Truth 35. Web sites built on keywords and content build traffic

How do people find their way to your site? The same way you find a resource on the Web yourself—by typing a word or phrase into a search engine box and seeing what comes up. Therefore, work up a list of keywords and phrases for your product or service. Build your headlines and titles on them, page by page, and incorporate them into each page’s content. Three or four times are enough because too many mentions might be penalized by the search engines. This is part of search-engine optimization (SEO).

Suppose you sell dance shoes. Your keywords might be ballet slippers, pointe shoes, ballroom dancing shoes, and so forth. But people might type in Danskin footwear, or shoes for salsa, or dance-rehearsal supplies, etc. So you’ll have to brainstorm with colleagues or staff, scout competitors to see with what search words they pepper their copy and headings, and spend some time experimenting with search engines to test out candidates and narrow down your list. In fact, if you Google “searchwords,” a number of services will come up that will do this work for you; some offer a free trial run.

Some Web site producers build their whole approach on search words. The words are first defined through an elaborate process involving specialized software and services. Then every page is written to incorporate the relevant words and phrases, three or four times per page. It’s challenging to make such copy creative, but the strategy can work amazingly on e-commerce sites.

And, be aware that every page must also have an HTML-coded title geared for search engines. You’ll want to work with your programmers or Web developer on crafting these.

Make content king; the search engines do. They rank sites in part by how much useful information they contain. In planning or expanding a site, think about what will be helpful or interesting to the people you want to attract. Original content is the best route to credibility, too. You might include sections such as these: FAQs (frequently asked questions), e-newsletters, company research papers or reports (perhaps condensed), press releases, unbiased information or news about your industry, articles on how to do or achieve something, reviews of new products in your field, or statistics that show trends.

Aim to be useful and be inventive. For example, in establishing a new medical partnership, a friend realized that there was no common calendar of events in her specialization, so she added one to her group’s Web site. With a little assembly work every month, the partners made their site a “must” destination and clearinghouse, which helped build its reputation, visibility, and referrals. A site that sells beads can demonstrate ways to make jewelry; the dance shoe site could talk about how to fit ballet slippers.

Intranets and extranets—Well-designed company intranets help foster in-house collaboration and knowledge/information sharing among employees. They serve the same unifying function for company suppliers, distributors, shippers, and customers.

When you write material that will be posted on your company’s intranet or extranet, the same rules apply as for regular Web writing: Write short, write clearly, compose brief paragraphs, use hyperlinks to move readers around the site, and make the column width narrow—probably 60-characters at most. Use headlines, subheads, and other devices to break up material.

Some more Web site do’s and don’ts

Do understand your target audiences really well and orient every element to them. Try for simplicity. People like sites whose elements don’t fight each other for attention. Do build in multiple ways to find the same information, because different people search differently. On a clothing designer’s site, for example, one visitor might look at the menu at a page’s bottom to find scarves and another might check the product listing on the home page, or notice a linked reference on the designer’s “About me” page.

Do repeat information so each page is complete, remembering that users won’t read everything and won’t view pages in sequence. Do match your menu items to your pages. If your menu bar says “Business Technology Strategy” but the page that opens says “Financial Management,” rethink your menu or page labels.

Do build in ways to update your site, whether with news, new product information, articles, and so forth so that you can keep it fresh and keep your audience coming back. Do use the say-ability test: How does it sound when read aloud? Do humanize and build empathy whenever you can. Show real people using your products or services, for example. This applies particularly to nonprofits.

Do use visuals that serve a purpose and relate to the content, such as photographs, illustrations, or graphs. Do use graphic tools to direct the user’s eye—typography, color, icons, design. Do offer ways for viewers to get more information: a person and phone number to call, material to ask for, links to technical specs, or a working e-mail link to someone who’ll answer a question.

Do proofread obsessively. Millions of people may see your mistakes and laugh! Check that every link works, both those that direct viewers from one part of the site to another, and those that connect visitors to off-site resources. Check this periodically: People are annoyed when they’re referred to a page or an entire site that no longer exists.

Do end each page with a call to action. “Call for an estimate today,” with a phone number, for example—or with a lead-in to another page. For example, “If you like our earrings, check out matching necklaces,” and link to that.

And some don’ts: Don’t overload the senses. Visual and aural glitz, and meaningless motion, are distracting and slow a site down. Don’t write copy that is cute or clever; many people have no patience for it. Don’t use questionable humor—which is almost any humor to somebody. Don’t put a mission statement on the home page—or anywhere else if you can help it—many epitomize everything Web site writing should not be. Don’t put up a Web site and forget about it. Nothing is more off-putting than evidence that nothing’s been changed for three years.