Design Matters
By Shari Thurow
Many search engine marketers don't understand how important design
and information architecture are to search engine marketing (SEM).
They may remember to throw in a link here, add some keywords there,
mix it up, and (as Emeril Lagasse would say) -- BAM! A fully optimized
page that ranks a top 10 position in every search engine.
Effective search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns require effective
site design. Keywords are useless if search engines and site visitors
don't have easy access to them.
What's an Effective Web Site?
An effective Web site is user friendly, search friendly, and persuasive
enough to convert. In other words, search friendliness is an essential
component of site design. Usability experts such as Jared Spool,
Jakob Nielsen, and Steve Krug stress the importance of creating
clear categories and navigation hierarchies. Spool coined the term
"trigger words." The definition is very similar to the
common SEM term, "keywords."
Site visitors should be able to browse your site and easily find
what they're searching for. In an ideal situation, visitors would
go directly to the page that contains the information they need.
However, since no two people think alike, Web developers and usability
professionals constantly test and determine better designs, HTML
code, and programming to make delivering needed information as easy
as possible.
Optimization is not only a marketing process. It's also a design
and usability process.
SEM USPs
To differentiate themselves, search engine marketers present their
own unique selling propositions (USPs) to close a sale. One of my
esteemed colleagues publishes an online newsletter about search
engine friendly copywriting. Her company feels the core of a SEO
campaign is copy. The company's USP is writing keyword-rich copy
that sells.
It's a great USP. Many copywriters don't know how to write keyword-rich
copy that converts.
Another SEM company has this interesting sales pitch:
As SEO is a specialty-marketing tool, you'll want to be sure that
you hire a company whose only business is SEO. Relying on a company
who specializes in a variety of services will only detract from
the services that you want most.
This company's USP is it specializes in optimization only (though
after reading its entire site, it appears it specializes in all
types of SEM).
This USP is good, too. Many Web hosting companies offer SEO services.
A company I use for hosting publishes a regular newsletter on the
topic. I cringe every time I read it. Many hosting companies have
discovered SEM is a hot topic. They want to cash in and offer it
as a new service.
Here's the flip side. At the last Search Engine Strategies conference,
in the session entitled "Search Engine Marketing & Advertising
Agencies," one of my colleagues pointed out ad agencies have
issues with search engine marketers. One pet peeve is search engine
marketers make pages or sites ugly.
Maybe slapping a keyword here and throwing a link there can make
a page search friendly. But it can ruin a site's design, information
architecture, and branding.
At the conference, a few of my colleagues approached my company's
CEO asking, "Are you still really doing site design?"
The answer is a resounding yes. Guess what? Design matters.
I'll repeat that: Design matters.
Design and SEO
Building an effective Web site requires a team. Copywriters and
content managers can write persuasive, keyword-rich copy that converts.
If search engines and site visitors don't have easy access to that
copy, the pages won't appear at the top of search results.
Some site designs can be fixed by simply adding text-link navigation
and a site map. Other design solutions aren't so simple.
Many CMSs and shopping cart software pass too many parameters in
the query string, resulting in a URL structure that makes search
engine indexing problematic. Only a programmer or developer experienced
in a variety of Web programming languages can analyze a site and
fix the problem.
Sites must also generate or help generate revenue. To do so, the
site must be persuasive. Both copy and graphic images can make content
more persuasive. Likewise, an appropriate color scheme and layout
can make a site more persuasive.
As stated above, ad agencies don't like when search engine marketers
make sites ugly. Unfortunately, many ad agencies deal with SEM firms
with mostly programmers and other tech people for staff. Many programmers
lack design, branding, and marketing skills.
In contrast, many copywriters and marketers lack technical skills.
Sure, finding a person (or company) with technical, artistic, design,
and marketing skills isn't easy. But those are the skills needed
for an effective SEO campaign.
Conclusion
Am I saying the most important SEM component is site design? Of
course not. Copywriting is equally important, as is information
architecture. But written content must be presented in a user-friendly,
search-friendly, persuasive manner.
How's that accomplished? Simply put, site design. Design matters.
Source: http://www.clickz.com/experts/search/results/article.php/3331381
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