Web sites come in such a variety of formats and appearances that it is impossible to cover them all in one sitting. The better sites tend to have several things in common. Below are five tips that any webmaster can use to ensure that he or she has built the best site possible.
1) Make it Navigable
This is especially true for those who are chasing long tail keywords for easy traffic. The goal of someone trying to attract this low search, low value traffic should be to perform “internet judo” and redirect that traffic to pages on the site with higher value. The only way this is possible is through a clear and navigable site. Think of the low search pages as “loss leaders” like the grocery stores use. Their purpose is to get people in the door in the hopes that they will buy the money items.
2) Include Good Content
What is good content? It depends completely on the target of the site. A video of your Bichon Frise attacking a vacuum cleaner will be garbage on a site dedicated to preventing acne, but could be a gold mine on a site dedicated to small dog lovers. Including good content is a two step process: Find out what your target market wants to see, then give it to them.
3) Link Wisely
Years ago, any backlink was a good one. These days, search engine technology is harshly penalizing sites with a high percentage of spammy links. Anyone in business for the long run should use real linking techniques instead of the “press a button, get 10,000 backlinks” strategies.
4) Use a Cache
CMS platforms like WordPress have virtually taken over the internet. Their ease of use and universal formatting make it very easy to keep them updated. They do have one weakness. They create each page on demand. In other words, the content of individual pages is in a big database and the server applies the universal settings to generate each page when someone visits the site. This setup uses a great deal of the server’s processing resources. By using a cache plugin, those whose sites operate on a CMS can reduce their server load and help prevent their pages from being annoyingly slow to load.
5) Use a Professional
When someone wants to build a house, what is quicker and more effective? Learning every trade – becoming a plumber and an electrician and a carpenter and everything else in the field? Or is it more effective to be the general contractor, acting like a military general controlling the process but having others do the legwork? Anyone who plans to be in business as an internet marketer should reserve his or her learning and working time to marketing and have others deal with the details.
