Web Design Principles: Website Visibility
How to Drive Traffic to Your Website
The classic question “does a falling tree in the forest make a sound if no one is there to hear it?” has many different credible answers, depending on your philosophical point of view. In contrast, the question “does a website have any commercial value if no one is there to visit it?” has only one clear answer: no. Although there are many factors that contribute to a successful website, none of them matter if no one visits the site. It can therefore be said that visibility, or attracting people to visit your site, is an important web design principle to include in your website strategy. Below are four methods that have proven to be successful in achieving website visibility.
1) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search engines, especially Google, continue to drive the majority of traffic to websites. According to Search Engine Watch, over 70% of all web traffic is driven by organic search . It is therefore critical that SEO be integrated into your site’s infrastructure as well as its content to ensure that your site is visible as high up on the list of search engine result pages as possible. Responsive web design, fast loading times, good user experience (UX), contextual relevance, high quality engaging content, keyword research, and inbound links are some of the key elements your site will need to ensure best SEO results. Most of these tactics are important to incorporate during the build of your site and NOT as an afterthought.