For starters, let’s think of a website as if it were a menu from a restaurant. The menu is usually divided into categories, and sub categories. The beginning of the menu would have your appetizers and then  your main courses. Sub categories of the main course section might be poultry, or seafood. The beverage section at the end could also have sub categories of  beer and wine. You get the picture.

Small website example

Let’s use a relatively common 8-10 page website as an example. Before we even start, we already know what 3 of  the pages are going to be. Let’s define them.

• Home Page: Often times this may be the first page on a website that a visitor sees (although, not necessarily always the case). At a glance, your home page should easily identify your website’s purpose.

A descriptive ” tag line”  near your company name can be very helpful on the home page. However, more important is the use of descriptive page headings with your targeted keywords. For someone skimming your home page, your page headings should quickly tell the story of what your site is about.

• About Page - This page usually includes your bio, or in the case of a company or organization there would be some background info.
• Contact Page - This is an easy one. Here is where you put your contact info, a contact form and possibly a link to get driving directions if applicable.

Do you know your target audience?

In order to answer this question you need to start thinking like a potential visitor. Someone that might be searching for whatever your site happens to be about.

Questions to ask yourself:

• Who are you building this website for?
• What are your visitor’s needs?
• Will your website be able to easily fulfill your visitor’s needs?
• Are you answering their basic questions?
• Are you guiding your visitors to do something on your site?
• Is there a “call to action”?  Ex: Sign-up for a newsletter, make a purchase, submit a contact form, etc.

What pages should you include on your website?

If you gave some of the preceding questions a little bit of thought, you probably have some ideas of what  your pages should be about. Your main pages will likely serve as your main categories.

For instance, if it were a health club website. A main category page might be “Classes.” Using a drop-down menu under the category of “Classes,” you  might list other pages like, “Yoga Classes” or “Aerobics Classes,” etc.

The next step is to prove that you really need the  pages you have chosen to be on your site. Imagine yourself explaining to another person why you absolutely need a specific page on your  site. If you can prove it, then it has merit. Apply this approach to all of your pages when you are deciding what to include on your website.

How do you organize your web pages?

Once your main category pages are selected, it’s time to thematically group the remaining pages under your main categories. For instance, if your business offers lot of different services, then the main category would be “Services.” All of your pages regarding the different services would be grouped under “Services.”

How to send content to your web designer to keep him sane

Organization is the key. When I am starting a new web design project,  I ask the client to send me emails with clearly labeled subject headings.

For instance, if you were to send me content and media files for your “About” page, I would ask that the info be sent in the following manner:

1. Create content in  MS Word and save the document using the same name of the corresponding web page, ie: “about.doc”
2. Save the images to be used on a given page using the name of the page with a description, ie:  “about-headshot.jpg”
3. Send each email with a clearly labeled subject, ie:  Re: “About page – content & images”
4. Attach the images and Word doc to the same email and send.

Following some of the advice outlined in this guide should help streamline the website planning process for you. If you would like to leave a comment please feel free to do so at the bottom. Or contact me direct if you have any questions.

1. A bad “Title Tag”

Your title tag resides in the upper left corner of your internet browser, (see image below).  It should NOT say something like, “Home”, or “Welcome to Your Company Name.” It should also not be duplicated on every page. This extremely important tag is written into the code of your website and is one of the most important indicators as to what your website is about. The text in this tag will be the link that your potential customers will see on the search engine results pages (SERPS). Therefore it should say something very descriptive about your business to make it stand out.  In fact it should be comprised of keywords that your potential customers might search for.

An example of a well thought out Title Tag

2. Poor use or total disregard of the Meta Description Tag

This is a short blurb written in your website code describing what your site is about. It should support your title tag, utilizing some of the keywords you are targeting. This is NOT the same as “Meta Keywords”, which are not given much importance these days with Search Engines.  Meta Descriptions are used by Google in the search engine results pages (SERPS), so you should take advantage of them. If you don’t know what the Meta Description is then you should ask your web designer to explain it to you. If he doesn’t know much about it then you should be asking more questions.

An example of a well executed Title Tag

3. Poorly worded or non-existent page headings

A page heading is large boldfaced type that usually precedes a paragraph. The heading tells about the content below it. For this reason, headings and sub headings are weighted heavily in search engines, and they should have your targeted keywords in them. Just because your web designer placed large font text on your web page with keywords does not mean that your site is actually using the proper heading tags. If you don’t have the proper tags in your code then you don’t have headings. Make sure your web designer is using the following tags in your website code:  h1, h2, h3, etc.

4. Poor use or total disregard for targeted Keyword phrases

You should know your market and who you are marketing your services to. This being said,  you need to tailor your content for those who may potentially be searching for your services. For example, let’s say you owned an upscale Hudson Valley restaurant in Rhinebeck NY,  with a romantic atmosphere and an emphasis on organic food and fine wine.  This would be a prime opportunity to optimize 3 different pages on your website.

Perhaps a page emphasizing  “Romantic dining in the Hudson Valley” and another about “Organic Vegetarian food in the Hudson Valley” and lastly maybe one about a “restaurant with a great wine bar in Rhinebeck, NY .” If you wanted to get really creative, you might even optimize a page on your site about how close you are to the Amtrak train station near Rhinebeck. This might capture traffic from people thinking of visiting Rhinebeck by train and dining out for the weekend.  Truthfully, this is where a blog attached to your website would really shine because you could write an article highlighting anything associated with your site’s content. Blog articles are great this way because sometimes it doesn’t make sense to have a dedicated page in your main navigation but rather just a simple blog article and search engines love them.

5. Not enough text & overuse of images & Flash animation

Search Engines drool over text because that is what tells the search engine what your website is about, so you really need to have at least 200-300 words on each of your pages. Your website content should be keyword rich and read well to humans. Your site should be using “live text” and NOT images that look like text or extensive flash animation to convey your message.  How do you know if your site is using “live text”? Try and highlight it, then see if you can copy and paste it in document or email. Most good web designers won’t use images in place of text. However, if you had your well meaning brother’s friend’s roommate design your website…Well,  you never know.

6. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Tricks – AKA “Black Hat SEO”

If you or your web designer thinks he or she is smarter than Google, then you will have a rude awakening.  There are some very public and very straight forward Google guidelines for webmasters posted by Google itself. Yet it is amazing how often web designers don’t follow these guidelines. I am often asked by prospective clients, “Why is my site not coming up on Google?” Often times it is a combination of all of the things listed above. However, every so often it’s something really stupid that can cause a website to be banned or banished from the Google index altogether.

Most recently a prospective client asked me this same question and after a quick look at their website code, I could see that the “web designer” had intentionally placed invisible text on the home page in an effort to trick the search engine. The text was the same color as the page background so humans couldn’t see it but Google could and Google did…and Google didn’t like what it saw so his site was banished from the Google index.

You need to be certain that your web designer really knows about SEO and not just that he says he knows. So ask him or her how he feels about “Black Hat SEO” and if he has no idea what you are talking about then it’s time to move on. Anyone worth his salt in the web design field will know what Black Hat SEO means or conversely, what “White Hat SEO” means.

7. JavaScript links as opposed to text based links in your main navigation

This may be difficult for the layperson to understand. Your main menu on your website needs to have text based links. This is how search engines visit and index all of your interior website pages.  If your links are JavaScript based then only your home page will be indexed and you will miss out on potential traffic from your interior pages.  You should ask your web designer if the links in your main menu are search engine friendly and how.

8. Not having a Google Places Business Listing

This is a free and easy way for your business to be quickly listed in the Google Places Business Directory which is also linked with Google Maps. This will help give your business more visibility to local searches. If you are not taking advantage of this wonderful service you should?

9. Not tracking your website visitors with Google Analytics

You should be tracking your website traffic to understand how your visitors are finding you.  You should be taking advantage of Google’s free webmaster tools.  If you are not tracking your visitors to find out how they are coming to your website then you will never know what really works and what doesn’t. Your site’s traffic statistics are a valuable resource for you and your web designer or SEO Specialist. You should use them to their fullest.

10. Having your son’s girlfriend’s brother design your website

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard something like this from a prospective client. Unless your particular situation is an anomaly, you will undoubtedly get what you pay for in the world of web design. You may find yourself asking that infamous question, “Why don’t I come up on Google?”