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This is part 2 of a 3 post series meant to help you identify some areas to focus on when choosing a web designer who also understands SEO. Keeping these ideas in mind during the building process may help you to get the most out of your designer’s “on-the-clock” hours.

Aesthetic appeal is subjective, but the objectives of your website should be a fully conscious, coordinated effort. If you build with search in mind, it will be much easier to get qualified traffic in effective queries rather than trying to retrofit a built and indexed website with an SEO campaign. Obviously the ladder is still very plausible but in terms of business, may cost you more dollars than sense.

The following are a few things to keep in mind when choosing a designer for a new website. (Note: For the purpose of this discussion we’ll assume that content is not up to the designer.)

Choose a web designer that understands usability.

Collaborate to design effective pages with your user in mind. What will they see? Where will they go? What are they supposed to do now that they’ve found your website? What do they need to know in order to convert? Show them where to go with legible fonts and graphics that make sense.

Navigation

Don’t omit tabs on your main navigation from section to section. On the conception stage, make sure your designer integrates navigational pillars that do not change. Static navigation to hub sections reassures the visitor that by clicking around they will always be able to find their way back to a main section. Never strand them in cyberspace by walking them through a series of links that follow no back logic.

Lay breadcrumbs, use static hub sections, provide an icon with a home link, something to stop them from wandering into the void while encouraging them to explore. If you don’t instantly know where to go when you see the mockup, then chances are nobody else will either. A good rule of thumb is to try to make all pages of your site accessible without having to resort to the browser’s navigation.

K.I.S.S.

Clean coding and strait forward presentation are always a best bet. Revolutionary effects in bleeding edge technologies are sexy, but simple carts and predictable navigation convert. Statistics reveal that bounce rate greatly increases when new users are paired with flamboyant and over-excitable layouts. Avoid distracting users with what is not relevant. Keep them focused and clear the path to a conversion.

Clean Coding

It may not be necessary to code to W3C’s evolving standards but remember that bad code breeds. Sloppy code is often replicated in hidden areas and may remain hidden until integral components of your site are shifted around. Launching your holiday product line is not the time to discover that your shopping cart doesn’t integrate into your new product pages.

Avoid Application Dependency

Designers that rely too heavily on web building programs can box in your options for expansion as your website matures. It is important to discuss the architecture options of your website with your designer prior to implementation. A 20 page website is vastly different architecturally than a 20k page website.

Site building programs often clutter the code with extraneous injections and specialized tags. Seek designers that have a proven track record of integrating their work into a production environment. Such environments often test the adaptability, resourcefulness and troubleshooting of a designer’s skill set.

Plan for Transition

If your intention is to build out the content over time, make sure that you have a plan to transition the tools and working files to the next designer. Agree on a set of core technologies to be used and ensure that they are consistent with current standards and the projected half-life of your website.

And of course, the best evaluation of potential designer is to ask for samples and run them by someone with a few years experience to look under the hood.

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Quick Reference:

How to choose a web designer that also understands SEO

Part 1: Choose a web designer that understands how to build for the search user.
Part 2: Choose a web designer that understands usability.
Part 3: Choose a web designer who understands the crawl.