Website Design Company

Search Engine Optimisation, even the most basic kind, is fundamental in properly positioning your website. Efficient SEO will make your website visible at the most critical points when potential customers are buying or in need of your products.

The big question (one which we address quite regularly) is: How can you make your website noticeable to both visitors and search engines? Keep in mind that SEO is not intended to ‘cheat’ search engines but to foster seamless user experience and effectively communicate that your website contains relevant content.

Visualize your Website as a Cake

Imagine the icing on a cake is your websites links, social media tools and pay-per-click ads. All the good things that entice people to visit your website - or take a slice of cake.

Now the sugar - the stuff that makes your cake taste good, is your site content, attractive pictures, engaging videos and the whole website infrastructure. Your cake may look beautiful on the outside, but just imagine how it would taste with poor quality ingredients (you know those kinds of cakes).

 Search engines are looking for relevant content for the users and determines relevancy through a number of factors:

• Content – this is determined by the given theme, titles, description and any text on the page.
• Performance – make sure your website works properly and that it’s quick-to-the-click!
• Authority – make sure that you have great content to link to. It must be good enough that authoritative websites use your website as a reference.
• User experience - your website should be user-friendly and easy to navigate.

Set Out Clear Goals

Here are some of the questions that you should ask yourself during this phase.

• What is a successful conversion for you?
• What is important for you?
• What are your assets and liabilities?

Ensure that you Optimise Multiple Channels

Do not forget that your SEO strategy should not be limited on-site but should also extend off-site to platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and event traditional mediums like radio and television ads. If running an ad offline, consider using a unique domain (eg. /promotion) to track customers coming through that specific channel. 

Be consistent with your keyword strategy on every platform to make sure that your branding efforts will yield positive results. If your website and AdWords focus on a specific service, make sure radio and TV ads promote that same service to prevent sending mixed messages. 

Be Consistent with Domain Names

Although not as important as it has been in the past - it is valuable for your website’s overall foundation to have a consistent domain name. Your business name is always the best option, but if you can keep it short enough - including keywords can be handy. Ensure domain extensions are also relevan eg. website.com/service-name.
It is a recommended practice that you use sub-directory root domains than sub-domains. Old domains are still better than new ones. However, if you’re just buying an old domain just make sure that the previous owner did not do anything to ‘tarnish’ the domain’s reputation. 

Meta Data is Important Too

Title tags and meta descriptions also help in optimising your website. Make sure that it is correctly formatted and specifically directs to your page. Meta content should describe the content of a specific page to give searchers enough information for them to click on your website. Avoid using duplicate meta descriptions as it will only cause confusion and get you nowhere.

To see how your websites meta data is setup - try searching "site:www.yourwebsitename.co.nz" in Google. This will show you exactly what searchers will see when your website is served in search results.

For more tips and to take your SEO to the next level - speak with an expert Zyber consultant today!

Zyber reviews website performance all the time and too often we see websites where content has been forgotten about, or updates that were planned were never implemented resulting in out dated, irrelevant information. From what we see, we are certainly of the frame of mind that outdated content is worse than no content at all.

Designing and launching your new website is great - but its not the end of the road. Business is generated through your site by the content of your pages - how relevant it is to what someone is looking for and how much value they get from it. The relevancy of content is not just determined by its substance, but also its age - what would a website company know about web design if their last blog post was in 2012?

Below are some simple techniques to help your business website stay relevant, and let visitors know that you are on the cutting edge of advancements in your industry!

Integrate a Website Blog

This is an obvious one, you are afterall reading this blog post. Having a blog is one of the most efficient ways of adding new content to your website on a regular basis. Use it as a platform to communicate new products, services or updates about your company. Blogs are typically informal communication mediums, so don't worry if you are not a professional writer, just keep your messages clear and concise.

Nothing of note happening with the company this month? Just think of the industry that you are in and what your customers might be looking for online. You may talk about upcoming industry activities or give an opinion on news stories related to your business. Whatever topic you choose to post on your blog, it will help you establish a position as one of the ‘voices’ in the industry. Saying that you conduct a service is one thing - showing people that you are genuinley involved in the developments of that service requires a bit more credibility.

Post Images and Videos

Having a gallery page in your website is a good way for you to regularly add fresh content and at the same time showcase what you have to offer. Whenever you complete a project, you can post photos of it in the gallery page. By doing so you are keeping your website updated and interesting too. You may also post video clips that can range from short tutorials to detailed product demos. To help search engines find your photos and videos, add a short description for each one. Put in some keywords if you can too.

Integrate Testimonials from Customers in Your Website

Another efficient way to add fresh content to your website is to add client testimonials about your products and services. Be creative, try video testimonials, or encourage happy customers to take photos of themselves with your product and share on social media like Instagram or Facebook. Get customers to post positive feedback on your Google+ Business page, and those reviews will not only show on your social page, but also come up in Google search results.

Be Conscious Of Your Content

More content on your website shows visitors you are keeping your business up to date, and it is also a qulaity indicator for Google when performing search engine ranking. However, be careful you are not adding and changing content just for the sake of it - if content isn't valuable to the end user, your website will struggle to convert quality business. Ensure you are only adding content that is relevant to your customers. For example, a company with a technical product may include resource pages that are regularly updated with the latest product support and version logs.

Need additional advice on content updates that could help your website? Have a chat with a Zyber business consultant.

1. Poor Visual Design

Everyone knows the importance of first impressions. Our behaviour, appearnace and how we present ourselves is being criticised the moment we walk in for a job interview or a first date. The same goes for your website, its visual design has a big impact on the impressions of your visitors.

Poorly designed websites that don’t grasp basic visual elements can kill user engagement and turn visitors away from your business. We have all visited sites where we were so thrown off by the visuals that we didn't even look at the message. Don't let that be your website.

2. Insufficient Reviews and Testimonials

Customer testimonials are a great way to create trust and improve your business credibility. They show your company’s track record of meet and exceed the expectations of your customers. While you don't have to blow your own horn, the absense of public recommendation can create doubt in potential customers.

3. Outdated Information

In many cases, outdated information is more harming to your business than no information at all. If the first thing someone sees when they visit your site in 2014, is a news article from 2010, it is going to tell them that either your business is behind the times - or possibly no longer operational!

Show potential customers that you value your online business and the relevancy of your information, by keeping all your content relevant and up to date.

4. Not Being Mobile Friendly

Mobile Website Design is just a given at this point. If your website currently looks great on a desktop computer, but not-so-great on an iPhone, pick up said iPhone, and use it to call your web developer.

Zyber did a recent case study, where up to 47% of a websites traffic was coming from users on mobile devices. When people are out and about, having to pinch, pan and zoom to use your site is a sure way to make sure they close it and never bother visiting it again.

5. Hard-to-find Contact Information

You know the feeling when you’re shopping, found something that you like and you can’t find a single salesperson to ask for assistance? That’s the feeling that you give to your customers when they can’t find your contact information on your website. And unlike real-world shops, it takes only a matter of seconds to return to Google and find another business.

Make sure contact information, forms, shopping carts and any other conversion opportunities are readily available so you can answer customer questions and engage them in your business right away.

6. Pesky Sign-ups

Requiring a sign-up from a visitor before he or she can access your website is annoying, no two ways about it. It acts as a barrier between your customer and your products which can stop them from engaging with your business. Online shoppers are hesitant to give out their personal information today due to fear of fraud or spam. Putting a sign-up even before they get the chance to see what you have to offer raises questions about your businesses intentions.

Collecting customer data is important, but be graceful about it. There are plenty of methods of form serving that are natural and nonintrusive.

If you have had your website for a while and have any questions about its effectiveness and the user experience it creates - don't hesitate to speak with a professional. A website review with a Zyber consultant can give you the insight needed to make informed updates to your online business.