SEO and Website Design - 5 Considerations

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If you're serious about SEO, then your website design should reflect your concern for getting high search engine rankings and thus driving plenty of targeted traffic to your website. Here are 5 considerations to keep in mind as you're building an SEO-friendly website.

1. Target Audience. Who exactly is your product or service for? How old are they? What are their other interests? What phrases and idioms motivate them to spend money? What problems are they trying to solve? If you can't answer these questions, then you don't know enough about your target audience to design an SEO-friendly website that will attract them. If you do know the answers to these questions, then your website design should reflect those answers.

2. Your Business as a Standout. Even if you're selling the same products and services as hundreds of your competitors, you should stand out from them in some way. If you don't, why would someone choose to do business with you rather than your competitors? One key to remember is that people are just as impacted by their experiences with buying products and services as they are by the products and services themselves. You have to be able to clearly articulate what it is that makes you stand out from everyone else. Otherwise, you're not yet ready to design your website.

3. Driving Traffic to Your Site. You can have the most amazing website in the world, but that makes no difference at all if your target audience can't find it. That's why you should consider SEO from the moment you begin designing your website until the moment you put on the finishing touches and call it done. One of the keys to SEO-friendly website
design is to put lots of thought and research into the keywords and key-phrases your target audience is using to find
products and services like yours. If you're not sure how to go about optimizing your site, or how to research good keywords, consider talking to an Internet marketing professional or SEO expert. They can help you make sure you're optimizing for the right keywords and thus driving your target audience directly to your website.

4. Website Effectiveness. Believe it or not, some business owners aren't really sure why they've created a website in the first place. That's why you need to know exactly what you want your visitors to do when they get to your site. Do you want them to buy a product or service? Do you want them to leave an email address? Do you want them to subscribe to your newsletter? Whatever action it is that you want your visitors to take, make sure they can do it easily, without having to put too much thought into it. You should also limit the number of actions your visitors can take when they come to your site. This way they aren't confused or distracted.

5. Website Navigation. When visitors arrive to your site, there should be a particular flow for them to follow without having to think about it. What is that flow? Where should visitors go when they come to your site? When you know exactly how you want your visitors to navigate your website, you can determine the order and placement of navigation links, and the location of your call to action. Also consider how you will get your visitors back into the flow if they find themselves arriving at your website in the middle of the path you have setup.

A key component of SEO is website design. Be sure you keep in mind these 5 considerations as you're creating your site. Also consider hiring an SEO expert or Internet marketer to help you design and launch an SEO-friendly website. You'll see quicker results and more profits in no time!