I am firmly committed to encouraging and assisting
companies and organizations to get on the web and to do
so successfully. Despite the dot.bomb debacle, the
Internet remains the most significant mega-trend of our
age and its
usage continues to grow and spread at an amazing rate.

Notwithstanding its growth, and the growth of new skills
around it, I continue to be amazed at the daily sight of
web sites that have not only been designed backwards,
but not even been properly finished. Many such sites
have been
designed by big design and consulting companies
charging mega-bucks for their services.

If you want a web site that builds your brand, creates
leads or sells your products, services or ideas, the first
thing you need to ensure is that you have thousands,
preferably tens or hundreds of thousands of visitors
flocking to your web site each month.

Unless you have a large budget to market the URL of
your web site, your visitor traffic is going the depend
heavily on your search engine listings. Whether or not
your web site appears in
the Top 10 results offered by search engines to
visitors searching for the kind of product,
service or information you offer, is a critical
issue.

Even with a big advertising budget, the majority
of visitors to your web site are going to come via
the search engines.

> Search engines - one thing in common

Search engines vary in the algorithms (formula)
they use to determine the relevance of web
sites. But they all have one thing in common -
their search results are based on the
'keywords' and 'keyword phrases' that
searchers type into their search boxes.

Despite the vital significance of keywords in
attracting visitors to a web site, most designers
and their clients insist on choosing keywords as
the last stage of the design process! Effectively,
they sort out the 'look and feel' of the site, insert
the text and then check their text for keywords. If
they remember to do so at all.

The bottom line is that, in terms of effectivness,
they are designing web sites backwards!

To achieve high search engine rankings, by far
the most effective web design process involves
very carefully choosing the keywords and
keyword phrases first, and then designing the
look and content of the web site around the
selected keywords. Keywords and phrases
must be selected for every page of the site, not
just for the index or home page.

Why design forwards? Because search engines
judge and rank your site on the basis of
keywords and keyword phrases. Choose the
right keywords and use them right, and you will
get high search engine listings and high visitor
traffic. Without high visitor traffic your web site is
bound to fail.

> Choosing the 'right' keywords

What are 'right' keywords? Obviously they are
specific to each site and each page. To be able
to select the right keywords for your web design
you need to get yourself deep into the brains of
typical members of your target market.

What words or phrases would Mr, Mrs, or Ms
Searcher use in trying to find a web site offering
your products, services, information or ideas?

> Anny's Hideaway

Imagine you own a guest house called Anny's
Hideaway. Would your would-be guests be
searching for Anny? If they were, they probably
would not be looking for what you have to
offer! Would they be searching for Anny's
Hideaway? Not unless they had heard of your
establishment and had remembered how to
spell your name!

Words and phrases like guest house, accommodation,
bed and breakfast, country lodge, and words that
describe your location, or what you have to offer (fishing,
tennis, bowls, yachting, gourmet meals, great wines,
fireside
chats?) are more likely to connect you to your target
market.

Even when you have selected your list of keywords your
work is not done. You still need to check your choices. Is
there a high demand for your selected keywords
(frequently searched for)? And what about the supply
(how many pages do search engines have to satisfy the
demand)?

The best keywords and phrases are those with high
demand and low supply. They can be found for any site.
But it takes time, effort and skill. And it cannot be done
last – after the design is complete and text written. By
then it is too late!



About the Author
Peter Mansfield is the founder of
CyberFace Designs
mailto:peterman@iafrica.com
http://www.web-site-design.co.za