Building A Foundation: Website Design & Content Optimization

Elements That Keep Your Visitors Coming Back: Design

• Have a consistent style and layout throughout
• Profile average user; think about browsing speeds
• Keep it simple
• Sites that have more text than images are user friendly and search enginable
• Use ALT code for graphics
• Limit use of Flash and images.
• Stay away from frames.
• Keep your opening page short and simple; don't let anything get too long
• Make the navigation easy
• Add a site map; Auditmypc or Google Site Map Generator
• Keep your site as shallow as possible
• Use validator tools, stats and diagnostics: validator.w3.org and Google Webmaster Tools

Elements That Keep Your Visitors Coming Back: Content

• Attractive web site content
• Calendar of events
• Blogs, Podcasts, RSS Feeds
• Coupons, Discounts, Specials
• Free stuff, samples, givaways
• Creating useful links (remember to use new browser window!)
• New information