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Great Websites Doing Nothing |
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With millions of websites competing on the Internet for ranking, shouldn’t it go without saying that website owners should commission SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) smart designers from the very beginning of the web design project?
Sadly, few companies realise that briefing a web designer is not a simple as expecting them to slap up a few flashy pages with supporting content in typical brochure format. Extraordinary looking websites are being launched onto the worldwide web almost daily. With splashy entry pages and dazzling creative’s, it is testament to the fact that web designers are trying to out-do one another in the graphical department. As brilliant as they may look, unfortunately many of these are simply ZIP (zero income producing) online brochures. Few web designers are taught the skill of optimising the websites that they design for search engine rankings.
From the start of the project, a website owner should commission an experienced search engine optimiser to prepare the website brief for the design company, thereby defining essential elements that should be incorporate, if the site is to be positioned anywhere of significance on search engine results pages. There are more than one-hundred varying criteria that search engines include as part of their ranking algorithm. As a result website owners, web designers and marketers should take cognisance of the fact that it is simply not good enough to publish a fancy website onto the Internet and expect it to start attracting and converting customers in the hope of producing income from their new online presence. It takes skill and careful planning to create a website that will be recognised by search engines as relevant enough to rank in the top fifteen results, and then to take this one step further by ensuring that the user experience is one that will convert a researcher into a customer.
Says Gillian Meier - Internet Marketing Strategist & SEO Analyst at Blue Magnet Web Intellect - “Getting ranked highly on search engine results is not a quick fix. It is a process that requires a great deal of planning, editing and monitoring in order first climb into the top ranking positions and then to try to remain there. With the algorithms changing at will, there is no one technique ‘cast in stone’ that will guarantee top rankings.” She continues: “If you want to reap the rewards, you need to invest time and effort into properly researching your competitor’s position, and then carefully plan a strategy that will hopefully outrank them, while at the same time attracting the long tail.” Gillian further warns against companies promising to have websites ranked in the top ten results pages within weeks. “Although some websites do rank much faster than others, those companies practicing spamming techniques may get websites ranking in a matter of weeks but, in return they can expect to be dropped from the rankings – or even worse, be blocklisted by the search engines within as little as six weeks,” comments Gillian.
Companies should be careful to approach search engine optimisation from an ethical, spam-free perspective if they want to thrive in this very competitive environment. Until such time that a website ranks highly, there certainly is a place for paid advertising (pay-per-click).
© Copyright Blue Magnet Web Intellect
July 2007
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