No Mobile Responsive Design: Website Mistake #1

No Mobile Responsive Design: Website Mistake #1

If your site does not already adjust to any device that the user may visit your site on, then you are missing an opportunity to provide a great user experience! Mobile websites are ideal because they give the web master control over where each element on the page is placed and structured when presented to the user. The problem with mobile websites are that the business would need to assign a page style or page layout for each device that is out there. With so many possibilities of screen sizes on mobile devices, tablets and smart phones, unless you have an expert programmer on staff, mobile websites can become a headache to create and manage. A wonderful alternative to mobile website designs are responsive website designs. Responsive websites will automatically adjust to the screen size on the device that the user is on when they visit your site. If your website is not already responsive you may be loosing leads everyday.

Site Title & Sub Title Missing: Website Mistake #2

Site Title & Sub Title Missing: Website Mistake #2

If your website was built on WordPress then you can review and adjust your site title to include your best set of keywords. To do this log into your WP Dashboard and under the "Appearance" drop down menu select "Customize." There is a limit to the characters that you will want to use. According to SEO Moz, if your character count on your site title remains under 55, then your site title will likely display w/o any unexpected edits. Search Engine bots cannot see what the site does, so they depend heavily on the words used throughout the website and copy, that starts with your website title... It's the first thing the bots read!

Page Title Tags Missing: Website Mistake #3

Page Title Tags Missing: Website Mistake #3

Your Page Title tells the search engines what the page or post is all about. Much like the site title, your page or post title should include the keywords that you are optimizing the page for. Don't shoot yourself in the foot! Be sure and try to keep it under 55 characters and do your keyword research. For local geo targeted businesses, each page title should include the city name that they are optimizing for in the keyword phrase that you choose. To see what your page title or site title is, simply open that page in a new window or tab and hover the mouse over the tab.

Slider on the Home Page: Website Mistake #4

Slider on the Home Page: Website Mistake #4

Many websites have wonderful looking sliders on the home page, most often these are just images, w/o a call-to-action. Sliders may look great but they are doing your website a disservice in conversions. Many sliders distract the user when they land on your site and often deter them from taking the desired action. Everyone in the world loves to look at a very beautiful and dynamic website designs. Sliders came into the web design world to make that possible. But, after several years of testing and designing, research has shown that sliders actually hurt the second level CTR from the home page on virtually any website in just about any niche.

Page Url's, Not Keyword Rich: Website Mistake #5

Page Url's, Not Keyword Rich: Website Mistake #5

Each website page or post is given a url extension or what is described in WordPress as a "Permalink." Your site url's should include your keywords or keyword phrases. If you are using WordPress, your page or post titles will automatically become your permalink. For those that are not familiar with what a permalink is, the permalink will be the text found after the .com/your-perma-link-here. If you have a site created by a programmer or you have build your site using HTML via software like Adobe Dreamweaver, you will need to plan what these permalinks will become by naming the files properly before you upload them into the server.

Web Design Tip: Remove the slug words from the

permalink using WordPress & the SEO Yoast Plugin

Slug words are connector words that have no weight or bearing with the search engines. Words like: • is • of • you • can • a • and • isn't • I • make • want

Web Page Headings Missing - Website Mistake #6

Web page headings or header tags (h1 - h6) help the search engines determine how relevant the content on your page is when ranking for the desired keyword phrase. This is one of the many things that so many websites overlook. Too often web masters use the heading tags to break up the article in sections, so that it is easy to read and in a format the user can digest. Somehow it seems many overlook the fact that they did not use their keyword terms throughout the heading tags.

Web Page Headings Missing - Website Mistake #6

When using WordPress your heading tags can be set by highlighting the text and selecting one of the attributes from the drop down menu in the back end "kitchen sink" menu. If you are coding your website using HTML then your heading tags can be set by surrounding the text that you want to use as a heading with these simple lines of code: <h1>Your Heading Placement</h1> Your H1 or Heading 1 carries the most weight on the page. As you work your way down the page you may continue to use the remaining heading tags h2, h3, h4, h5, and h6. Your Heading 6 tag carries the least amount of weight in the bunch.

Site Not Optimized for Speed: Website Mistake #7

Stock Images should be redone in a New Canvas & Optimized for speed using Photoshop. File > Save for Web & Devices.

Site Not Optimized for Speed: Website Mistake #7

Image sizes and the load-bearing from the content sourced on your site will heavily effect the website load time and site speed. Each image can be optimized for the web using Photoshop's "Save for Web & Devices" feature. This function is found under the "file" tab when you have an image opened inside Adobe Photoshop.

Site Images Not Optimized: Website Mistake #8

Stock Images Should Be Redone in a New Canvas & Optimized for your keywords of he page or post using Photoshop. File > File Info. Then fill in the meta data.

Site Images Not Optimized: Website Mistake #8

Here is a big issue that I see quite often... If you are like most businesses then you probably buy stock images from sites like: iStock, ThinkStock, Getty Images, DepositPhotos, Dreamstime, etc. There is nothing wrong with buying photographs from these websites. The two problems that I see most often are: • You did not optimize the image file name with your keywords • You left the meta data that the photo seller used in the image

Site Images Not Optimized: Website Mistake #8

The meta data or meta description used inside your photographs was put there by the stock image seller, so that the image will be found when searching for a picture on the stock photo sites. We have all at on time or another went over to a photo bank and purchased an image. When we began searching for the image, like: business person smiling or family at the beach, the reason that those sites know which images have the content that we are looking for is because the person selling the images has loaded the photo's meta description with terms that best describe the image.

Site Images Not Optimized: Website Mistake #8

By not changing those meta descriptions in the photo meta data before you publish them on your own website, essentially you are shooting your site down in the rankings. Google, Yahoo & Bing robots will read the meta data that was written to optimize the image to get found on the stock sites and assume that these are the types of keywords that the post or page publishing the image was actually about. Not ideal if you are an attorney and your file name of the image on your home page reads: iStock_0918263.

Also not ideal if the image meta data keywords, author title and description read, smiling family, happy life, beach photography, etc. Always be sure to take the time to replace the meta data of an image before loading it onto your site and rename the file with your keywords.

You Don't Use SEO Yoast: Website Mistake #9

If you are not using the SEO Yoast Plugin on your WordPress website, then you are missing out on the: focus keyword, title tag & description for search indexing.

You Don't Use SEO Yoast: Website Mistake #9

Big sites or small personal sites should always be using SEO Yoast as the SEO plugin for their site. If you are not using SEO Yoast because you either didn't know about it or do not have a WordPress website, then your site is at a huge disadvantage to your business and you should consider hiring a web design company like The Sherwood Group to redesign your website with a Custom WordPress website.

SEO Yoast Plugin allows you to suggest to the search engines what you would like your link title and your meta description to be when it is indexed by Google, Yahoo & Bing.

Your Website Lacks Great Content: Mistake #10

Content is still King. Provide Value to the reader that lands on your blog!!!

Your Website Lacks Great Content: Mistake #10

Google has been making adjustments to their algorithm more than twice per day for the last few years. If your website pages and posts do not have at least 350-400 words per article then you are not going to see those pages ranking too often on the first page of Google for the desired keywords that you want your site to get found for. Too much content can be an issue if you have done a poor job writing copy that includes your keywords in an organic way throughout the article. Google has been rewarding sites that have exceeded the one thousand word mark, because they want to provide the user searching the best quality posts and information that they can in the first 5 links of a search query.

Your On-site Optimization is Missing: Mistake #11

Content is still King. Get found in the search engines for the desired terms. Be sure and optimize your pages with the keyword that you want to get found for.

Your On-site Optimization is Missing: Mistake #11

Content is still the King!

If you are not an SEO or Search Engine Optimization expert that does not mean that you cannot do a wonderful job writing great content on your website! The key to good on-site optimization is following the format or the checklist that we have provided here in these 15 Web Design Tips for Business. • Have a Mobile or Responsive Website Design • Use The Proper Site Title & Tagline • Use The Best Page Title for Your Page or Post • Don't Use A Rotating Slider on Your Home Page (above the fold) • Use Your Post Name in Your Permalinks • Your Heading Tags Should Include Your Keywords • Your Site Should Load Quickly • Optimize Your Website Images • Use the SEO Yoast Plugin for WordPress Write Great Content That Makes The Internet Better

Your On-site Optimization is Missing: Mistake #11

Content is still King. Get found in the search engines for the desired terms. Be sure and optimize your pages with the keyword that you want to get found for.

If you are not an SEO or Search Engine Optimization expert that does not mean that you cannot do a wonderful job writing great content on your website! The key to good on-site optimization is following the format or the checklist that we have provided here in these 15 Web Design Tips for Business. • Have a Mobile or Responsive Website Design • Use The Proper Site Title & Tagline • Use The Best Page Title for Your Page or Post • Don't Use A Rotating Slider on Your Home Page (above the fold) • Use Your Post Name in Your Permalinks • Your Heading Tags Should Include Your Keywords • Your Site Should Load Quickly • Optimize Your Website Images • Use the SEO Yoast Plugin for WordPress • Write Great Content That Makes The Internet Better

You Don't Categorize Your Posts: Mistake #12

Post categories are a wonderful way to keep related content that is published on your website in one central location that is easy to find. In the back end of WordPress, (when you are creating a post) you will find a widget rail on the right hand side that is labeled "Categories." Simply check the category box to add a post to a category or click "add new category" to create an additional category for your website.

You Never Submitted Your Site To Webmaster Tools:

Website Mistake #13

Your website should be connected to Google Webmaster tools. To do this you can log into your Google Account: Next, paste in your URL and click "submit request.“ Here is a complete guide to using Google Webmaster Tools from Search Engine Watch.

WebMaster Tools

You Are Linking Out Too Many Times: Website

Mistake #14

You Are Linking Out Too Many Times: Website

Mistake #14

Your website should provide the user with great information. It is always helpful to link out to the best resources that you can find for illustrating or further explaining your points in depth. Here are three tips for linking from your site: • Have a limited amount of site links that are linking off-site • Do not use their keywords to link to them • Consider writing a second article on your own blog to link to rather than sending the visitor off your site

You Don't Use Alt Tags for Your Images: Website

Mistake #15

Each image on your website can have an attribute that brings up a line of text when the users mouse hover over the image in your site page or post. This a:hover feature is known as "Alt text." Many times people did not know: what alt text is, what it does or how to use it properly. Write something in your alt text field so that your mouse over on the image brings up a text line that tells the user and the search engine what this image is all about. This is a great place to briefly summarize the image, (using your keywords) in less than 5-7 words. Don't skip the alt text!