Website Development Resource Guide

Northern Resource Data Collection: Website Development and Search Engine Optimization Directory for Online Support and Services

Strategic SEO Decisions to Make Prior to when your Website Design Process is Ready to Begin.

1. Which to use: HTTP or HTTPS

In most instances, the answer will be https, considering that this is also one of the ranking factors Google uses. If you ever plan on accepting payments, you need HTTPS on those pages at a minimum. Keep in mind that browsers show a non-secure notice if your site is not https secure, this includes the remote loading of images or data from other non-secure sites or sources.

Many hosting services like BlueHost and Hostgator offer a free SSL certificate with their hosting service, and this often includes sub-domains for deluxe plans where you can compile many domains under one umbrella.

2. Ease of editing and flexibility in a platform

Your platform should be flexible enough to make quick changes at scale on your site. Keeping webpage content clean, and formatting it with CSS, JavaScript, JQuery, or other means from a few files is far easier to manage then page by page.

3. Languages and locations

Decide on whether your site will need to be multi-lingual. If you are planning on targeting users from different countries, you need to address multi-regional concerns.

4. Canonical and webpage related URLs

Duplicate content issues may arise is Google can access the same content via multiple URLs. Additionally, webpage named URL's that relate to their content can be a plus, but don't go crazy, the shorter the URL the better. Each piece of content should be accessed via only one URL.

5. Site speed

The importance of page speed is a high priority, so be sure to put effort into optimizing the site’s performance (a Site Speed for Dummies Guide) can explain why this area is important.

6. Architecture and internal linking

From a human point of view, information architecture is important so that users can easily find what they are looking for. Effective information architecture is critical for search engines and users. Internal linking helps users find related topics, and search engines index more pages.

7. Make the journey pleasant and easy

When someone visits your site, you need to make it clear to them what you want them to do, or how to find what they need. If they find themselves on a page with no idea of where to go next, it wont be a pleasant journey. Again, effective internal linking, and an easy-to-use navigation bar and search function, as well as a sitemap all offer support to help guide your visitors. Website bounce rates help determine where there might be user journey issues on your site.

8. Content-first design

The type and quality of your content is top priority. Competition and duplicate content from other sites will cause search engines to pass you by. Look around and compare what you find that lends to the same subject matter of your page, then go crazy into more usable detail that will keep visitors on your page. Pretension is a major judging factor by Google.

9. Responsive design

With the multitude of variation in devices and their requirements, along with shifting behavior patterns of mobile device use, ‘mobile’ is becoming a more common access technology on the web. Seamless and consistent user experiences need to focus across all devices. Responsive design and dynamic serving methods can assist with creating high quality device-specific experiences.

10. Contact information

If a visitor is thinking about contacting you, you don’t want to give them the time to think twice about it. Nor do you want them to get so frustrated trying to find your contact information that they just give up. Display your contact information clearly on your homepage, or in your menu system.

11. Social Media Integration

Social media is an important component of inbound and outbound marketing campaigns. Billions of people around the world use social media, so you’re missing out on a huge audience if you don’t have a social presence. However, it’s not enough to just set up a Facebook or Twitter page. Your social pages need to be integrated with your website as well.

12. Design to indulge your visitor

The bottom line is, design your website to be an enjoyable experience, the fewer issues your website has, the better the user experience will be. Then you will be more likely to acquire higher conversion metrics which leads so website success with engaged customers. While it’s important to rank well on search engines, it’s more important to cater to visitors needs.