YOU can have the prettiest looking website in the world which is extremely user-friendly, offering everything your prospective customers are looking for – but nobody can find it.
Search engines have decided that it isn’t important enough because it doesn’t have enough raw, text-based content.
Now and for the foreseeable future, content will be king on the internet.
Start with at least 20 pages
Every business should be able to start their website with at least 20 pages of unique, original content relative to their products, services or industry. This will give something for search engines to initially ‘chew on’ and help with their understanding of the industry sector in which the website sits.
Add new content every week
Once a website is ‘finished’, it’s only just started. Your initial website will not reach, and stay at the top of, search engines unless you continually add new content. That way, you’re showing search engines that your site is ‘current’ and therefore more relevant to the user.
Consider blogging and RSS feeds
Blogging is a great way of you new thoughts on up-to-date industry relevant topics to feature on your website. A ‘blog’ (short for a web log – an online diary) can automatically inform search engines and other directories that new content has been posted to the site.
‘RSS feeds’ let your website users subscribe to receiving updates as soon as new content has been added to your website. They also assist other website directories and search engines by informing them of recent updates.
Some of your new content that you add could also be in the form of video or audio podcasts. In addition to keeping your current visitors up to date with your new content and gaining you new visitors, podcasting will also form an additional ‘entrance’ path to your website.
Each page should contain some relative text-based content
Whatever your page is intended to market, you should still include a couple of hundred of words that are text-based on that page. The main reason for this is to inform search engines of the purpose of the page.
No matter the type of website that you have, if you don’t have enough text-based content on your pages, then you’re radically reducing the chances of your site being ranked highly in search engines.
If you want to use Macromedia Flash, make sure that you add text content underneath. Likewise, if your website is video based – and more and more are – then again, add a text overview of the video at the side or below.
To conclude, it’s just a matter of integrating design prowess with successful search engine optimisation and internet marketing strategy. Don’t spend lots of money on a website that can’t be found.
Contact David Bain at www.PurpleInternetMarketing.com
Tomorrow: The PurpleInternet Marketing series: The ten biggest search engine optimisation mistakes – No.9: No content keywords.
