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Engine Friendly Web Design

How to Build a Search Engine Friendly Web site!

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Before you even think about designing a Web site that gets ranked well with search engines you need to plan a strategy for your Web development. During the past 4 weeks we have reviewed some of the things you need to consider.

Here is what we reviewed and why:

WHAT? WHY? Set Objectives What do you want to do with your Web site? 1. Inform? 2. Build/Maintain Relationships? or 3. Sell Directly? Your Web site objectives determine keywords, design, layout, copy and navigation. Research your competition Don't reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to. Find out who is winning the ranking and customer fulfillment battle and then learn from this. What keywords and phrases are they using? How are they using these? Avoid getting banned Stay away from "tricks" that could get you banned by search engines. We learned there are some things that we want to stay away from so that we don’t get banned by the search engines. Select the right keywords The keywords and phrases you select will direct the content of your Web site. This in turn will direct your Web site layout, navigation, and graphic design.

Now, finally you are ready to think about layout and design. I like to create a Web site layout before we start on design. I factor in keywords and key phrases into the initial conceptual layout. I have used a spreadsheet to develop a draft Web site 'schemata' as shown below for a fictitious family ski area. While this layout isn't complete, it will give you any idea of how I might start to layout the Web site keeping in mind specific keyword strategies for page file names and the keywords used in each Web site section and page.

Develop your keywords and key phrases with the help of the strategies and tools. The keywords or key phrases for each section will drive the content (copy or text) on each page as well as the graphic design and page layout.   Start with the front page. What are the most important keywords and key phrases required for this Web site? They would likely be used on the front page - since search engines pay more "attention" to content on the front page.   Then set up the layout for my Web site for subsequent sections (or "layers") of the Web site planning different keywords for use in the sections or pages. I try to keep each section "themed" with related keywords and phrases.

Once you have done some homework and research then the design and layout for your Web site becomes easier. It also helps the copy and content development for your Web site's visitors and search engines at the same time.

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Evaluating Your Competition | Link Building to Increase Traffic

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