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Exploiting Website Features

Lesson Eight:

Exploiting Website Features

Good website practice and optimizing for conversion usually makes for good search engine optimization.
Marc Ostrofsky

Everyone wants a website that draws in customers and helps build a strong community, but many websites fail in this endeavor. When websites are difficult to navigate, have weak content, and are not easily accessible, customers will avoid them. Successful websites have certain characteristics in common that you can emulate, such as SEO optimization, easy to navigate landing pages, and mobile friendly characteristics.

SEO Optimization

SEO is an important characteristic of websites that helps drive traffic. As the previous module explained, SEO is a complex process. You already know the SEO basics, but there are a few familiar strategies that you can put in place to optimize your website.

  • Choose strategic keywords.
  • Include relevant, well written content on each page with html coding.
  • Place keywords in the content.
  • Use SEO descriptions for links.

Optimizing your webpage is an ongoing process. You will have to monitor and alter your SEO strategy as necessary. The important thing to remember is that, even if you do not have the results you want at the beginning, SEO optimization is necessary for a successful website and can always be improved.

Landing Page

The landing page is the webpage that customers arrive at when they click on a link. The point of a landing page is to capture leads. Regardless of which page you choose, your landing page is your first impression. The design, layout, and content must be impeccable.

Effective Characteristics:

01

Simplicity: Do not distract the customer with complex designs or excessive content. The landing page should have a clean and simple look.

02

Communicate value: The content should clearly explain how the customer will benefit from taking action.

03

Be clear: Landing pages require action from the customer. Provide clear directions and highlight the call to action.

04

Be brief: Make any forms that customers fill out short and non-invasive.

05

Share: Allow customers to share your landing page with others.

Analytics

Websites should be changed from time to time, and analytics will allow you to track customer responses to the website. There are different analytics available to suit any business needs. There are clickstream, competitive analytics, and social analytics that vary in price and function. Research will determine what will work best for your company. The results from analytics will show you the number of visitors and how they arrived at the website. You will also be able to determine which links were broken, which ones were used the most, and which portions of the website did not generate traffic. The information that analytics provide will help you make the necessary changes to create a more user friendly website.

Mobile and Tablet Friendly

Given how entrenched mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets are in today’s culture, it only makes sense that websites be mobile and tablet friendly. Not having a mobile friendly site will cost you customers. In fact, 61% of people surveyed by Google said that they would not stay on websites that are not mobile friendly. Fortunately, it is not difficult to make a mobile friendly website. For example, there are plugins that work with certain platforms such as WordPress. For the best results, however, you want to create a response layer. This action can require a designer. Once the website is mobile friendly, you need to test how it functions before allowing customers to access it.

Effective mobile websites will:

  • Load quickly – the ideal loading time is 5 seconds or under
  • Be easy to use – the layout should be easy to use with visible buttons and scroll bars
  • Be informative – The text and contact information needs to be visible and easy to read.

Practical Application

Albert created a website when he opened his store five years ago, but he hardly every updated it and did not know how to use analytics. Finally, he allowed an employee to make a few changes because she promised that they would increase business. Sally focused on SEO and created a landing page. She also used analytics to monitor progress. After 6 months, information from the landing pages gave him leads, and traffic doubled on the website. This all accompanied a 7% increase in sales.