FLYTE SCHOOL
Web Design for Action and
Search Engine Optimization: Rank
Higher, Sell More!
Rich Brooks Nicki Hicks
flyte new media flyte new media
http://www.flyte.biz http://www.flyte.biz
http://www.flyteblog.com http://www.maine-seo.com
http://twitter.com/therichbrooks http://twitter.com/nickihicks

WEB SITE BASICS
• What You’ll Need
• Domain Name
• Registrar
• Host

WEB SITE PLANNING
• Questions to Answer
• Identify your business goals
• Identify your audience
• Identify their goals at the site

WEB SITE PLANNING
• First Steps
• Keyword analysis
• Site Outline
• Wireframes

WEB SITE PLANNING
• Possible Enhancements
• E-commerce
• Interactivity/Community
• A/V
• CMS

WEB SITE PLANNING
• Design is subjective; focus on UI
• Branded
• Navigation
• User-centric

WEB DEVELOPMENT
• Rules for An Effective Home Page
• Talk about your visitors, not yourself
• Get them to take an action
• Calls-to-Action

WEB DEVELOPMENT
• Rules for An Ineffective Home Page
• Splash Page / Flash Intro
• Slow loading, graphic heavy
• Too many options

IMPORTANT PAGES
Balance bet ween
free and fee; give
enough for users
and the SE’s
• “Free Stuff”
• Email newsletters, Articles
• Worksheets, Calculators
• Screen savers, mp3 files....

IMPORTANT PAGES
• Portfolio
• Display only your best work
• Case studies
• Consider how often you’ll update it

IMPORTANT PAGES
• FAQs
• Great for SEO
• Teased from home page (anchor text)

IMPORTANT PAGES
• Contact Info
• Make it easy to find
• Use a contact form

IMPORTANT PAGES
• Press Room
• Press Releases
• Info for journalists
• High-res photos
• Media appearances

IMPORTANT PAGES
• About Us
• Not home page worthy
• Ultimately, it’s important to some
• Mission, history, staff, photos

WHAT IS SEO?
• On-page factors
• Off-page factors

WHAT IS SEO?
• On-page factors
• Off-page factors

ON-PAGE FACTORS
• Is it intuitive?
• Usability
• Information Architecture
• Intra-site links
• Keywords on the page

KEYWORD RESEARCH:
WHAT ARE PEOPLE SEARCHING FOR?
• Brainstorm keywords
• Talk to your volunteers and donors
• “What would you type into Google to find
my website?”
• Get a keyword analysis

KEYWORDS: WHERE DO THEY GO?

KEYWORDS: WHERE DO THEY GO?

KEYWORDS: WHERE DO THEY GO?

KEYWORDS: WHERE DO THEY GO?

KEYWORDS: WHERE DO THEY GO?

KEYWORDS: WHERE DO THEY GO?

KEYWORDS: WHERE DO THEY GO?

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW:
ON-PAGE OPTIMIZATION
• Anticipate your visitors’ needs
• What is your call-to-action?
• What are people searching for?
• Keyword Analysis

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW:
ON-PAGE OPTIMIZATION
• Anticipate your visitors’ needs
• What is your call-to-action?
• What are people searching for?
• Keyword Analysis

OFF-PAGE FACTORS
• Incoming links
• Local Search
• Social Media
• Video
• Images

INCOMING LINKS:
THE MORE, THE BETTER
• Volunteer Maine: www.volunteermaine.org/
• Volunteer Match: www.volunteermatch.org/
• iParticipate: http://iparticipate.org
• Associations (e.g. Maine Association of Nonprofits)
• Area bloggers
• Websites about your cause

LOCAL SEARCH

LOCAL SEARCH ENGINES
• Best of the Web: http://local.botw.org/
• Bing Local: https://ssl.bing.com/listings/ListingCenter.aspx
• Google Maps: http://www.google.com/local/add
• Insider Pages: http://www.insiderpages.com/
• Localeze: http://www.localeze.com/
• Superpages: https://yellowpages.superpages.com/profiler/
login_import.jsp?
• Yahoo Local: http://listings.local.yahoo.com/csubmit/index.php
• Yellow Pages: http://www.yellowpages.com/
• Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/

ASK FOR REVIEWS

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW:
OFF-PAGE OPTIMIZATION
• Submit your organization to area
volunteer listings
• Ask for links from bloggers and websites
• Submit your organization to local search
listings
• Ask for reviews from volunteers and
colleagues

THANK YOU

THANK YOU
Rich Brooks
flyte new media
136 Commercial St., Ste 201
Portland, ME 04101 Nicki Hicks
http://www.flyte.biz http://www.flyte.biz
http://www.flyteblog.com http://www.maine-seo.com
http://twitter.com/therichbrooks http://twitter.com/nickihicks