Here is why your mom only visits your Web site infrequently.
I read a blog article recently from Dan Paterson. It was called “18 Simple SEO Items Commonly Missed in Web Development” and was published on SEO.com, a high ranking site with lots of traffic.
As an aspiring DIY SEO I especially appreciate it where where he says: “a lot of Web developers don’t understand the basic concepts of SEO. This in turn leads to sites being developed that an SEO team will later have to tear apart and fix.” I can not begin to tell you how true this is and how easy it is for me to make that assessment in just a few clicks when visiting a site.
Prior to that he states: “The sad thing is that a lot of the things we recommend should have been done during the Web development phase the first time around.” Planning is the most crucial phase in starting a Web site. It should come first, not last. Repeatedly on a daily basis I ask myself how can so many smart business people act so foolishly in one aspect of their business. I even scolded a CEO one time by reminding him as a chief executive officer he : “should inspect what he expects.”
Of course, this may or may not be fair to newbies just starting in business or those who follow the herd who ask “Why don’t you have a Website?” They then go ahead and take the plunge since everybody else in the world seems to be doing it. Here is an insider secret – just publishing a Website is not enough.
If you are a Webmaster, or an aspiring one, read Dan’s list. If you do not know what he is talking about, make sure your developer or SEO coach does. If you do not have one, get a mentor or stop wasting your time and money. Otherwise your Web site will always be an expensive brochure in the sky that only mom infrequently visits.
Among Dan’s list of 18 topics are:
- Keyword Research
- Redirects
- 404 Page
- Alt Attributes
- Internal Linking Structure
- Title Structure
- Meta Descriptions
- Meta Tags
- Analytics Tracking
- XML Sitemap
- Robots.txt File
I think he has missed a couple of topics in his list. I describe them in my fundamental pillars list and presentation. However, if you can get through this list I feel you are ahead of 85% of the Web sites out there in small business land who just don’t get it.
Read the rest of his article.
Tags: Keywords, Search Engine Optimization, SEO
