Before delving into SEO optimizations, those that aim to improve the organic ranking of a site, it is worth defining some essentials to optimize a website. SEO, a profession in itself, deserves at least one book to cover the basics. These elements are intended to contribute to brand image and walk an audience through the customer journey.
Five essential elements to optimize a website
What you’re trying to avoid, if you run a painting business and your site has a nice photo of a building, is to be mistaken for a real estate agency. In this case, it’s better to show a painter saying "we are painting any type of surface". If you sell photo tutorials, rather than talking about "aperture" and "depth of field", it'll be more efficient to tell your customers will be able to make photos with a sharp foreground and a blurry background after your training. This contributes to the relevance of your storytelling.
Position yourself as the customer and clarify your message. Write for the client first, then for search engines. To do this, best hire a professional who can define the narrative of your brand story with you. Storytelling is reflected through your site, blog posts and social media content.
1. Highlight your offer
The tagline is present at the top of your site, on desktop and mobile. It can be highlighted by an image or an animation, above the waterline. The first impression should be customer-centric. The question the top must answer is: what is the site or the company going to do for the customer? The upper part should meet one of the following objectives:
Offer an inspirational model
Solve a problem
Specify what you are doing
2. Encourage action
What do you ask the user of your site? A call-to-action (CTA) usually takes the form of a button and since the user is reading your site in Z, it should be placed at the top right and in the centre of the page, above the waterline. A CTA can be repeated, there can be several different ones. A distinction is made between direct incentives such as order or book an appointment and intermediate incentives such as follow us, subscribe to our newsletter, etc.
3. Illustrate your client’s accomplishment, happiness and success
After all, the hero of your brand story is your customer. How does he feel after ordering your products or services? Better to show a picture of a happy couple wearing shoes rather than a pack shot image of the same shoe. The easiest way to do this is by introducing delighted customers. With this in mind, customer testimonials can be helpful.
4. Structure your offer
If you have several key activities, the preliminary exercise defines a value proposition that groups these activities together and then define a value proposition, a story, specific to each activity. Each activity deserves to be highlighted. The key is to bring clarity.
5. Limit the amount of text
Most of the internet users do not read, just as customers in a store tend not to read signage, therefore reduced to their simplest form. Try to limit the text to the essentials, keeping paragraphs short. If you want to provide more information, consider including a read more link or button, that will lead to a complete page. The fewer words you use, the more likely you are to get them read.