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This is part 3 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 who understands the crawl.

Work with your designer to ensure that all portions of your website will support proper web crawling and indexing.

Spiders, also called bots, are automated scripts in charge of crawling the interweb for information gathering, and other stuff. In regards to search engines, if a spider hasn’t touched your page, it won’t be indexed or served to search users.

Although being crawled by a search engine doesn’t give you an automatic jump to the indexed bin, building a spider accessible, fully indexable website that stimulates frequent crawling to deep rooted pages will go a long way to maximizing your web presence. Like all things search, keeping the crawl in mind during the building process will make your life much easier when you choose to expand.

Redundant Accessibility

Build out new sections with redundant accessibility by linking to each page from multiple pages within the same site. Shoot for at least 2 to 3 ways to access a single page. It’s really not as daunting as it sounds. If you build an HTML/XHTML sitemap for your user, that’s 1. Build parent pages for each individual item or concept, that’s 2. Provide navigational aids, such as breadcrumbs, that provide a link back to each previous section, boom you’re done! Be creative and ONLY ADD LINKS IF IT AIDS THE USER.

JavaScript Navigation

There are always new methods to MacGyver the ability to crawl navigation but to truly put an emphasis on search stick with XHTML/CSS. Hey, you can do a lot with CSS and XHTML!

If you’re not sure if that glitzy navigation allows the spider to pass from section to section then test it with an all text browser. If you can’t navigate your site, neither can the spider.

Stimulate the Deep Crawl

If deploying a larger website, 100+ pages, it may take several visits for spiders to fully index your pages. Anything that you or your designer can do to increase the rate of crawl is a good thing. Placing dynamic, engaging, natural link-worthy content on hub pages will be ideal points of entry for spiders. Channeling spiders like blood flow to deep rooted pages may help keep leaf pages from being isolated or dropping out of the index.

Plug Yourself

When deploying new sections or content remind users, and spiders, with links to existing sections. You’ll want to plug your hub pages because you will have already designed these sections to keep those bots barreling through page after well linked page of your website.

Use the robots.txt

Make sure your designer understands the power of the robots.txt. You can use it to tell the spider to auto-discover your sitemap.xml, ignore certain sections, or strait tell it to go away while you perform maintenance or finish building.

There are really too many options to list. In not so many words it is one of the only opportunities you’ll get to guide the spider with explicit directions of how it should treat your website.

I hope after reading this little 3 post series that it will be easier to choose a web designer that also understands SEO. I tried to approach this topic by identifying what I would look for if I were to outsource a website. Thanks for reading!

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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.

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.

___________________________________________________________________

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.

This is part 1 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 how to build for the search user.

Collaborate with your designer about search accessibility. How should your pages look when brought up in search results? When you have determined what you want to show your visitors, think about how you will leverage your knowledge of your audience for your presentation.

Cohesion

Although it can easily fall into the category of usability, retention makes a high ranking worthwhile. Yes they clicked on your listing, but are they in the right place? Make sure that your description, title, and page message are consistent. Show the searcher what they expect to see. They followed the link, so naturally they are interested in the topic you provided for them. Be predictable and carry that subject into the actual page. Showing something unrelated or disconnected from the subject you brought them in with will almost always get a back button response.

Presence

What visual and navigational queues can you use to say; “This is the right place to find the most exclusive handmade soaps in Paris,” or, “We are the authority in small business consulting,” or, “Look no further for definitive restaurant ratings in greater Tokyo?”

Are the title and descriptions for each page relevant to the page’s context? How do they introduce each page? Make sure your web designer understands where you need to place emphasis for groupings of themes and specific subjects. (Themes: e.g. wrenches, hammers, saws) (Specific Subjects: e.g. Wrench Model 11a, Wrench Model 11b)

Landing Pages

How will the structure of your website contribute to what a search user sees first? How can you impact them most effectively if given only a few moments of their time? Where will you lead them after they have absorbed a concept? Think of landing pages that grab attention and introduce users to other areas of your site. Sketch out a diagram of your key concepts and structure each one to become a core component of your site. Are there certain concepts that need to be understood before a sale/signup/conversion can be made?

Seek Working Examples

Using the a site search (site:example.com) in Google is a great way to evaluate your competition’s understanding of search user awareness. Can you tell what they are trying to be found for? Start a brainstorming session where you identify the core components of your website and compile a list of topics for each main component. This structural grouping of components should help your designer understand how you intend to build out the site and ultimately provide a basis for the wire frame they were hired to build.

Manage Scope Creep

Having a clear understanding of what you intend to achieve with the site will help you to determine the scope of the project. An accurate scope of your own project paired with your awareness of the search user during the development stage may help you qualify a designer better able to execute your vision the first time around.

___________________________________________________________________

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.