a kick-ass guide to building an awesome website

THE KICK-ASS GUIDETO BUILDING AN AWESOME WEBSITE

WEBSITE DESIGN STRATEGY

EDITION 1

CHAPTER 6 | GOOD IMAGES

CHAPTER 8 | WEBSITE NAVIGATION

CHAPTER 9 | ONPAGE SEO PAGES 21

CHAPTER 10 | USER EXPERIENCE PAGES 23

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 2 | MUST BE RESPONSIVE

CHAPTER 3 | WELL-WRITTEN COPY

CHAPTER 4 | AN INVITING LOGO

CHAPTER 5 | A CONSISTENTLY MAINTAINED BLOG

CHAPTER 1 | UP TO DATE DESIGN

INTRO | INTRODUCTION

PAGES 5

PAGES 8

PAGES 10

PAGES 13

PAGES 15

PAGE 3

PAGES 17

PAGES 1

PAGES 19

CHAPTER 7 | CALLS TO ACTION

Converting your website visitors into buyers can be a bit difficult in today’s competitive day and age. No matter which industry your business is in, there are always dozens upon dozens of others competing for your clientele. Because of this, everything you do must be ahead of the curve. You need a superior product, outstanding service, and an up-to-date website with plenty of aesthetic appeal. This short e-book covers the 10 features that are necessary for your business website and, ultimately, your success.

UP TO DATE DESIGN

A Kick-Ass Guide to Building an Awesome Websitecom

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CHAPTER 1

A Kick-Ass Guide to Building an Awesome Website

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“IT’S NOT JUST A “WEBSITE”, IT’S THE FIRST POINT OF CONTACT. MAKE IT COUNT.”

Website design is certainly subjective. Your particular industry may actually help to define not only how your website looks, but also how it works. Nonetheless, there are a few modern elements that you should consider in order to convert your visitors into buyers. Here are some of the current trends that are proving successful for business owners around the world.

#1 – Simple Hero Images When a visitor to your site sees large blocks of text from the start, he or she may opt for another site in order to get the information he or she needs. A “hero image” is essentially a single, large image that makes up your landing page. You can overlay a small amount of powerful text to get your point across and compel your visitors to scroll down, or you can overlay other content, too. In short, a hero image tells your story in the simplest way possible and it keeps visitors interested.

#2 – Videos Many times, business owners have videos embedded throughout their websites, whether for tutorial purposes or advertisement. One of the most popular trends in today’s website design includes using a background video to tell your story. This video will play automatically, as soon as a visitor gets to your page. It should be concise and simple, and it should also compel your visitors to click through to the rest of the site.

#3 – A Flat Design Although today’s technology can allow for some pretty sophisticated 3D effects, it seems that website visitors actually prefer a flat, 2D design instead. Flat design is a term used to describe elements, such as shadows, that do not give the visitor the overall perception of three dimensions. What’s more, because these elements can load more quickly than their 3D counterparts, website visitors are more likely to stick around since the website repsonds much quicker.

#4 – Hidden Menus When it comes to designing your site, you have a couple of different options available to you. You could make your navigation bar visible at the outset, but the trouble is that the navigation buttons take up some pretty valuable space on the user’s screen. A hidden (or “hamburger”) menu is by far a better choice. This menu is incredibly simple for users to find, and it frees up more space, allowing you to keep things simple.

#5 – Huge Images of Your Product Consider the purpose of your website. If your ultimate goal involves selling a product to the people who visit your site, then why not make the product itself the main focus? Huge product images are making their way into dozens upon dozens of websites, and they give you an opportunity to show off a bit. By ensuring that your images are responsive (meaning that users can turn them, zoom in or out, and even click a part of the image for more information), you have given your visitors the next best thing to actually holding the object in their hands.

Today’s website design is not all about cramming as much information as you can onto the landing or home page of your site. Rather, it is about creating an interactive page that loads quickly and tells your company’s story as simply as possible.

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http://www.brandignity.com/website-design-development/

MUST BE RESPONSIVE


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CHAPTER 2


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“IF YOUR WEBSITE DOESN’T RENDER PROPERLY ON ALL DEVICES YOU WILL LOSE SALES.”

Now that your website design is up-to-date and modern, it is time to consider everyone who might use your site. Remember that a huge percentage of the people who will find your website will do so on a mobile phone, so it is important to make sure that your site is completely mobile-friendly.

What Is Responsive Web Design? The best way to describe responsive web design is to imagine a website with a layout that changes based on the size of the viewing screen. For example, a user on a computer can see a vast amount if information all at once. On the other hand, someone using a smartphone may only be able to see a very small amount of information at the same time, and you have to make certain that the text, pictures, and links are scaled down appropriately. There are four reasons why your website absolutely must be responsive in order to convert your visitors.

#1 – Customer SupportImagine that you want to buy a new lawnmower, so you go online from your desktop, find a local business, and review their offerings. You find a lawnmower you really like, and you decide to show your spouse over dinner. Later, while you are out at a restaurant, you pull up that site on your smartphone – but you cannot find the lawnmower because the website is not responsive to your mobile device. You may feel tempted to search anew for a local company that suits your needs. The same thing can happen to your customers if you do not think about the responsiveness of your site.

#2 – One Site is Better than Many In the past, many business owners have attempted to design and update two separate sites – one for desktop users, and another for mobile users. Although this can certainly work, it gets expensive and frustrating over time. This is why a single responsive website is best. The site itself can actually determine whether someone is visiting from a phone, a tablet, or a computer, and optimize the viewing experience based on that information. What’s more, you only need to design and maintain a single site. It is just simpler for everyone.

#3 – Improve Your Search Engine Rankings If you have paid attention to website design and conversion over the years, then you know that Google is always changing the criteria by which it ranks your site. Things like SEO and relevancy are incredibly important to Google, but starting this past April, they added another set of criteria – mobile friendliness. With that being said, if your website is not mobile-friendly, it is having a detrimental effect on your search engine ranking.

#4 – Roll with the Changes Finally, a responsive website is already about as modern as it gets. This means that later, when huge technology providers like Apple and Samsung release even more sophisticated devices, you will be ready. After all, the main benefit of a responsive site is its ability to scale based on the size of the screen being used to access it, and when you already have that benefit in your corner, your site will handle any size phone or tablet that a manufacturer can throw at it with ease.

To put it simply, when your website is as responsive as possible, it is available to more people than ever before. The more people you can reach, the more likely you are to convert your visitors into buyers.



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“WITH RESPONSIVE DESIGN YOU ARE MAXIMIZING YOUR ABILITY TO CONVERT CUSTOMERS”

How does responsive design look?

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WELL-WRITTEN COPY


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CHAPTER 3



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“YOUR WEBSITE COPY CAN MAKE OR A BREAK A NEW CONVERSION.”

A picture says a thousand words, but if your website copy is not up to snuff, then no amount of pictures will make up for it. In fact, your text should be much more than informative and grammatically correct – it should also be incredibly convincing. Here are a few ways to make sure that your copy is well-written and powerful.

Who Is Your Reader? The first thing you need to do before writing website copy involves visualizing your ideal reader. What kind of person is going to visit your website? Who is your product intended for? In fact, many experts recommend considering your ideal reader an imaginary best friend – someone you can start a conversation with, ask questions, and even flatter from time to time. When you can imagine that you are writing to an imaginary friend, it becomes easier to be interesting, persuasive, and charming. These traits will convert your visitors to buyers.

What Are the Benefits to the Reader? One of the biggest mistakes you can make involves writing all about your product, services, or company. To put it plainly, your visitors care about one thing and one thing only: themselves. They want to know exactly how your product or service is going to benefit them, and you need to tell them. A list of product features and specifications is very helpful (and necessary) but so is a list of objections that people may have and ways that you can overcome them.

You Need a Pick-Up Line Not unlike a guy in a bar trying to come on to a pretty girl, your website needs a pick-up line to snag the readers’ attention. This pick-up line should be a value proposition, or a very brief statement that can start an actual conversation with your visitors. People who come to your site want immediate gratification, and if your headline captures their interest and tells them exactly what they want to hear, then they will stick around, and

they will ultimately convert.

Say No to Spelling and Grammar Errors Whether you are writing your own copy or hiring someone to do it for you, make absolute certain that there are no spelling or grammar mistakes. Typos are easy to overlook, so be sure that you pore over your content with a fine-toothed comb. If a reader catches a simple spelling or grammar error that you have overlooked, it makes you appear less credible. If you can allow such a simple mistake on your website, then how careful are you with your product or service, anyway?

Make Google Happy Finally, not even the best content in the world will do you any good if people cannot find your website. You need to make sure that it is SEO friendly, and there are a few different ways to do this. Once again, think about your reader – not your industry. Think about the language that your readers are likely to use when they search for information about the products or services you offer. Think about your area of expertise. Then, write all about your industry in the language that your visitors will understand.

Well-written copy ensures that your visitors can find your site, and that they can understand what you offer when they actually visit. It draws them in with tantalizing language, and it makes you a true authority in your industry with informative text.

AN INVITING LOGO


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CHAPTER 4



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“A GOOD LOGO CAN KEEP PEOPLE CHATTING ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS.”

Your logo says a lot about your business, and it is one of the most important parts of your website’s overall design. In fact, there are entire games centered around guessing the name of a company based solely on its logo. The goal here is to make sure that your logo is memorable and that it accurately reflects your vision.

Keep It Simple Take a moment to think about all of the places where your logo will appear. The list includes, but is not limited to:

• Business cards• Websites• Social media sites• Product packaging• Flyers• Banner advertisements• Brochures• T-shirts• Applications

A complex logo may look great on a piece of paper, but will it look as nice on your website or social media page? The best way to ensure that your logo looks perfect in all of the aforementioned places is to keep it simple. This way, you can avoid potential conflicts with its surrounding environment.

Your logo will be the ultimate expression of your brand for years to come, so it is important to focus your time and energy on developing the perfect one. Consider things like color, font, logotype, and more to make sure that you get your message across clearly and invoke the emotions that you want people to feel when they view your website.

Color Is Important Although you might choose a color for your logo based on your own personal favorite or even some aspect of your business or industry, you may need to rethink things a bit. People have subconscious

emotional reactions to the colors they see, so the color you choose has a direct impact on how people perceive your logo.

Here are some examples of the different emotions that colors can cause:

• Black – Powerful and authoritative• White – Simple and clean • Pink – Fun and flirty• Yellow – Optimistic and happy • Orange – Creative and young • Red – Sexy, bold, or energetic • Purple – Spirituality and wisdom • Brown – Historical and dependable • Green – Organic and educational • Blue – Professional and trustworthy

Once you understand the psychology behind colors, you can decide how you want people to perceive your business and use the appropriate colors.

Symbol or Logotype? A symbol consists of an image that portrays a message, such as Apple’s iconic logo. A logotype is a symbol along with a wordmark, such as Coca-Cola’s signature logo. A symbol is not always necessary, but it helps if the name of your company seems fairly generic. Conversely, a logotype is a great way to play up a unique company name without overly complicating things. Avoid “trendy” fonts or those that might come across as gimmicky since these will quickly become dated. When in doubt, Helvetica is always a good choice.

Updating Your Logo Many companies firmly believe that changing their logos is absolutely forbidden, but this is not the case. In fact, it may actually help you generate business if you modernize your logo every few years. Some examples? Think about Pepsi, one of the world’s largest providers of soft drinks. This company has changed their logo every so often over the years, but only slightly to make it more modern. The result? It is the same logo, only with a brand new flair that keeps customers interested.

http://www.brandignity.com/2013/09/your-logo-is-a-part-of-your-digital-marketing-strategy/


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“COMING UP WITH A HANDFUL OF VARIATIONS WILL ENSURE YOU PICK THE RIGHT ONE.”


A CONSISTENTLY MAINTAINED BLOG


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CHAPTER 5


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“A CONSISTENTLY MAINTAINED BLOG BUILDS TRUST AND ALSO ORGANIC VISIBILTY.”

In today’s day and age, when people want information, they turn to blogs. These are usually conversational articles of sorts that provide solutions to everyday problems, give advice, and provide the perfect opportunity to truly let your expertise shine. Maintaining a blog is good for your business and your website in a few different ways.

Blogs Drive Traffic to Your Site How do people find your website to start with? They could type your website address into their browser bars, but this is limited to your current audience. You could buy an email list, but that is a black hat tactic that might give your business a bad name. Finally, you could place paid ads on sites like Google, which is incredibly expensive. You might get some traffic, but the quality of traffic you receive is usually not worth the money. Blogs are an organic, simple, inexpensive way to drive traffic to your site.

Chances are good that you do not update the main pages of your website all that often. You won’t spend much time revising “About the Company”, after all. Every single time you post a new blog, you add another indexed page to your site. This means that you provide yourself with more opportunities to appear in popular search engines and drive traffic organically. What’s more, you can even share your blog posts on your social media accounts, which drives even more traffic.

Blogs Convert Visitors into Leads If you want to convert your visitors into buyers, one of the most important aspects of blogging involves adding a call-to-action and some sort of free offer, even if it is just a consultation, in every single post. Why should the reader come to your website?

What can you offer that reader that someone else can’t? How can you solve the reader’s problem? Here’s an idea of how it might work:

• Susie’s friend posts a link to your blog on her Facebook wall.

• Susie clicks the link and reads your blog. It solves an issue she is experiencing, so she follows the call-to-action to your website.

• Susie gets to a landing page on your site that contains a simple form to fill out for a free offer.

• Susie provides her information and receives the free offer.

It really is that simple, and it gives you an outstanding opportunity to build rapport with people who read your blog.

Blogs Make You Authoritative Think about your product or service. Then, think about any possible objections that people might have as you attempt to sell your product or service. Think about the questions that people might have in regard to using your product. Then, write your blog posts in such a way that they answer these questions. For example, if you run an auto repair business, you might write a blog entitled, “Car Batteries 101: What Every Driver Should Know.” Then, provide information about how to maintain and extend the life of batteries.

When you do this, people who are not even your customers will stumble across the blog. Your blog will help them. Then, when they really do need someone to help them with their auto repairs, they are more likely to remember your name – all because your blog established you as an authority in your industry.


http://www.brandignity.com/2014/04/inbound-marketing-strategies-to-boost-your-blog-traffic/

GOOD IMAGES


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CHAPTER 6


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“IMAGES SHOW YOUR COMPANY PERSONALITY. MAKE THEM STRONG.”

Many business owners make the mistake of turning to a stock photography site to find images that correlate with their industries, blog posts, and more. While these sites certainly provide an affordable solution, chances are pretty good that your competitors are using similar sites – and very similar images. You need solid, unique pictures that make your business truly stand out.

Choosing the Best Images There are two types of images that consumers see when they scour the web for information. The first is a graphic, which is a computer-generated image that portrays some sort of message. Graphics are best for providing technical information. The second is an actual photograph, which can be quite powerful depending on its source and meaning. Photographs are more personal and tend to resonate with viewers on an emotional level, so you should use them anywhere you can.

Don’t Be a Cliché How many times have you been to a website that offers some sort of strategic service, only to discover an image of a chessboard lines with chess pieces? This image is a symbol of strategy, of course, and while it is certainly powerful, it has been overdone to the point that it no longer means much to visitors. This is a prime example of what you need to avoid – being a cliché. If you offer a strategic product or service, include images of the people who best represent your intended clientele. People form the best connections with other people, not objects.

Using Stock Photography Sites Stock photography sites can be a blessing and a curse. They give you access to millions of affordable images that you can incorporate into your website, which is certainly a blessing. However, chances are good that your competitors had the same idea, which can be a curse. You want your website to be completely unique, so avoid using stock photography on your main website page, which

needs to be completely unique and interesting. Of course, there is nothing wrong with using stock images on the inner pages as long as you do so selectively.

Creating a Unique Site Regardless of whether you choose to use graphics, stock photography, or photographs you took yourself on your website, think about the experience you want to provide to your visitors. Here are some examples:

• A visual product tour. Consider hiring a photographer to take pictures of your product in such a way that you can essentially guide your viewers through the way your product works using only minimal text.

• A team introduction. If your business is service-based, you gain credibility by introducing yourself to your audience. In this way, your potential customers can put a face to the name, which makes your company feel more personal to them.

• An animated experience. Animated landing pages are becoming quite popular these days because they keep the visitor engaged, which is more likely to result in a lead.

• Tell a story. You can use images and photography to tell a story about how your product or service can solve a problem for your visitors.

Whether you choose to use stock images or hire a photographer or graphic designer, there are three important things to keep in mind. First, your images should be unique enough to stand out from your competitors. Second, your images should resonate with your audience and spark emotion. Lastly, your imagery should provide some sort of experience to your visitors in order to keep them engaged.


CALLS TO ACTION


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CHAPTER 7


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“YOU MAY BE MISSING OUT ON HUNDREDS OR EVEN THOUSANDS OF POTENTIAL SALES.”

A call to action is a specific request for your website visitors to do something. Depending on your niche or industry, your call to action may compel someone to buy a product, contact you for more information, or even fill out a form for a free trial or sample. Calls to action play a vital role in the success of your website.

Calls to Action: Good vs. Not-So-Good

Before you even consider how you want to word your call to action, you must first think about what you are asking your visitors to do. For example, “Call Now for a Quote” is not a very good call to action. How often is someone going to pick up the phone and call you based on a visit to your website? “Fill Out This Form for a Free Quote” is a better option because it is softer and requires less action on the visitor’s end. All he or she has to do is provide a name, an email address, and some basic information. In turn, you get to provide regular information via a newsletter that may solve this person’s problems.

Getting People to Sign Up for Your Mailing List A mailing list is by far the best way to reach more people. What’s more, it gives you multiple opportunities to actually reach out to them. There are three things you want to do in order to get people to sign up for your mailing list:

1. Tell them what to do. This may seem a bit blunt, but people need clear, straightforward instructions if they are going to take any kind of action at all. “Click HERE”, for example, is about as straightforward as it gets. Be sure to implement similar tactics throughout your website.

2. Give them an incentive. Unless someone is genuinely interested in what you have to offer them, they usually need some reason to give you their names and email addresses. Offer a small sample of your product, free information, a consultation – anything that suits your industry – in return for their permission to add them to your mailing list.

3. Show them the value. People won’t sign up for your mailing list if there is no value in doing so. Be sure to tell them exactly why they should give you their information. If you are offering something for free in exchange for this information, make sure they understand the dollar value normally attached to the free product or service. Let people know why they need your product or service.

Choosing Your Words Carefully While it is important to be brief and generally firm with your call to action, you never want your visitors to feel as if they are being bullied into doing something. One of the gentlest and simplest ways to create a call to action involves asking a question, and then providing a solution. For example, if you have run a landscaping service, you may say something like:

“Tired of dead spots in your lawn? Fill out the form below and learn how to bring it back to life.”

In this manner, you have addressed a problem that your visitor is likely to have, and then you have given them a solution. They want to know how to revive the dead spots in their lawn; after all, that’s probably why they are on the page to start with. By promising them this information in exchange for their email addresses, you have created a powerful call to action.

In a nutshell, you need to use calls to action and you need to use them often throughout your website. However, it is important that you choose your words carefully and give your visitors a reason to do what you are asking them to do.


http://www.brandignity.com/2015/09/how-to-build-powerful-call-to-action-phrases/

WEBSITE NAVIGATION


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CHAPTER 8


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“AN OLDIE BUT A GOODIE. EMAIL IS STILL ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL FORMS OF MARKETING WHEN DONE RIGHT.”

When everyday internet users are asked what frustrates them the most about the websites they visit, navigation is an overwhelmingly popular response. While there is nothing wrong with your website having dozens of different pages, organization is the key.

A Map to Your World Your website’s navigation system is essentially a map to the world that is your site. With it, people should be able to get anywhere they want to go within your site with ease. For example, if someone comes to your website, reads your landing page, and then decides to check out a certain type of product you offer, they will inevitably leave your site for a competitor if they cannot find what they want in just a few seconds. With that in mind, remember that you need to draw a very, very clear map to every single page and resource on your site.

Three Navigation Types You may choose to incorporate one or more types of navigation into your website. Simply put, there are three main types of navigation to consider when building your site.

• Hierarchical – This simply means that the entirety of the website is laid out in such a way that users can see each page, starting with the most generic and ending with the most specific. For example, if your business is a bakery, a generic page may be “Cakes”. Further down, you might list “Pound Cakes”, “Angel Food Cakes”, and more. To expand even further, you may list flavors under these specific cake sections.

• Global – In the global setup, you simply show the top level sections of your website on every page. Using the example above, if someone clicks the “Cakes” link, global navigation would then show them the individual subsections under the Cakes category on every single page within that category.

• Local – Local navigation allows you to backlink to other pages within your website within the text of each page. For example, if a visitor is viewing a section on Red Velvet Cakes, you may also choose to show them a link to Red Velvet Cookies on your site.

Important Qualities of a Good Navigational System Every single website needs to maintain a high-quality navigational system in order to be effective. Some of the things you need to keep in mind include:

• Consistency – Make sure that your navigation system is exactly the same from page to page. This way, no matter where a user ends up on your site, they know exactly how to go to the next place because they learned via repetition.

• Grouping main links – The main areas of your website will generate the most traffic. As a result, you should be certain that you keep the main links – Home, Products, About, Contact Us, etc. – in the same location on every single page.

• Keeping clicks to a minimum – A user will get frustrated by having to navigate through six different pages to get to the information he or she wants to see. Keep things as simple as possible. For the best results, try to keep every bit of information on your site no more than two or three clicks away.

In essence, creating a good navigational system is like drawing a tourist a detailed map from one point to another, all while showing them additional points of interest as they go. This way, your visitor can find exactly what he or she needs with a minimal number of clicks, but may also discover other interesting tidbits along the way.


ONPAGE SEO


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CHAPTER 9


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“SEO IS ALL ABOUT BEING EFFICIENT IN THE WAY THAT GOOGLE VIEWS YOUR WEB PAGES.”

Many business owners are in such a hurry for their websites to go live that they completely ignore SEO, or search engine optimization, only thinking about it once they realize that their site is not generating enough traffic. It is important to consider SEO through the entire process in order to start building your search engine rankings from the start.

Do You Have Enough Copy? SEO is about much more than simply throwing a few keywords around. Google, the search engine industry leader, looks at many, many factors when ranking websites. One of these signals is the actual amount of copy that your website contains. Although you do not want to overwhelm your visitors with an awkward amount of text on the landing or home pages, your inner pages need to contain enough text to be informative.

Did You Tag Your Images? When you add your images to your website, make sure that the tags are relevant. Aside from simply scanning the text on your site for relevant keywords, Google and other search engines will also take into account the tags for your images and their relevancy. As an example, if you run a pet grooming business, one of your keywords may be “dog shampooing”. You may choose an image of a cute, sudsy puppy, and while it certainly fits the context, you need to tag that photo with your chosen keyword in order for Google to deem it relevant.

Is Your Site Slow? Something else to consider when it comes to SEO is how long it takes your site to load. Google places a lot of value on the overall user experience these days, so if people

have to wait for 20 seconds for your site to fully load, their satisfaction level goes downhill. Make sure that the pages on your site load in under five seconds for the best results, even if you have to limit the number of banner ads you place.

Is Your Site Mobile-Friendly? Mobile friendliness is another huge factor in SEO these days. After all, being able to view your webpage clearly on a variety of devices adds to the overall user experience. If someone can view your site at home on their computer without a problem, but has an issue trying to find that same information when browsing your site from a mobile phone, you may lose that visitor to a competitor with a mobile-optimized site. Google tracks this information, and it may reflect poorly on your site.

Did You Choose the Right Keywords? No matter what sort of business you run, and regardless of its industry, you have to think of it from the consumer’s point of view in order to choose the right keywords. In fact, the best way to choose keywords is to ask yourself what you would type into Google’s search bar to find the information that you want to provide. For example, if you run a pest control company and you want to give people advice, think about what people will ask most often. Keywords like “how to get rid of roaches” and “best mousetrap” are excellent choices. Be sure to tailor these keywords to your content, too.

When many people think of SEO, they think of cramming their text with keywords, and in all actuality, many people think of SEO too late in the game. However, SEO is about many, many different things, all of which relate to the user experience. For the best results, you need to consider search engine optimization in everything you do, right from the very start.

Learn more about SEO here.


http://www.brandignity.com/search-engine-optimization-services/

http://www.brandignity.com/search-engine-optimization-services/

PERSONALITY AND USER EXPERIENCE


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CHAPTER 10


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“MORE CUSTOMERS ARE ACCESSING INFO ON THE GO. DON’T FORGET ABOUTA MOBILE STRATEGY.”

In previous chapters, you have gathered a lot of information about what you should and should not do when designing your website. With all of this in mind, it is quite easy for you to get so wrapped up in technical details that you forget to give your website a bit of personality. Remember that the success of your site relies almost solely on user experience, so if your visitors have a good time, your rankings will improve organically.

What’s Your Personality? Before you can allow your company personality to shine through in your website, you first have to decide what kind of personality you want to give to your business. Do you want to be fun? Do you want to make your visitors laugh? Do you want to tug at their heart strings? Whatever you decide, it is important to choose a direction and stick with it throughout your site. Think of the Progressive television commercials, for example. What is the first thing that comes to mind? If you thought of Flo, the Progressive mascot, then you are right on the money. Flo gives Progressive personality with humor, which makes Progressive seem down to earth and relatable.

How Do You Want People to Feel? Take a few minutes to jot down some of the traits that best describe your brand. Do you want people to think you are smart? Do you want them to relate to you? Think about how you ultimately want to portray your brand to your visitors, and go from there. For example, assume that you are a divorce lawyer who wants to generate more business. You could portray your personality as a “heavy hitter”, or someone who will fight tooth and nail for clients. Conversely, you could also portray yourself as having an empathetic personality in order to make the visitor feel important and like his or her needs matter.

Incorporating Humor Although humor is not appropriate for all industries, it can certainly be a powerful addition to your website’s personality. When you can make someone laugh or smile on your website, it creates a positive association in your visitors’ subconscious minds. It also makes your brand much, much more memorable.

Imagine viewing two websites for two tax preparation companies offering the exact same services. The first is dry and bland, but informative. The second is also informative, but it contains a hilarious clip of Average Joe being knocked over by piles and piles of paperwork, ultimately being rescued by a qualified, friendly tax preparer dressed in superhero garb. Which website are you most likely to remember? The one with humor, of course. In fact, you could take things a step further and make the superhero your company mascot.

Your website should be well designed, informative, and easy to navigate. These things are all very important. However, if you spend too much time focusing on the technical details, you may forget to include some personality – and your website may suffer as a result. Be sure that you make your site memorable in one way or another by incorporating the type of personality you want for your business.

When it comes to designing a website that ultimately converts visitors into leads or buyers, there are some things that you need to be doing along the way. Whether you are only beginning to design your site or your current site is not generating the traffic you need, paying attention to certain aspects of your website design can make a huge difference. If your website does not have all of the features listed within this book, you are doing it wrong. In the end, it is all about getting your website ranked highly, generating traffic in the form of visitors, capturing those visitors’ attention, gaining their trust, and giving them a memorable experience that is centered on instant gratification. Anything less, and your visitors will turn to your competitors.


http://www.brandignity.com/2015/11/user-experience-ranking-signal/

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BrandignityPO Box 8036 Naples, FL 34101United States

Phone & Fax

Free Toll: 866-250-4541Direct: 617-959-3144Fax: Nope

Online

Email: [email protected]: www.brandignity.com

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