How important is an optimised website? Heraghty claims that that some 80 percent of SME websites receive fewer than 50 visitors a day. "Without too much work, it is possible to get that number up in the tens of thousands," he says. What's more, these "tens of thousands" of visitors won't be users who have accidentally stumbled across the newly optimised site; these will be individuals who have actively sought that website -- in other words, potential customers.
"If you sell a niche product, it is especially important that your site can be found by search engines...search engines are often the first place many people go when looking for any product or business," Heraghty says, adding that most web searchers don't bother to click on paid-for search results, instead opting to click on links from "natural" searches.
Heraghty's guide, which is available online as an e-book, is aimed at all businesses, although medium-sized firms seeking customers in new markets may gain the most from reading it. The publication is not exclusively aimed at website design experts or web authors, although some familiarity with search engines and HTML is helpful. Additionally, businesses who outsource design will find the book useful for "asking the right questions" of website development partners, its author claims.
Where to start
The first step, says Heraghty, is to re-consider the nature of your business' website, turning away from so-called "brochureware," a term that describes online versions of printed marketing material. "A website is not a brochure or an advertisement...it's an entirely new medium and must be treated that way." This means that site owners must put content on their site that will answer customer questions, including information that managers and sales staff wouldn't normally give out at a first meeting or put in traditional marketing material. The key to good content is to ask yourself, "What questions do customers want answered?" Heraghty advises.
Sticking to this philosophy will mean that even if a site is not highly ranked in searches, it will still be a useful tool to point customers toward. "One thing people don't realise is that a bad website will not only reflect poorly on the company, it could actually cause you to lose sales," Heraghty says.
Once a sound design is in place, including clear links to all pages, search engines will have an easier time sending their automated "bots" and "crawlers" out to catalogue the cyber-property. The next step is content, and lots of it, using pertinent keywords, terms and phrases. Finally, website operators must make an effort to put in place as many links as possible, to and from other sites, especially if traffic from top search engine Google is sought.
These tips represent the most rudimentary aspects of website optimisation, a process that can be as simple or as complicated as a company pleases. "The more you put into a site, the more you will get out of it," Heraghty says, adding that website development and optimisation is an ongoing process.
Interestingly, Heraghty heeds his own advice and has made his book a work in progress, updating it every six weeks as search engines develop new tools and methods for weeding out "search engine spam," or search results that have no bearing on the searched-for term. Such sites often include pages loaded with irrelevant keywords -- or other devious ploys -- designed only to lure visitors. Avoid these tactics at all costs, Heraghty says, as well as web design and search consultants who "guarantee" results.
"In the end, it is building a good site and putting the right amount of work into that site that will bring visitors," he says. That, and a little bit of knowledge about how searches work, can make the difference between customers and irrelevance.
Website Findability: How to Get Traffic from Google and Other Search Engines can be purchased for download at http://www.heraghty.net/website-findability-book.html