Ten ways to improve your website

A discussion of ways to improve basic SEO, usability, engagement and measuring effectiveness.

Transcript

1. 10 ways to improve your site* *There are quite a few more than 10! Dave McCourt Bananadesign Ltd
2. What we’ll cover •  Basic Search Engine Optimisation •  Some design and usability •  Encouraging engagement •  Measuring effectiveness
3. Getting found
4. Search Engine Optimisation SEO is the process of making your site easy for search engines like Google to find and index. If your site content is easy for Google to find, more people will visit your site. Google accounted for nearly 90 per cent of UK search in September 2013.
5. How do search engines work? Search engines are trying to find appropriate content for people. They do this by looking for relevancy. Search engines send the most valuable traffic. People are looking for you.
6. Looking at search results
7. Things we can control (on-site): Keywords, quality content, friendly URLs, title tags, image names, alt tags and meta descriptions. Things we can’t control (off-site): Incoming natural links. Information search engines want
8. Searching for ‘Bananas’ Site 1 Site 2 Site 1 is more relevant than Site 2 because it has more incoming links
9. Keywords Keywords are the terms people type into Google’s search box to find things. So it’s important that we include terms we think people will search for on key pages of our site.
10. Keywords
11. Keywords
12. Quality content Make sure your key content is interesting, relevant and easily findable. If your content isn’t good enough to attract good, natural incoming links and social sharing, it doesn’t matter how ‘optimised’ your site is. Write short paragraphs and structure pages consistently.
13. What are title tags?
14. Title tags Titles should be an informative and concise description of the page’s content. Good titles result in more click throughs from search results pages. Search engines display the first 70 or so characters of a title in the search results. Place important keywords near to the front as these are ranked higher.
15. Images Images are often overlooked for SEO but can have a big impact on results. Optimise your images by using targeted keywords in your image filenames. Make alt tags and titles descriptive. Ensure images are near the top of your pages and are contextual.
16. Friendly URLs URLs containing keywords can improve ranking. Good URLs are easier to understand for people and search engines. Good www.bananas.com/products/brands/fyffes Bad www.bananas.com/web/231/finder.aspx?t=689
17. Friendly URLs Make them descriptive. If your page is targeting a specific keyword, make sure you include it. Shorter is better. Use hyphens to separate words. Use www or not but not both.
18. Some SEO tips Write interesting pages for people, not for search engines! Write often. Use keyword research. Be specific. Use concise page titles using keywords. Use alt tags, captions and titles for images. Make use of good, friendly URLs. Do not overuse keywords (stuffing)!
19. Helping people use your site
20. Design and usability SEO is about helping search engines find content on your site. Design and usability is about helping people do the same. Thinking about how people use your site and how you want them to use your site is key to your site’s success.
21. First impressions count Do people know it’s you? Is it obvious what you do? Can people find stuff on your site? Do you have a search function? Does it work? Is your site structure and navigation menu clear and logical? Is it consistent? Do you look professional?
22. Not directing people
23. Directing people into routes
24. 5 seconds to find out…
25. What does this charity do?
26. What does this charity do?
27. Who does what?
28. Design matters If your website looks amateurish and confusing, people will think you are too. Design isn’t just about how your site looks but also how it works. Think about your key messages and your audiences.
29. Getting organised Make sure your ‘proposition statement’ is prominent and clear on your home page. Prioritise and simplify your content: focus. Good menus are short menus. The problem of putting everything out there. Can you combine parts of your site? Look for duplicate information to remove.
30. Including too much
31. Good menus Short, clear, directive. Split menus into two types: major and ancillary navigation. Use generic terms to break up your menus. This helps ensure there is a place for content as your site grows. Use conventions like ‘About us’
32. Hierarchy of information
33. Use good images (and video) High quality images and graphics have large impact. Captions are read 4x more than main text. Images that turn people off: generic stock photos, poor quality photos, irrelevant images, images with no clear focus. Use carousels if you need to get several messages across in a small space.
34. Close-ups work better
35. Let’s not forget words Use clear language. Be clear what you are talking about and what you want people to do. Use introductory text to summarise and entice people to read more. Use headings and quotes to break up your text. Create a house style guide.
36. Engaging with people
37. Content strategy What, why and who. Useful, usable and regular content. What channels: site, social media, enewsletter, offline? When? An editorial strategy defines the guidelines by which all online content is governed: values, voice, tone, legal and regulatory issues, etc
38. Social strategy Social media is a great way to interact with supporters and other audiences. It’s free! (Apart from staff time) Helps SEO through incoming links. Increases engagement and community. Needs to be regular and genuine. Include social sharing options on all important pages.
39. Twitter spike
40. Measuring effectiveness
41. Google Analytics GA is a statistics service from Google. It is free and allows you to see your site over time, where visitors they came from and what they looked at. Google has recently changed how it shows keyword information which makes optimisation a lot harder. Google is ‘encouraging’ people to use AdWords.
42. Questions