There are three main factors that determine the success of your Web site:

  • Effective site optimization;
  • Site popularity; and
  • Great content.

Site optimization is the process of placing your keywords in the right places and making sure your Web site is accessible to search engine spiders so that they can find you and index your content more easily.

Site popularity can be achieved by online and offline marketing (mainly good PR) and the number of people who link back to you. This is often confused with page rank, but page rank is only one factor in determining your site’s popularity.

The best long-term solution for high search engine ranking, and the factor that is easiest to tweak, is to create first-rate content. You don’t have to be a Pulitzer Prize winner to do it. You just need to focus on addressing the needs of your customers, and by doing that effectively you will also attract search engine spiders in droves.

Many search engine marketers would have you believe that the best way to get high search engine rankings is to stuff your pages full of keywords and use tiny text at the bottom of the page to create great spider fodder. They don’t focus on the usability of the page or think about how users want to view your copy.

This may be a good short-term strategy, and may get you good rankings, but in the long term that’s not a good idea. Spiders are getting smarter. They know when you are trying to spam them. From your customers’ perspective this also does a lot to minimize the credibility of your Web site.

We have all been to sites where the copy was poorly written and grammatically incorrect. It looks sloppy and leaves customers questioning the wisdom of giving you their credit card numbers. It doesn’t matter how many clicks you get or what your rankings are if you can’t convert a visitor to a buyer. First-rate copy serves all of your audiences – spiders and customers alike.

As far as high quality content goes, remember that it should offer significant value to your customers and other sites. Why other sites? Because they’ll link to your site. Good content should also be unique and be updated regularly, so that people will come back to your site often to see what’s new.

Structuring Your Content

When thinking of how to structure your page to make it usable for both spiders and customers, a good rule of thumb is to start to think like a newspaper publisher. The same rules apply when determining what your Web site copy should look like. The newspaper editor focuses on the way readers like to view content. The editor knows that users typically scan the headlines first and then, when something piques their interest, they zero in on the content they want to read.

If you structure your pages the same way, it will increase the usability of your site and also make it more spider friendly. Make good use of headline sizes to clearly identify to your readers what is the most important copy on your pages. Direct them to where you want them to go by allowing them to see at a glance which items are the most important. Include your keywords in your headings to reinforce the focus of the page for both users and spiders.

The same rules apply whether you are building landing pages to submit to paid search engines or for organic traffic. Users and spiders want clear, grammatically correct copy that helps them to find the value in your pages fast. You only have about 13 seconds to catch your users’ attention, so every page on your site should focus on one message, and include a clear call to action. It’s really just following the basics of direct response marketing and applying that to your Web site.

Once you have created great headlines, pick one topic per page and write decent articles that appeal to your users. More pages equal more spider food and more specific landing pages where you can send users for one-click information. What works for one Web site in terms of content may not work for another, so you’ll have to keep testing until you see what mix of copy makes users want to stay on your site, return again and convert to a sale.

Here are some examples to help you start thinking about what valuable content might look like:

  • CD retailer: Provide reviews of new releases and bands;
  • Accounting: Offer regular updates about legal changes that affect your clients;
  • IT trainer: Show IT folks how to train their internal clients, or offer some free online training or white papers;
  • Gardener: Show beautiful gardens from around the world, and offer tips on gardening;
  • Travel agent: Offer reviews of hotels, restaurants and attractions on different areas.

As you may have realized by now, creating and updating your content is a lot of work. It’s also hard to stay motivated if you don’t see immediate gains. It takes a very long time for word to spread about your Web site. Just as with paid placement, you have to test creative frequently. With paid placement you can see results immediately whereas with this, you need to wait a long time to get feedback. You need to hang in there and over time you will see that it really does pay off.

Another relatively pain-free way to offer frequently updated content is to create a blog. There are many great inexpensive blogging tools out there that will integrate well with your Web site and allow you to update your content on the fly. Savvy search engine marketers are rushing to add them to their sites. But be sure the quality of your blog is high. Blogs are easy to set up and are proving to be very spider friendly. After all, what the search engine wants to see is just what your users want: frequently updated, quality, relevant content. Nobody wants to read yesterday’s news, least of all search engine spiders. Increasing conversion is what it’s all about, and that’s what makes a successful Web site.

MARY O’BRIEN is a partner at Traffic- Mentor Inc. She has worked in Internet marketing for five years and was formerly senior director of sales at Overture.com.