Needmore Designs is primarily a design studio rather than a search engine optimization firm, but we do know how to make websites that are quite searchable. When we design a website, it is important to know if search engine ranking is important to you!

Perhaps, for you, the best way to reach people outside this circle of influence is by getting your site into search engines on the Internet. When we create your site, we’ll create the best website for you and, if optimization is important, your site will be created in a way that is easy to read for search engines. No one can guarantee specific placement results because a third party, the search engine, is ultimately in charge of how your site ranks. To ensure the best possible visibility for your website, it is important to address three components of a website:

1. Content
2. Architecture
3. Popularity

Content

The content component targets keywords that are placed both in your meta tags, title tags, alternate text for graphic images and in your website’s copy.

Deciding on the correct keywords for your particular website is going to take research; you’ll want to figure out the potential keywords your target customers would type in to find your business (not what words you might use). A simple and unofficial way to find this information is to ask your current customers what words they might use when looking for your business - you may be surprised to hear what they have to say! Read about our own experience with keywords and our Gone Raw site in our article Google Juice.

Once you have a list of targeted keywords, use these to evaluate your website copy (website copy should not necessarily be the same as the text on your brochures). Think about how you might bring these words and phrases naturally into your copy. Read more about writing website copy here.

You might also consider resources that you are able to give away to visitors (for example, we created free iPhone wallpaper). Do you have a lot to say about your industry? Think about writing a blog on your website.

Architecture

Your site might also benefit from thoughtful site architecture, which includes thoughtful choices about technology. For example, our e-commerce websites are created using Magento software which focuses on search engine ranking; Magento is search engine friendly, utilizes Google site maps, gives full control of URL’s, allows for meta-information for products and categories, auto-generates a site map for display on site and auto-generates a popular search terms page.

Popularity

Finally, site popularity is measured by the number of reputable links pointed at your site and how often (and how long) people click on and view your website. It is important to remember that link quality counts; sites with a small number of high-quality links to them will fare better than sites with hundreds of low-quality links, so stay away from costly link farms! Places to seek out high-quality links are often industry-specific, such as professional associations. Or, why not join an organization like One-Percent for the Planet (you’ll have a high-quality link and help to save the world).

Take a Breath

Do note, for new websites, it is not uncommon to wait 3 to 6 months before a search engine like Google indexes your site.

Most of the information for this article was inspired by the book Search Engine Visibility by Shari Thurow.