Tips to Defining Your Company's Website Optimization Strategy

Website optimization is an Internet marketing strategy that goes beyond traditional practices of SEO (like on-site keyword optimization and off-site link building) for greater search engine exposure. Website optimization also focused on aspects of conversion rate optimization (CRO).

So in addition to SEO, your company's website optimization strategy needs to focus on creating an intuitive interface, providing optimal usability, and performing smoothly and efficiently - all in an effort to maximize the value and potential of visiting traffic.

In essence, developing a cohesive website optimization strategy for your company respects both SEO and CRO. However, every website optimization strategy is unique. Members of the company need to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the website, which will help to define the purpose and objectives behind the company's website optimization strategy.

Usability & User Interface

The user interface (or "UI") and usability of your company's website is the foundation for success. Optimizing both the UI and usability of the website lays the groundwork to ensure visitors have a meaningful (and hopefully memorable) experience on your website.

UI centers on the design and layout of the website. The color scheme, graphics, logo placements, images, and other design elements should be parallel to the company's brand. Additionally, these elements should also be aligned with other marketing materials and advertising campaigns, such as print media.

The usability of you company's website focuses on the navigational structure and overall experience users have while on your website. Usability emphasizes the logical and even psychological aspects of how users interact with a website. For this reason, usability testing is often an ongoing project in website optimization. Some of the most common test (also used for UI) includes multivariate testing, A/B split testing, and eye-tracking studies.

Optimized Conversion Funnels & CTA's

To make the most of your website's traffic, it's important to define certain conversion funnels along the with calls-to-action (CTA's) that help facilitate those funnels. For instance, if you have page on your website that's ranking well and receiving a lot of organic search traffic, you'll want to implement the CTA's and desired funnel in which you want users to take to convert.

This will often depend on the nature of what your company has to offer. If you're operating an ecommerce store, the "Add to Cart" button along with other incentivizing offers like discount codes, free shipping, and the price of the item all need to prominent on the product page. However, if you're offering consulting services, you'll need to prove your company's value with exceptional copywriting and insightful content like case studies, articles, and white papers.

Website Performance

An often overlooked aspect of website optimization is the speed in which pages load on the website. Slow loading pages can result in poor usability and high bounce rates. As a result, a website could be losing potential conversions because of its choppy rendering.

Slow website load speed typically stems from cumbersome HTML coding structures and robust media files. For instance, huge image and video files, robust nestled tables, and Flash media (which is also bad for SEO and website crawlability,) can lead to choppy rendering. An HTML web developer, technical SEO and website optimization company are all sources that can pinpoint these issues and help offer solutions to overcome them.