When faced with the challenge of developing a new website it is tempting to get the new website’s development and design done and think about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) later.  By taking SEO in consideration during the initial stages of the development process you can save yourself a lot of time (and money).

The planning process is one of the most important stages in website development.  Pre-determine what type of pages you want on the website and what goals you would like to achieve through each web page.  Once that is done, create a keyword strategy for the website.  After finalising the keyword strategy, allocate keywords to each page before writing the content.  That being said, don’t force keywords into the copy.  Write for your human visitors first and once you are done, go back to see where relevant keywords can be inserted without breaking the flow of the copy.  Remember to include clear calls-to-action in your copy to ensure your visitors know what you want them to do next.

Your website’s structure plays an important role in usability.  By including a site map you will not only help human users to easily find what they are looking for but it will also indicate to search engines how they should index your website.  As a marketing tool a website should show return on investment hence the goal is to ensure that the website has a high conversion rate.  By measuring how visitors interact and engage with the website one can achieve the best possible conversion rate through continuous testing and tweaking.