A
basic website consists of:
• a page header-which states the purpose of the site as quickly as
possible through text and images
• navigation-links to other sections of your site-typically on the
top, left, right, or all 3-should be easy to read and understand. Text
navigation is preferable for better SEO.
• the body of the website-the place where all of your information and
images go. Placement is key in the body of your website. Important
items should go "above the fold" (the area viewable before any scrolling is
done).
• contact information-always make yourself easily accessible to your
visitors. This is a key component for promoting security.
• copyright-you should always include a copyright statement on your
website to protect your content legally.
If you plan to sell products from your site, then you'll need an
eCommerce
solution. Typically, this means a
shopping cart script, as well as some
type of Merchant account and payment gateway.
Merchant Account: A "bank
account" established with a payment processor for the settlement of credit card
transactions. Any merchant who wants to take credit card orders must establish a
merchant account. Internet merchants need a "Card Not Present Merchant Account."
Internet Merchants also need a payment gateway to process payments online.
Payment Gateway: A payment gateway is a service provided by a billing
processor, which allows credit card information to be collected and passed over
the internet. A payment gateway can be thought of as a digital equivalent to a
credit card processing terminal.
Search Engine Optimization, also known as SEO, is the process of
increasing the amount of visitors to a website by ranking high in the search
results of a search engine. The higher a website ranks in the results of a
search, the greater the chance that that site will be visited by a user. It is
common practice for Internet users to not click through pages and pages of
search results, so where a site ranks in a search is essential for directing
more traffic toward the site. SEO helps to ensure that a site is accessible to a
search engine and improves the chances that the site will be found by the search
engine.
Optimizing your site includes writing keyword rich content for every page
of your website. Experts say each page of your site should include 250 words of
content to be effective.
At a minimum each page within your website design
should include a title tag, keyword tags, a description tag, and optimized
content to go with those elements.
For more information on optimizing your website
content visit our
Marketing section.
