Website Development Basics

1. Website Development Basics ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

2. Website Development Process • The 3 legged stool • Technical • Design • Marketing • Why so many websites are “failures” • 12 important “steps” to website success ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

3. Step 1: Site Objectives • Know where you are headed and why? • Making sales of products • Developing leads • Capturing email addresses for a mailing list • Earnings from Adsense / affiliate programs • Etc… Develop your goals ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

4. Step 2: Determine Demand • Important if you are building a revenue site • Is there sufficient interest in your topic? • Is there potential for enough traffic to return a positive ROI on your time and monetary investment? • Likely won’t apply to most of you here ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

5. Step 3: Keyword Research • What is a keyword? • Identifying best keyword vital to getting found • “Best” keywords: • Sufficient search volume to bring site traffic • Not too much competition (need to find words that have a good chance of ranking well) • More on keywords later… ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

6. Step 4: Competitive Review • What are your main competitive sites? • Which keywords are they trying to optimize? • What are they not doing well? • You can capitalize on things they are missing • After doing keyword research: • Visit sites that are ranking well for best keywords • Visit those sites’ ‘source code’ to “sleuth” ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

7. Step 5: Build a Site Map • Identify number of pages your site needs • To cover content you need • To leverage “hot” keywords • Select primary navigation tabs • What visitors are most likely to want to find • Align your best keywords to main nav pages • Organize secondary pages under primary tabs ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

8. Building Out Your Site Map • Planning your navigation • Identify all pages you KNOW you need on your site • Home page, About page, Contact page, Products page(s), Location info a map (if applicable), etc. • Identifying pages to leverage keywords • Build pages to get found by popular keywords • Create a Site Map (navigation plan) • Align a primary keyword to each applicable page ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

9. Site Map Example ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

10. Step 6: Develop Page Blueprints • This is your outline for each website page • Goals • Primary keyword • Proposed URL extension • Proposed page title • Proposed page description • Proposed content (bullet points / outline only) • Proposed photos, graphics, other “additions” ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

11. Why Page Blueprints? • Helps organize your thoughts • Helps identify where your keyword is used • Helps you know where you have sufficient content and where you still need more • Written content • Graphics, photographs, charts, maps, etc. • See sample blueprint page on website • Dermatology EMR page (sample) ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

12. Step 7: Copywriting • Use page blueprints to develop copy • Ideally 250+ words per page • Keyword used 1-2% density (1 - 2 times per 100 words) • Use keywords in subtitles • Use keywords in photo titles and alt tags • One anchor text keyword is ideal ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

13. Step 8: Graphic Design • NOW we’re ready to make the site “pretty” • Select a theme that works well with your website goals • Use colors and style consistent with your overall branding • Do not use excessive flash • Make sure site is consistent with offline look/feel • The “F Factor” – where visitor eyes go ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

14. Step 9: Build Out the Site • Develop the site by incorporating all the above • Set up all pages and organize • Add necessary and desired optional plugins • Install desired theme • Add in copy, graphic elements, etc. • Develop parallel mobile site (22% access) • Ideal option is to use a “responsive” theme that automatically resizes theme to fit mobile devices ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

15. Steps 10-12: Marketing / Tweeking • A word about SEO: 3 main types • On-site (what we’ve been talking about) • In-bound links • Social validation • SEO is NOT “set it and forget it” • SEO is ongoing effort, especially with linking and social interactivity ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

16. Step 10: Off-site SEO • Inbound linking • Focus on links from “important” sites (PR 2+) • Page rank of sites is like a Richter scale • Link “exchanges” are worthless • Takes time and patience • Hiring “SEO” professionals can be dicey – many use tactics to rank you that can get your site in trouble with Google ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

17. Step 11: Site Promotion • Site promotion goes beyond SEO • Pay-per-click advertising (Google Adwords or Facebook) • Online press releases • Social media • Email marketing • Promote your online presence everywhere offline • Other promotional tactics as applicable for yourbusiness and its unique goals ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

18. Step 12: Website Analysis • Set up and use Google Analytics • Monthly monitoring at a minimum • Identify most visited pages • Identify pages NOT being visited • Know how long visitors are staying on your site • Know what your ‘bounce rate’ is • Know where you are getting your site visitors (organically, from PPC, referrals from other sites, etc) • Explore other metrics that are important to your site ImpactOnlineMarketing.com

19. Selecting a Domain Name • Generally best: business name or keyword rich • .com is best extension (.net or .org next) • AVOID .biz, .us, .me, .name, etc. • Avoid using dashes in domain name • Shorter is better • Easy to spell • Avoid commonly confused words (two, to, 2, too) • Avoid words people misspell • Avoid “cutesy” variations (eyedoc4u.com) ImpactOnlineMarketing.com