Best practice web design, content &
functionality
By Ann Stanley
MD of Anicca Solutions Ltd
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

About Ann Stanley
• MD of Anicca Solutions Ltd based in Leicester (Business
Link accredited website development & online marketing
consultancy)
• Currently provides consultancy and training to a range of
clients and other agencies
• 16 years marketing experience (Chartered Marketer),
>6 years online marketing experience
• Google AdWords Professional
• Developed and teaches on the EMDA Web Academy
Program, also at IAB, Search Academy and other events
• Business Link trainer on the new Business Steps program
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Agenda
Introduction
• How important is your website to your business
• Strategic overview to planning your website
• 3 conflicting approaches to developing a website
Is your website performing?
• Comparing your website performance and importance
• Is your content indexed in Google?
• Use of Google Analytics - does your site measure up?
What you need to know?
• Design
• Functionality
• Content
How design, functionality and content influence visibility in the Search Engines
• Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) process
• Can the search engine access your site?
• Keyphrase research
• Writing optimised text
• 3rd party website & how to develop links
• Submission
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

The importance of the internet
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

How important is your website to your business
Score Customer types Purpose of website Offline
equivalent
0-3 Majority of regulars, repeat & Business card:
recommendations (R-Factor) •Contact details & Map
Passing trade
4-5 Large R-factor Brochure site:
Some new customers (eg from •Credibility
advertising) •Check out offer
<50% enquiries or bookings have •Contact details & Map
seen or used the website
6-7 Small R-Factor, so rely on new Shop-window:
business •Lead generation & enquiries
Need to advertise regularly •Most customers use &
>50% enquiries & bookings have enquire through the site
seen or come from the website •Credibility & information
8-10 Mainly new customers Transactional:
Current customers also use •Lead generation & online
website to book marketing
>80% of enquiries and bookings •Enquiries, registrations &
come from website booking engine
•Email marketing
•Integration with back-office
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Strategic overview for planning your site
Site situation analysis
Business objectives
Clients’ requirements
Site objectives
Marketing objectives
Constraints
Strategy/Tactics
Structure/navigation
Design Content Functionality
Usability
Improving sales conversion
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

The 3 “conflicting approaches” used in web design
Design – first
impressions
These approaches are
counts
often used by different
types of web designers
or developers and can
conflict with each other
Functionality –
Content – what
what the site
the site says to
does for the
the user and
user and your
search engines
business
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Is your current site performing?
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

“How to look good naked” beauty parade –
most people have the wrong image of
themselves (and their websites!)
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Score your site as compared to others
SCALE
1-4 = you consider the site poorly designed or unprofessional
5 = you would not bother to browse the site
6 = you would browse the site
8 = you would consider buying or using the service from this site
5 8
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Importance of your website vs how you
perceive the site (performance)
10
Best Plot your
importance
No more
score vs your
effort
quality score
required
Site 5
Performance
Need to
Quality matches
develop a
importance –
new site
not worth
investing
Poor 1
1 5 10
Importance to
Not Very
your business
important important
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Is my content listed in Google? – Yes!
This technique also allows
you to see how your web
developer has set-up your
urls, titles and descriptions
for your site (key for being
found in the search engines)
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Is my content listed in Google? – No!
These sites have been
constructed in Frames
and Flash, technologies
which can't be indexed
(or spidered) by the
search engines
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Get free site metrics from Google
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

The performance of your website - targets
Offline Online
advertising advertising
Website
>2% >50% browse
register
<50%
bounce (ie
>1% book online
exit)
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Do you need to invest in your website?
Offline Online
advertising advertising
No traffic due to
poor search
engine positions
Website
<1% call
or email Less than
50% browse
>50% exit
due to poor
No online
design or
Enquiry/
usability
Booking/Shop
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Reasons to develop a new site?
Poor visibility in the search engines
• The site is built in flash or frames and cannot be spidered by the search engines
• The site has other barriers to the search engine spiders, eg JavaScript navigation, complex web
addresses (urls) from pages generated by a database, complex directory and page structure,
password protected content, hosted outside of the UK etc
• The site does not have any optimised content or tags (ie they do not contain the keyphrases used
by customers) and/or there are no suitable pages or space for the additional text
Design
• The site looks dated, images and branding looks tired and it is not attractive to users
• The site has poor “calls for action”, so the site gets traffic but no registrations or sales enquiries
• The site has poor navigation and is difficult to use
Content
• If the content cannot be easily updated, or you have to go back to the web developer to change the
text, incurring additional costs and delays
Functionality
• No online sales process (shopping cart) or poor enquiry process
• No or poor customer registration process – limiting the number of enquiries to the
sales team
• No email functionality to send latest offers or deals to the customers
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Design – first impressions count!
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Design and Branding
• In many circumstances your web site will be the first point of
contact
• First Impressions Count! - Newcomers, and existing
customers, will form an impression very quickly
• 3-5 seconds?
• At a subconscious level
• It has to communicate your brand values, eg What do you want
your site to say about you?
• Target audience and positioning
• Brand values
• Corporate image
• Relevance
• Consistency
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Ecommerce site aimed at parents and kids
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Ecommerce site aimed at techies
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Different Elements of the design
Main
Branding
navigation
“Calls for Log-in
action”
Search
Search
on every
results
page
from
database
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Zen Garden –
example of using cascading style sheets (CSS)
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)
• Enables different style elements to be controlled
across the site:
• Typography
• Backgrounds
• Borders/margins
• Structural elements, e.g. navigation
• Benefits:
• More control over layout
• Quicker loading pages
• Quicker development & updates
• Easier to support multiple platforms eg pda
• Allows use of different font sizes and colours for
accessibility
• Better for search engines (page layout data
stored in CSS not diluting page text)
www.csszengarden.com
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Other features of the Website and Content
Management System
Website Management
• Web management system (WMS) allowing modification
of the design and content with search engine friendly
web addresses (urls)
• Database for clients, news, events, PR and testimonials
• PDF management – allowing users to download
brochures
• Enquiry/registration form or brochure request
Technical
• Hosting included for the first year (£200/annum
subsequent years)
• Free web statistics and metrics (using the server
metrics and/or links to Google Analytics)
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Website Management Systems –
that allow you to modify elements of the layout, design, menus & footer
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Layout Manager for modifying elements of the
layout, design, menus and footer
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Layout Manager for modifying elements of the
layout, design, menus and footer
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Try it for yourself - www.anicca-web.com our demo site
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Try it for yourself –
www.anicca-web.com our demo site
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Try it for yourself –
www.anicca-web.com our demo site
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Functionality – what the site can do for
you and your customers
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Choosing the content and functionality
Options
Basic Add-on or 3rd party Fully integrated
Functionality (Dynamic)
•Page for each product
•Home page •Shopping cart •Database driven
or service
•Who are we? •Room booking •Integrated with back
•Stock and prices
office
•What do we do? •Online quotes
•News or offers
•Customer database
•Where are we? •News feeds
•Contact us by email or
leave message
•Vacancies •Register & login • Product database
•Subscribe (eg to
•Useful links and •Mortgage calculators •E-commerce
newsletter)
information
•Archive of articles,
•Search facility •E-procurement
•Contact details newsletters etc
•FAQ •Recommend a friend •E-learning
•Demos •Banners and other •Online recruitment
adverts
•Client list
•Calendar
•Pop-up offers
•Press pack
•Forums and chat rooms
•Call back
•Terms & conditions
•Online help •Personalisation of
•Download articles and content
pdf files
•Site map
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Using your site as a sales tool – searching the
customer database
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Using your site as a sales tool – searching the
customer database
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Clicking into a customer profile
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Clicking into a customer profile
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Ability to create your own customer registration forms
(with the corresponding database)
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Ability to create your own customer registration forms
(with the corresponding database)
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Content – what your site says to your
customers (and the search engines)
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Content – Factors to consider
• Relevance to target audience
• Structure
• Language
• Tone
• Update frequency
• Self-managed content (can sometimes be search engine
unfriendly)
• Members area
• Calls to Action
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Content Management System
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Edit the page content
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

See changes on the live site
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

An Introduction to
Search Engine Marketing
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

How design, functionality & content influence
visibility in the search engines
• Design
• Images can’t be indexed
• Certain technologies such as Flash, Frames and JavaScript can’t be indexed
• Design can limit the space for optimised text, or too much text can spoil the
design
• Functionality
• Certain database functionality such as dynamic urls, ecommerce sites and
some content management systems can’t be indexed
• Content
• Amount, structure and keyphrases within the content (on-page factors) all have
significant influence on positions achieved for keyphrases used by searcher
• Content consists of the visible content (ie elements seen by the user) and the
content in the code and tags (meta-data) both are important for search engine
optimisation
• Search engine optimisation is the process used to build or modify a site to
improve its rankings in search engines for the keyphrases used by customers
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Google - Search Results
Search using
Keyphrase
Pay Per Click
Advertising
Natural/Organic
Search
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Search Engine Marketing Techniques
Pay Per Click - Paid inclusion
Search Engine Strategic link
sponsored links & Trusted Feed
Optimisation & building, 3rd
submission party websites
Direct feed from
The process of Building links on Search engine
your ecommerce
optimising and partner sites. Free advertising model
or database sites
submitting web and paid listings in where the
to directories,
pages to the industry-specific advertiser bids for
comparison sites
search engines to portals/directories. positions (separate
& classified sites.
increase the Blogs, ePR, social from main listings)
Different systems
probability of networking sites & pays amount for
eg Yahoo, Google
higher results for every click.
Products, Kelkoo
keyphrases
found on your
site
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

How Search Engines Work
A search engine is made of three basic components:
A Spider or Robot A Storage System A Matching Process or
An automated browser, it or Database Relevancy Algorithm
searches the web for new A record of all the pages The rules that tell the search
websites and changes to viewed by the Spider engine how to determine
websites then views the what would be relevant to
web pages and strips out your search
the text content
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

The Search Engine Optimisation Process
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Search Engine Optimisation Process
Part 1 – Auditing and planning
• Can the spiders access your site?
• Keyphrase research
• Page planning
Part 2 – On-page factors
• Writing optimised text
Part 3 - Off page factors
• Link building
Part 4 – Ongoing Management
• Submission
• Reporting
• Ongoing Activity
Part 5 – Using pay per click (PPC) while SEO kicks in
• Developing a new site
• Integration with PPC
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Remove the barriers & let the spiders in!
Barriers - prevent the spiders from accessing your site content
• Flash
• Dynamic, database-driven URLs with a “?” in their names or long
query strings, eg hotel and holiday pages from a product database
• Frames
• Use of JavaScript in links/navigation
• Auto-redirects
• Password protected areas
Remember to test your website using site:www.mycompany.co.uk
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Create a Keyphrase Matrix for Your Products/Services
hotel hotels room rooms weekend
break
book book hotel book book room book book weekend
hotels rooms break
reserve reserve reserve reserve reserve reserve
hotel hotels room rooms weekend
break
check hotel check hotels room rooms weekend
availability availability check check check break check
availability availability availability availability
Derbyshire hotel hotels room rooms weekend
Derbyshire Derbyshire Derbyshire Derbyshire break
Derbyshire
London hotel hotels room rooms weekend
London London London London break London
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Keyphrase research
Useful online tools include:
• Word tracker
http://www.wordtracker.com
A keyphrase evaluation tool that gives popularity figures for
individual search terms based upon
actual search engine activity.
• Google’s traffic estimator/keyword tool
https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
• PPC tools within each search engine
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Google keyword tool
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Google keyword tool
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Optimisation - Content Considerations
• <TITLE> tag
• Visible Text
The text in the Title tag is one of the most
On-topic, optimised content is the most
important factors influencing search engine
important factor if prominent search
ranking algorithms.
engine positioning is to be achieved.
• META Description
Copywriting and Editing Optimised to encourage click-throughs.
Headings and Formatting
• META Keywords
Internal Anchor Links
Provided but currently of little importance..
ALT image attributes
• Stop words
• Themes Many search engines exclude common
Development of thematic content areas. words. The optimisation includes avoidance
of stop words in key areas of the pages.
• Keyword frequency, weight &
• Spam avoidance
prominence
No techniques are used that could be
Adjustments to apply elements of the
considered to be spamming.
“science”.
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Title & Meta Tags
• The Title Tag is also important with regard to Google ranking
• Description acts as the “advert” that attracts browsers to click through
• Keyword Meta tags – less important
Title tag
Description
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Check your keyword density: www.ranks.nl
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Check your keyword density: www.ranks.nl
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Check your keyword density: www.ranks.nl
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

What else do you need to consider?
2. Off-Page Factors
1. On-Page Factors
– Domain name
– Title Tag
– Location of hosting/ISP
– Meta Tags
– Filename / full URL
– Page Content
– Directory Listings
– Heading Content
– Internal Link structure
– Text formatting
– External Link Structure
– Frequency of phrases
– Anchor text of inbound links
– Density of phrases
– Page quality of inbound links
– Prominence of phrases
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Introduction to
Link building strategies
& use of 3rd party sites
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Examples of different types of inbound links
Google Maps & Yell.com
Visit The Peak
Business Directory
District Dan’s B & B
Dan’s B & B in Buxton Visit Dan’s B & B for
great weekend break!
Derbyshire
business directory
Buxton
LateRooms.com Dan’s B & B
My Site
Dan’s B & B book now
for great discounts.
(Dan’s B & B) Booking.com
Dan’s B & B
39 Justinian Road,
Buxton
B & B Blog
Last minute rooms at
PR.com
Dan’s B & B.
Dan’s B & B wins
Derbyshire cleanest
B & B award
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Why inbound links are important to my site?
Improved link popularity helps to boost your site in the
Search Engines:
• Research & find appropriate sites (use of Arelis, MarketLeap.com,
Webconfs.com)
• Contact appropriate sites
• Acquisition of links
• Checking/chasing, follow up
• Reporting
• Avoidance of link farms and ‘bad neighbourhoods’
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Importance of 3rd party directories & portals
Evaluate and compare directories for the following factors:
Direct traffic
• Are your competitors listed?
• Do they get top 10 search engine positions for the keyphrases you want to
be found for?
• How much traffic do they get (unique visitors per month)?
• Is their Alexa ranking greater than your own site (and other directories you
are considering)?
Inbound links – to help your search engine ranking
• What is the Google Page Rank of the page that your entry will appear on?
• Does Google indexes the links from this directory? (Check competitors
sites by typing in link:www.competitor.co.uk into search box of Google)
Costs
• Free or paid entry
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Linking Tip – Anchor Text
Avoid - Click here for information about Anicca Solutions.

What kind of services?
 Web development and internet marketing services provided by Anicca
Solutions – useful information!
Many search engines consider the text
in and around hyperlinks to be more important.
They are also looking for descriptive relevancy.
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Adobe.com is found for “click here”
(due to the power of anchor text)
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Importance of Page rank – receiving some of
the “credibility” from the sites that link to you
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Submitting Your Site?
• Manual submissions
• Individual page submissions
• Language specific as required
.co.uk .com .fr .de .it .kr.
Inclusion in Directories:
• Yahoo! (paid)
• DMOZ (Open Directory)
• Business.com and others
• Before you pay for a directory entry check
that Google “values” the links
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

International Search engine marketing
• Each country has own national search engines
• International search engines such as Google.com, MSN.com and
Yahoo.com have local versions of their search engines with their
own algorithm
• Some international search engines will alter the algorithm used
depending on the IP address of the user (eg you will get a different
result on Yahoo.com in the US then if you were in the UK or
another country)
• National search engine rank local sites more highly (country-
specific url and IP address)
• National search engines rank sites in local language more highly
• Each country will have country-specific keyphrases and spellings
eg repetitive stress injury = repetitive strain injury, optimisation =
optimization,
• Keyphrases used in one country will not necessarily translate
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Top-tips to improve your search engine traffic
• Check that your site has been indexed all the top UK and .com search engine (type
site:www.mycompany.co.uk into each search engine)
• Check that your site has no search engine barriers (eg flash, frames)
• Check that there is a “site map” and text links to pages within your site
• Every page within your site must act as a doorway into the site by containing the
keyphrases used by searchers – there should be unique content, titles and
descriptions on each page
• Check that every page has the “calls for action” – eg phone numbers, register for
email, check availability, book now!
• Check your Google page rank and develop Strategic link building and registration in
directories - DIY!
• Use a dual strategy of search engine optimisation and pay per click (+/- xml feed) to
cover all the keyphrases used by potential customers
• Monitor your site, use a statistics package to determine levels of traffic,
where they came from, keyphrases used and what they did when they got
there (did they register or book?) - What is the CPA & ROI?
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Bringing it all together!
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Pulling it all together!
Getting
traffic to your
website
Quality &
performance
of your
website
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com

Want more information?
Free Online Marketing Courses
via www.ebusinessclub.biz
Ann Stanley
ann@anicca-solutions.com
07930 384443
ann@anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-solutions.com | www.anicca-web.com