Website Optimization 101: SEO, Layout, & More
When it comes to your website, it’s easy to rush it, throw something together, and hope for the best while you share it on forums hoping to land clients. Between HTML, website builders that might not be as user friendly as they advertise, and the struggle to get your images and layouts to load properly, it’s easy to get overwhelmed during setup. However, your website, whether you’re an interior designer or virtual design assistant, is a vital piece of the business success puzzle. So let’s give it the attention it deserves. A little website optimization 101 can go a long way.
Think of your website as your business hub. Social media is nice, but your website is what lends legitimacy to your business, provides vital information, introduces potential clients to you, and even allows you to have a shop, blog, and is the starting point for newsletter sales funnels.
Websites are very important.
But not if no one can find you… and that’s where optimization comes in.
Website Optimization
It sounds daunting, but that’s probably because everyone uses the term “optimization” but never really says what that means.
Essentially, optimization refers to Search Engine Optimization, as well as a smoothly running, well organized, plain language website. And believe it or not, you have control over most of those things.
The Beginners SEO Podcast is a great resource to learn more about website optimization!
Host
It all starts with the hosting platform. If you’re working through WordPress, you probably need a web host like BlueHost, HostWinds, HostGator, GreenGeeks, etc. They help run the background aspects of your WordPress website, and they are great for troubleshooting, updating, and offering domain services.
If you choose Wix or SquareSpace, then they are an all-in-one service so the hosting and the website and domain are all in one.
There is no wrong answer here, it just depends on your preferences, budget, and what you ultimately want to do with your website.
Tip: Compare what web platform to use by looking at blogging abilities, how a shop would work, and if they offer built-in SEO settings.
Layout
Once you’ve chosen your host and website platform, you can dive into some of the actual optimization aspects, such as the layout. For layout, you’re shooting for the smoothest, most enjoyable user experience (often called UX) possible. This is everything from the colors, fonts, and calls to action, to the menus, links, and amount of information.
Ask yourself: How easy is it to find information? Is it clear where clients can find services, prices, and contact information? Does the website load easily? Are there too many photos? Are there too many words? How easily can a potential client click into your sales funnel or get in touch? Of course you want to stay within your branding, but consider the readability of certain script fonts versus bold fonts, or lighter colors on a an already light background.
Despite the fact that the internet and websites have been around for a long time, humans remain fairly simple: they don’t want to be bogged down in hard-to-read fonts, too many bells and whistles, unnecessary information, or hard-to-find pages. They also don’t want to participate in a scavenger hunt for the information they most need.
Tip: Keep it simple. Make sure your fonts are easy to read, paragraphs are short, and services (and prices if you want) are easy to find. Use high-quality images and keep them to a minimum so your website loads quickly.
Additionally, most websites will automatically optimize your photos (make them smaller or compress them so they load easily), but if that is not something they automatically do, ensure your photos are optimized.
SEO
Now, Search Engine Optimization. A true mystery that we’ll try and solve just a little. The most basic aspect of SEO is keywords. And it’s usually as simple as ensuring your titles match your content, your pages are titled correctly, and your photos have alt descriptions.
The good news? All of this is usually possible and pretty easy to do whether you’re using WordPress, Wix, SquareSpace, or any other platform.
Keywords are any words that the average person would use to find your business when they are using a search engine. Think about how you use google to search for things.
On WordPress, you can use Yoest (I highly recommend), and Wix and SquareSpace have built-in SEO sections that can easily guide you. Choose keywords that the average person would use to find your business. Ahrefs is a good free keyword tool to use when starting out.
Tip: Remember to check your URLs. You can customize these on all platforms, so make sure that they aren’t generic, complicated, or under the name “test”.
A Note on Keywords
Keep it simple. As tempting as it is to be cute with your page titles, do your best to keep them simple. Call your services page Services, your shop page Shop, and your contact page Contact. Additionally, when you’re talking about your services, do the same.
Ensure that the descriptions and names of your packages and services match what you’re offering. For example: if you offer full-service interior design, make sure those exact words are used in your description.
In that same thought, make sure you’re only using one H1 heading text per page. For any subheadings, you can use H2, H3, or other heading options, but you’ll want to keep your main H1 heading for the most searchable friendly line on that page.
Additionally, you can vary the ways your keywords are used across your website. Incorporate reviews, start a blog, create a FAQ page, and make small headers for pages with the key services you offer/words related to what you do.
In the end, this is just an optimization 101 blog post, and not a comprehensive list of what you need to do to keep your website relevant to the search engine. However, these small things will set you up for a good headstart as you venture into the world of interior design or virtual assistance.
