Writing for site optimisation
Designing for site optimisation
Developing for site optimisation
Linking for site optimisation
Site optimisation isn’t rocket science

You already know that site optimisation (SEO) is essential for your business – and this is especially true during an economic downturn.

Site optimisation, done well, can deliver lots of visitors to your website. But the best thing is that even when you’re not actively working on it, visitors can continue to visit your website.

Site optimisation is flexible and quickly adaptable, unlike offline marketing, such as TV and newspapers. And when you focus on raising your online presence this way, you can come out on top with great positions and more visitors.

Writing for site optimisation

When you write for site optimisation, you need to balance relevant copy and strategic use of keywords. And you need to do this in a way that seems effortless to your readers, including search engine bots.

• Title tags must include the most important keyword for each page
• Keywords should appear up and to the left
• The same keyword should appear several times
• Your headline and first paragraph should include your keyword
• Internal links should be used in your copy

Remember, don’t focus so much on keyword use that your copy ends up boring and over-optimised. Make it valuable and interesting to your readers. You can usually spot a dull SEO article right away, while a creative one is a breath of fresh air.

Your site should read well on search engines and bring you a better site ranking. And once it achieves a good ranking, visitors will click – generating the traffic you need.

Would you like help writing site optimisation articles, or a review of your existing website content? Contact our local Guernsey agency – we’re happy to help.

Designing for site optimisation

When it comes to SEO forget pretty, quirky or clever. It’s more about usability and structuring your page so that Google can drop in, see what you’ve got, and move on.

• Images. Google can’t read mages, so try not to use them too much. If you do use them, make sure they are optimised for the web.
• Alt tags. Make sure you use an alt tag with every image so that Google can read what your images are about
• File size. Google, like anyone visiting your site, doesn’t want to wait for five minutes while your feature-rich and funky site loads. Keep files small and use 72 dpi images.

Would you like help designing your website for SEO – or a critique of your current site? Contact SWN today – we’re happy to help.

Developing for site optimisation

When you want to build, relaunch or optimise your website, please do one thing. Get a SEO-savvy online agency on board. This cannot be stressed enough. If you don’t, you risk Google penalising you for not doing it right.

• Use CSS. Cascading style sheets are Google’s preferred page layout – easy, clean and quick to scan
• Don’t use Flash. Google hates Flash and, despite what the art director says, so do most people
• Doorway pages. These say to Google, ‘please do not disturb’
• Sitemap. It’s makes your site as easy as possible for Google to navigate through, which means they’ll do it more often
• Google Webmaster tools. Your developer should follow updates religiously

Would you like SWN to give your site a health-check to ensure your code and architecture is SEO-friendly and W3 compliant? Contact SWN today.

Linking for site optimisation

Another vital aspect of SEO is linking.

When Google first started, its platform was based on the way professors ‘vote’ for their peers in things like journals and papers. Google liked this approach, so they developed it for the web. Linking is like ‘voting’ – just more complicated. The essence however, is still the same – so Google loves links.

Your site can reach page one of Google with a great linking campaign. But before you go hunting down possible link opportunities all over the internet, please remember these important points:

• Not just any links will do. Your back-links (sites that link to you) should be vaguely familiar or complementary to what your site offers.
• Don’t grow too fast. Google keeps an eye on websites that go from zero to multi-million-link hero within days.
• One-way links are better. Google likes to see a wee bit of back-patting, i.e. I like you, you like me so let’s link! But be careful you’re not linking out to everyone and anyone. Keep it relevant.

For some great link-building ideas, contact SWN today. We know lots of practical tips to supercharge your link strategy.

Site optimisation isn’t rocket science

Some SEO agencies would have you believe that SEO is really, really technical and difficult. Yes, some aspects are. But you can actually make quite a difference just by implementing a few simple ideas yourself.

The biggest thing with SEO is that it is time-consuming. It takes time to build a reputation online and the returns aren’t immediate. But when hire us, a local Guernsey ad agency you do start seeing results, they can be extremely cost-effective. Worth doing, don’t you think?