Mon 29 Jun 2009
I have been working in the web the industry coming up on almost ten years now! Since I’ve started I’ve seen many fads rise and fall. I’ve built sites in everything from plain old HTML to XHTML to DHTML and every content management system you can imagine.
With everything I’ve seen, some things have persisted to be tried and true in working with clients to develop websites. The keys for me, items that I always focus on, are search engine optimization, converting visitors into whatever you want them to be, and conforming to web standards. Sure, there are many other very important things to focus on, but these three items have always been important to me; from the past eight years through the foreseeable future, every project will include work on these items.
While the game of search engine optimization (SEO) seemingly changes on a daily basis, this does not mean that it has ever not been a focus of ours. Even within SEO there are some things that we have always worked on. Title tags have always been important and likely will be important for the foreseeable future. Also, the text used in your URL has always been important and likely will always be important. While Meta keywords are a thing of the past, Meta description still play an important part as they often show up under your link in the search engine listings. New focuses of ours include the long-tail, social media and networking, and link bait.
Another item that we always seem to focus on his conversions. Whether you run an online store, a blogs, or in information site, you always have a singular goal for a random site visitor. Do you want them to become a customer? Do you want them to become a repeat visitor? Do you want them to click on ads? Do you want them to stick around and read more of your website content? These are serious questions that you need to ask yourself and your client as you go about designing the web site. The total user interface should be designed around what you want the visitor to end up doing on the web site.
You must always focus on web standards when building a web site. Web standards compliance ensures that your website will show up consistently across the multitude of web browsers that exist. The added bonus of a focus on web standards includes the fact that your website will load faster. A faster loading website combined with the standards compliant code is like candy for the search engines and they reward you for this by improving your rankings in the search results.
Internet fads come and go on a daily basis by there are some things that will likely never go away. Search engine optimization, conversions, and web standards compliance are three things that will be with us for a very long time. A strong focus on these three things during any project will help ensure a positive outcome.