Guidelines For a Search Engine Ready Website

skalamanga · 09-04-2011, 03:42 AM

Can a website be designed in a search engine ready manner? The answer is yes. A website should not be designed only to make the person looking at it able to read its content and be awed by how beautiful and attractive the site is. Your site must also be navigable by the search engines.

Some website owners will declare that they don’t want to have much content on their site. They believe that people don’t have time to read websites with a lot of information on them. While that may be true in part because most people are busy and in a hurry just to get information as quickly as they can, yet in order for people to find your site through what is called generic search, the site must have enough content to be appealing to the search engines.

There are a number of points to think about when seeking to make your website search engine ready.

1) Text on your website should be readable. Busy background images obscure text and draws away attention from your content. As well, you must make your text readable. The standard size text for websites is 12 though 10 Arial may be the most attractive and friendly. Your fonts should not be funny and childish as if you are building the site to satisfy your own likes. The colour black is the preferred colour of text though other colors might also be attractive.

2) Make your site navigable. You have probably been to websites that have given you creepy messages like page not found errors, or having links that don’t really work. You can avoid this by making your site navigation highly visible and properly linked. A site map may also be a very good idea for ease of navigation.
3) Appropriate images. If you decide to put images on your website they should make sense and have a purpose for being there. If you decide to use flash images ensure that they are search engine friendly. Avoid too much animation for your images.
4) Download time. Some things can slow your download time for your site and disrupt your search engine readiness efforts. Ensure that pages on your site are inter-related. This will avoid confusion on the part of those visiting your site.
Search Engine Ready Website Design
It is very important that you keep a proper balance between what visitors are looking for and what the search engines may need to spider your site so it can be found by these search engines. Other articles to this post will include much more detail on how to create a search engine ready website.

Ron S · 09-04-2011, 05:10 AM

In addition, the website should have an auto-generated sitemap & enable sitemap auto submission to major search engines.

skalamanga · 09-04-2011, 05:26 AM

Thank you for the addition, Ron

Jim Gillum · 09-04-2011, 02:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by skalamanga

Thank you for the addition, Ron

Hello..
Please post in the introduction section...
Tell us a little about yourself ....in order that we might welcome you in a proper manner....

)))

skalamanga · 09-04-2011, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Gillum

Hello..
Please post in the introduction section...
Tell us a little about yourself ....in order that we might welcome you in a proper manner....

)))

My name is Albert. I live in the great land of Canada which is just north of the greater land of the Great U.S. of A. I have lived in the US for about six and one half years, have visited a number of the contiguous States. I have also done travels to Asia, and South Africa. I like to travel when I can.

I am an author on the side, and has written 4 books to date. I have owned a few of small businesses - most recently in 2008 and 2009, but the sow-down got the better of me. Anyway I dont give up easily and cant really afford to. So after the most recent failure I turned to something I had liked and had been fascinated with for a while - website design.

I presently do that for a living and I enjoy it quite a bit, though it can at times be tedious and challenging. I like to finish a site and have people tell me that they love it. That gives me much satisfaction.

For fun I do some photography, hiking, play a bit of music on the piano. I love cooking and entertaining, loves people and enjoys their company, and adores children especially when they are very young because they are so cute and outspoken.

I am looking forward to many years of interaction at the Marketing Forums and hope to make a contribution to the Forum by imparting some of the knowledge I gathered in relation to my experience as a web designer and in other areas.

Jim Gillum · 09-05-2011, 05:57 AM

Great intro.....again...welcome aboard.....

Always glad to see a motivated and experienced new member...

skalamanga · 09-05-2011, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Gillum

Great intro.....again...welcome aboard.....

Always glad to see a motivated and experienced new member...

Thank you very much, Jim, I look forward to being of some use here.