A very common question asked by internet neophytes and veterans alike is “how often should I update my website?”. Well, that question is kind of loaded. What do you mean? Are you talking content or are you talking design?

Even though I am a website designer, I know that when it comes to being successful, content is king. A good design is also necessary but when it comes to recurring traffic, it comes from the content. So how often should the content be updated? Well, the simplest answer is as often as possible. However often you are looking to have people return to your site is how often you should be updating it. Think about it like a periodical. If you want daily traffic, think newspaper (although you don’t have to update quite that much content, you get the idea) or if you want people to return weekly or monthly you can think Magazine. Either way, you need to offer something new to your visitors to keep them coming back. One of the simplest ways to do this is by starting a blog (like this one 🙂 )  where you are able to offer potential clients information that is useful to them. And the best advice I have heard related to blogging is that you should add at least one post a week for no other reason than to keep the search engines coming back for more.

Updating the design of your site is still necessary but does not have to be done nearly as often.  The best way to do it if you already have a solid design is in small tweaks and changes over time so it slowly changes and has more of the continual updating that works so well with content but is not as shocking to the system as a full re-design. Complete overhauls should be done at most annually and more likely every other year to keep from seeming unstable. Constant re-designs of a site is roughly akin to changing your logo constantly and have a tendency to make your business seem unstable. When it comes to a complete overhaul you just need to make sure that the new deign is fully thought through and when it comes time for the new site to launch you can get a lot of PR mileage out of layout, navigation and functional changes that can help drive new traffic as well as bringing back visitors that may have been lost over time.

No matter what type of site you run, the more often you content is updated (assuming that content is valuable), the more likely you are to see repeat visitors to your site and the more likely those people will tell others with similar interests about your site. This type of viral behavior is essential to many business sites and can be the difference between flat and increased sales. So just remember content, content, content, deign (had to throw that in there), and more content. Publish well and often you will be enhancing the success of your online endeavors.

Essentially there are two types of web sites, Static and Dynamic. There are pluses and minuses to both, what you choose simply depends on what you are looking to do, how much time you have to devote to your site and your skill level.

A static site is one that is coded in plain HTML (or Flash for you crazy people out there) and requires a general knowledge of HTML (or at very least a good WYSIWYG editor) for maintenance. The majority of sites out there fall into this category.  Some of these are professionally designed and maintained by the design company, some are professionally designed and maintained by the site owner and some are completely designed and maintained by the site owner.Unfortunately with most of the sites that fall into this third category,  the site users can probably tell because the site does not offer the best experience. This is not always the case, in fact I have run across a number of  sites developed this way that are just fine but not everyone has the time to work out the many design issues that plague some sites.

The primary advantage to this type of site can be cost and accessibility. The obvious disadvantage to this type of site is that the site owner needs to have a decent knowledge of HTML (even if they use a WYSIWYG editor) to ensure that you are able to avoid some issues either that or the site owner needs to employ someone with the appropriate knowledge (as a contractor or FTE) to get the job done.

A Dynamic site is one that has the content served up from a database as each page is requested. Most online stores and your more interactive sites out there fall into this category. Dynamic sites are usually programed in some form of ASP or PHP (although there is cold fusion, JSP and other XML based systems in regular use as well). These sites use some kind of database, like MySQL and MS SQL (even MS Access is used for some smaller sites), to house the site information.

Like with static sites, there are advantages and disadvantages to Dynamic sites as well. The biggest advantages are scalability and easy ongoing content management without the need for a third party. The biggest disadvantages can be the up-front cost can be somewhat higher than that of a static site and historically there have been more SEO issues with some dynamic sites. The cost disadvantage is mitigated by the fact that dynamic sites offer a return on that investment over time by not having the need to pay someone on an ongoing basis to make content updates and changes. In general, dynamic sites can be especially advantages for online stores, newsletters and sites with content that changes frequently.

A good balance between these two can be found with WordPress. Although it technically falls into the  dynamic category it can come without the high cost of development (but keep in mind that a good custom theme can get pricey in the same way any site design can depending on what you want) and with options to help expand overall functionality and minimize if not eliminate any SEO related issues that dynamic sites have had in the past.

The bottom line is that you need to think your site all the way through from the beginning. No matter what kind of business you are in, you just need to be sure to fully consider exactly what you want out of your site so you can determine the best way to go before you start the process.

WordPress is a blogging platform that has been around since 2003 but has really seen an explosion of use recently. A lot of the explosion is due to the proliferation of blogs that have popped up over the last few years but that is not all of it. WordPress was originally developed for blogging but it has evolved into much more over the years and is now what I would consider to be a full fledged CMS or Content Management System.

So you can use it to manage your blog, big deal!

Well, it is a Big Deal because it is not JUST for blogging anymore. Don’t get me wrong, WordPress is one of the easiest and best bloging platforms out there but its real power lies behind the scenes. WordPress allows you to create static pages, upload and manage media (graphic, audio and video files) and is one of the most extensible systems I have ever seen with thousands of free Plug-ins to help it do pretty much anything you want from enhancing your SEO to having an online sotre.

So what do I care? Why is WordPress so special?

It has a lot going for it here are three solid reasons to use it:

1. WordPress is Free to install (even to host if you don’t mind having a wordpress.com domain on your site) and easy to implement as an add-on application through many Web Hosting Control Panels.
2. WordPress is supported by a huge community of Open Source developers that are constantly adding and improving the already impressive and modular system.
3. WordPress is focussed on usability and user testing (something that is not often found in an open source application)

The most recent explosion of use is not by bloggers (although they may have a blog on their site as well) but by businesses looking for an inexpensive way to get the most out of their website. And you really can’t beat WordPress for that. There are hundreds of Free “Themes” that allow you to essentially Skin your installation of Wrodpress any way you want. And if you are looking for something more customized to your business, WordPress can handle that too. Many web developers can develop a WordPress theme as easily as coding any other type of website but the beauty of WordPress is that once the design is done and set, you don’t have to depend on a third party to update your site, you just dive right into the password protected admin area of your site and update pages as easily as using a word processor. No coding knowledge required.

More and more WordPress is becoming the most economical way to either join the internet age or to enhance the online properties you already have and no matter what it is you are doing on the web, WordPress is a great place to start.

The ability for users to find their way around a website quickly and easily is one of the most important elements of any website design. If a user cannot find what they are looking for, they leave. It is as simple as that.

So what can you do to avoid bad navigation choices?

I harken back to my days in the Boy Scouts when I heard an acronym that has served me well ever since. The acronym I am talking about is K.I.S.S. or Keep It Simple Stupid. People visiting your site should not require an advanced degree in computer science in order to figure out how to find the information they need. The easier you make it for people to find what they want, the more useful your site will become. And the easier it is to use (assuming you have what people want) the more likely you are to make the sale.

OK, then what are the keys to good website navigation?

When considering navigation for your website there are three keys that I recommend: Placement, Depth and Consistency.

Placement – Where to put the menu
The first thing to consider when designing a website is menu placement. The most common place to find primary menu navigation on a website is at the top of the page because it is the first place the majority of users will look to figure out where they want to go. The left side was the old stand by for years and with the proliferation of blogs and sites built using WordPress there are a good many out there that still use the left (and the right for that matter) but I still feel that the strongest position for primary navigation in most design structures is still the top. And while you are putting your menu there, another good practice is make the logo of your site a link back to the home page. Even if there is a Home link in the menu, 80% of people will still try clicking the logo as a means to navigate home.

Depth – How many licks it should take for people to find what they want
The biggest trick to successful navigation is to make the menuing as shallow as possible. The fewer number of clicks to get to the information people need, the better. As a rule, the more clicks it takes a person to get where they want to go, the less likely they are to arrive there on your site. Many times people just get frustrated and move on to the next site. The sweet spot is to have any available information on your site no more that two levels deep. This means no more than two clicks to find any page on your site. I can’t tell you the number of sites that I (as an experienced web developer) have gotten lost in because they were just too deep. Three levels would be a maximum but I have run into sites that can take you four, five and six levels deep all the while changing the navigation as you go so once you get where you are going, you have absolutely no idea how you got there let alone how to get back.

Some sites rely on breadcrumbs, those little tags at the top of a page that try to show you exactly where you are on the site (for example you might see something like Home > About Us > Mission to indicate you are on the mission page in the about us section), and in general these work well, but only if the primary navigation is consolidated in such a way that it is very easy to get to where you want to go without having to click the back button twenty times.

Consistency – Keeping it together
The goal with any navigational menu should be to make it as simple as possible for users to get where they want to go. A great way to do this is to consolidate your main menu and sub-menu items together so that no matter where a person is on your site, they can easily figure out where there are because when they know where they are, they are more likely to be able to figure out where they are going. Above all, once they are consolidated, leave them alone! If you change the menu items every time someone clicks, you run the risk of a bad experience that can drive users to your competitors.

The bottom line for any website is that you want your content to be read so don’t hide it.

For most business owners, designing a website can be a very daunting task because your website is a representation of your business in the global marketplace. In the beginning, everything from the initial concept outline to the completed design is considered very carefully, but many times during the process of building and finalizing the site, the scope of the site changes. These changes can occur for a variety of different reasons: a new product has been added, something has changed in the marketplace, new players are added to the game and the list goes on and on.

So how do you know when it is ready?

The simple answer is that it will never be 100% ready. A website is an interactive medium meant to inform and engage your audience. The site content (text, graphics, animations, downloads, all of it) should be changing regularly to keep it fresh and evolving as your business and/or the medium (the internet) changes.

Don’t be a creep (or a victim of one)!

The idea of declaring a site as perfect then putting it up and walking away is just silly. Don’t allow your web project to get stymied in the mire of scope creep. Stick to your original concept and see it through to the end all the while taking notes on all of the great new ways you can enhance your customer experience going forward. Just don’t let those new ideas distract you from your goal (and this goes for site redesigns as well). Once the original vision of your site is complete, reviewed, tested, etc, step up and join the ranks of the the millions of other sites that make up the world wide web and begin the task of differentiating yourself from the pack.

Only after you have established your online presence should you go back to your list of brilliant ideas that came up during the building process and begin to integrate them into your ongoing website plans. Pick out the jewels and make sure they are polished before they are set. Doing things this way will not only allow you establish yourself online faster, it will help you keep your site fresh so customers will return over and over again.

Remember, if you keep waiting for your site to be absolutely perfect before launching it to the masses, it will NEVER never find its way to your waiting global audience.

When you start looking into internet marketing, you start to hear a lot about three little letters…S.E.O. but what do they mean? SEO or Search engine optimization is the process of enhancing website traffic (volume or quality) from search engines through organic (also known as “natural” or un-paid) results.

That’s great, but it sounds complicated, so what can I do about it?

Well, surprisingly enough there is quite a bit you can do to give your site a leg up without spending a ton of money. Now don’t get me wrong, there is a place for the big SEO companies out there. But when you first go online or even if you are just small and want to give your site a boost, there are several things you can do for free to enhance your sites traffic.

First things first, before you even consider starting your SEO, you need to understand your company and your customers. Creating an analog for your ideal customers can help a great deal. Sex, age, geography and socio-economic status are a good place to start. Once you have the basics, it is time to get inside their heads because when you do, you will begin to see your business the way they do and that will help you better communicate and anticipate what they want.

Now that you know yourself and have a better idea of your customers, you are ready to make use of your new found knowledge.

The best way to prepare your site for SEO is to build your pages with keyword density in mind. Even if you plan to hire an SEO company to bring you to the top of the heap, this is where they will start to get the ball rolling so why not beat them to the punch and make them work for the money you plan to spend. Keyword density is a way focusing the content on your site toward using the search terms you know your ideal customers will use when searching for a product or service like yours.

Lets start with your Meta Description and Meta Keywords. These two items are the basis for most everything else you will do. The meta description is a very succinct statement describing your business while the meta key words are a list of the search terms and phrases that you feel will get the most play with your customer base. Meta keywords are widely considered to be useless anymore but entering them here is a good way for you to get everything straight as you develop your content.

Meta descriptions should be no longer than 156 characters including spaces while keywords should be limited to 256 characters including spaces. Google crops anything beyond these amounts so refine your keywords and descriptions accordingly.

Next we will move on to the page title. Make it meaningful to the content on the page and be sure to use the specific search terms or keyword phrases that customers are likely to use related to the information being presented.

From here it gets a bit easier. All you need to do now is write the content for your page keeping your keywords in mind as you do it and making sure that you use keyword rich file naming an descriptions in your included page images.

There are a variety of other things you can do on your own to help the search engines help your business including creating a site map and some simple PR strategies to help increase external links to your site, but I will cove those another time.