Toll Free: 1-877-695-7388

GTA: (647) 699-2838

Search Engine People
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • CRO
  • Display
  • Blog
  • Why Us
  • Contact
  • Join Our Team
  • Get A Quote

Toll Free: 1-877-695-7388

GTA: (647) 699-2838

7 Habits of Highly Effective Websites

Don Campbell | November 20th, 2012
Tweet88
Share76
Share
Pin1
165 Shares

websites-are-more-than-code

Most of us spend a lot of time trying to get pages on our website to rank well in the Google Search Results.

But what happens when people actually get to your website?

After working with hundreds of small business websites, here are seven things that we've found make them productive and successful. Take a look at the list below and see how many of them you do on your website:

Successful Website Checklist

  1. Simple Design and Navigation

    Your website doesn't need to be flashy - it just needs to be simple and professional. Make it easy for people to understand what your site is about, and how to navigate it. Studies show that you only get about 3 seconds before the visitor gives up and moves on - so it needs to hit them right between the eyes!

  2. Put Your Picture On It

    Did you know your About page is the second most visited page on your site? That's because people want to know who they are dealing with. Anonymous sites don't get results. Personal sites do. People buy from people, not anonymous websites.

    So put your picture on the about page, or better yet your home page. If you can't do that, at least include a picture of your staff, or your smiling office manager. You need to make it personal if you want to get results.

  3. Ask for Action

    Your site should have a clear call to action - what do you want your visitor to do? Call for an appointment, buy your eBook, sign up for your newsletter? Whatever it is, make sure you ASK for it. Ask the visitor to take action, or you probably won't get it.
  4. Update it with unique content - regularly!

    Publishing unique content on a regular basis is very important for your site. Every time you publish new content Google comes back and crawls your website again. This content can be optimized for the keyword phrases you care about, and for your physical location too.

    Great content also provides value to your readers and potential customers. If you share your knowledge they will learn to trust you.

    The best way to keep your content fresh is to have a blog on your website. According to a recent HubSpot study, companies that blog 10 - 15 times per month get 5x more traffic than companies that don't.

    A blog makes it easy to update your website regularly. If you are too busy to update it you can hire copywriters who are familiar with blogging and have them update the site for you.

  5. Syndicate Your Content

    When you blog, you can re-use your content for many purposes, including your email newsletter, updates to your social media networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google+. All blogs include an RSS feed which allows you to easily syndicate your content to other sites.
  6. Measure and Optimize

    It's easy to measure the results of your website; how many people come to it each day, what keywords they use to find it, where are they coming from, and more. Google provides a free tool for this called Google Analytics. Once you add this to your site, you can measure the effects of your marketing and tell what is making a difference.
  7. Be Mobile Ready

    Next year more people will use Mobile devices than PCs to get online. Smartphones are ubiquitous today.

    Studies show that mobile visitors are different than desktop visitors - mobile visitors are very "goal oriented"; they read fewer pages and spend less time on your site because they are looking for something specific. Usually that means your phone number, driving directions or business hours.

    That's why it's very important that you deliver a mobile experience to your mobile visitors. Most smartphones will display your full site, shrunk down to fit the device. Don't put your visitors in "pinch and zoom hell" - serve them a special page formatted for their device with easy "touch points" so they can call you or get directions.

    (See this presentation from Google for some more amazing stats on mobile adoption.)

So what about your website - are you doing these things? If so, congratulations! If not, pick one of these items and get to work on it, and let me know how it affects the results you are getting.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy 5 E-Commerce On-Site SEO Mistakes And What You Can Do About Them Now

Tweet88
Share76
Share
Pin1
165 Shares
Posted in SEO, Web DesignTagged 7, listpost, SEO, Web Design

About the Author: Don Campbell

Don is President of Expand2Web, where he writes about WordPress for business and local search marketing. He also created GetFiveStars - a tool for business owners to encourage feedback and positive reviews from their customers.

Expand2Web Blog

9 thoughts on “7 Habits of Highly Effective Websites”

  1. Diana Ratliff says:
    November 20, 2012 at 2:21 pm

    Great checklist, thanks Don!

    I’m very glad you included the importance of asking for action and adding content. A site isn’t just about code, or even about ranking in the search engines. It’s a MARKETING tool and should move someone forward in the sales process.

    1. Don Campbell says:
      November 22, 2012 at 1:10 pm

      Exactly – thanks for the comment Diana.

  2. Julie Larson says:
    November 20, 2012 at 3:29 pm

    Thank you for listing it out and keeping it simple, Don!

  3. Javi says:
    November 21, 2012 at 5:38 am

    From what I’ve seen (and based on my somewhat limited knowledge), no.4 most definitely affects the traffic a particular blog gets. I’ve seen websites who publish regularly get more traffic (and better rankings) as opposed to those who don’t. Which essentially explains why blogs which are updated numerous times daily rank higher on the SERP and get more traffic.

    1. Don Campbell says:
      November 21, 2012 at 12:17 pm

      Yes I agree Javi. And it doesn’t have to be updated multiple times per day to work, but the more the better!

  4. Danyelle Franciosa says:
    November 22, 2012 at 5:14 pm

    Great Checklist Don! It helps a lot. Simple design and navigation is really important. no one can compare the beauty of simplicity. Thank you so much for sharing this!

    1. Don Campbell says:
      December 7, 2012 at 10:06 am

      You bet Danyelle – thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. I appreciate it!

  5. Alex Rascanu says:
    November 29, 2012 at 7:50 am

    Good checklist, Don! And thanks for pointing out HubSpot`s findings about blogging – it`s a useful resource.

    1. Don Campbell says:
      December 7, 2012 at 10:07 am

      Yes it is interesting – they share a lot of good research like that.

Comments are closed.

Recent Posts

  • Maximizing Your E-Commerce Sales:
    A CRO Audit Guide
  • Movin’ On Up! Why Migrating to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Should be a Priority
  • A Year in Review: The Digital Marketing Trends That Defined 2021
  • The Basics of Video Marketing
  • Just How Much Do Google Reviews Impact Your SEO Ranking?

Categories

  • Analytics & ROI Analysis
  • Company News
  • Content
  • Conversion Optimization
  • CRO
  • Display Advertising/RTB
  • Email Marketing
  • En Español
  • En Français
  • Inbound Marketing
  • Lead Nurture & Marketing Automation
  • Local Search
  • Marketing
  • Mobile
  • Partnership Marketing
  • PPC
  • PR
  • SEO
  • Social Media Marketing
  • Web Design

Additional Posts

Local Social Media: Where Should You Stake Your Claim

November 20th, 2012 | by Mike Wilton
Google Plus SEO

8 Key Steps to Get Your Blog to the Top

November 19th, 2012 | by Jamie Hibbert

How to create a marketing funnel

November 16th, 2012 | by David Anderson

LET'S TALK

Need more information or want to get in touch?

Get in touch!
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Display
  • Blog
  • Why Us
  • Join Our Team
  • Contact Us
  • Local SEO
  • Small Business SEO
  • Enterprise SEO
  • International SEO

LOCATION

1305 Pickering Parkway,
5th Floor Pickering, L1V 3P2

PHONE

Toll Free: 1-877-695-7388
Greater Toronto Area: (647) 699-2838

Social

© Search Engine People Inc. 2023 – Canada’s Top Digital Agency
© SEP 2023 – A Search Engine People Company | Privacy Policy

Search Engine People