What you need to know about small business websites.

 

Small business owners should check code in their web site design.

The key visitors to your commercial pages are the web crawlers that catalog your content.HTML source code along with a combination of text and graphics is just one of the secrets to success. Higher robot ratings may result from better code, and a beautiful design is equally important. Once a new prospect finds your website, you have 5 seconds to entice them to stay.

Many small business web site owners wonder, “Why don’t we get any hits?”. Did you know web pages can load and appear correctly even with improper or deprecated HTML code? You may get a great looking result, even if your browser ignores your errors. However, web robots may not be so forgiving. Below is a list of 8 fundamental elements of a good search engine placement which need to be considered when you design and promote your web site.

Web Presence Importance

8 Key Components-

• DOCTYPE Statement
• Page Title
• Proper HTML Code
• META Description
• META Key Words
• First Paragraph of the Home Page
• An Extra Page of Just LINKS
• Backlinks (Links to your pages)

85% of websites do not have these eight key items or they are poorly designed. Many search engines will only list 15% of them in their directories. As a result, only 15% of the 6 billion web pages online ever make it to search engines. Even worse, there are mistakes that may result in your page being blacklisted, and the search engine web crawlers may never come back to see if it’s corrected. This could explain why you “never get any hits”.

Your website can be simple and professional without using fancy software. Most professional programmers hand code their pages and use Notepad to generate the HTML. If you use flash, frames, or the latest software for your website, you may be losing a significant portion of new visitors (customers) because some visitors do not have the latest technology or browser version. You could lose profits if they leave without giving your site a fair look.

Designers usually create web pages using prepackaged software. You will never know that your site wasn’t optimized for search engines if the software leaves out any of the essential elements. If the designer thinks the page looks attractive, he or she may not be concerned about these items.

NOTE: Search engine algorithms vary by company, so some elements such as “an extra page of links” may not be as important today with some search robots . Backlinks refer to marketing your site and getting other web sites to link to yours.

Lastly, business visitors want information. They do not visit your homepage in order to be entertained. The majority have a need (problem) and want an answer (solution), so designs should be created to minimize the use of music or video, unless it is your core business. Everything that is distracting may violate my “5 Second Rule”. Goodluck!