffic.

Your website should be a working tool for your business, it should be a 24/7 sales man, bringing you business so that every time you check your emails you have new leads waiting to be converted into sales.

The purpose of a website will obviously vary depending on what your business is, but either way your site must have a purpose! It could be to gather contact details for contact at a later date, it could be to generate enquiries from potential customers to whom you then reply with a quote, or it could sell your products automatically, but the important thing to ensure is that it has a purpose and is not simply there for the sake of it.

Once you have established your sites purpose you will want to add Calls to Action on each page, so each visitor has an action to take once they have read your content. Content needs to take to format of.. identifying the prospects problem, issue or need explain how you can solve, fix or supply it.. provide an easy system for the prospect to take action.

Once your site is set up in this way and its all set to work like a proper sales funnel, it is then time to try and bring in some traffic. This is where many web designers fail as many dont realise that some functions of a site, like having lots of Flash animations or using a content management system is likely to hinder the sites progress in the search engine rankings.

So to avoid having to completely re-do your website in order to get traffic, the best course of action is to consult an experienced SEO company before you commission the building of your site to a designer.

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