Levels of Web Page Optimisation

Every webpage should and must have an objective. It may be to introduce the visitor to the services you are offering to him to solve his problem. It may be to optimise his website to get traffic or to defend his online reputation or to increase his brand awareness. Whatever it was that brought the visitor to your website you must satisfy that desire.

Levels of Web Page Optimisation

Your webpage is about presenting your first impression. Research tells us you have seven second to capture the visitor’s attention: the first seven seconds of a visitor landing on your page are critical and must answer the visitor questions. Webmasters should optimise webpages of a website for thought sequences of the visitor to gain better results. The content should answer these three fundamental questions:

• Where am I?
• What can I do here?
• What do I do next?

 Also very page of the website should seek to answer this question:
If I am your ideal customer why should I buy from you and not your competitor?
The forth fundamental to design website pages is this:

• State a value proposition that solves propects problems
• State a clear call to action
• Encourage the prospect to navigate where you want him to go

The fifth and final fundamental to design website pages is design elements of eye path:

• size
• motion
• colour
• position
• shape
• paths of familiarity
• attraction
• relevance
• acceptance
• motivation

Types of Webpages

There are three types of web pages: home pages, inner website pages and landing pages. The goal of a home page is not to get the visitor to it but to get the visitor through it on a desired path to reach a desired goal. Inner website pages are usually an extension of the home page and compliment it to reach a desired goal: buy product, get an email address or subscribe to a newsletter.  Landing pages are usually an extention of pay per click campaigns and are specific to one product or services and to obtain a positive follow up or objectove
The goal of all web pages is to achieve the highest conversion rate possible. Achievements of the perfect website are constrained:

1.  by the broader initiatives of the organisation; 
2.  by your organizational capabilities; 
3.  by your overarching strategy.

 A useful model to apply when optimising web pages is depicted in this image Courtesy of Bruce Clay:

Seven Levela of Optimisation

 1. Element optimization. The most important elements on the search engine results page are the title and description. These are seen first by the searcher and entice him/her to click on your website. So these elements must conOther elements are image alt tags, bold important words and relevant content.
2. Page Optimisation. This is of course the most important element to consider. Creating unique content will enhance the visitor’s experience and favour search engines. This section considers design and layout of the page. On home pages there are competing actions for the products but you should consider promoting one principle product, service or actions which will be tied to the maximum profit generating factor. All other considerations are major but not the principle. Headings and sub headings become vitally important to encourage the visitor to stay on the page and read the compelling content you’ve written. Inner pages and landing pages are similar in design as their objective is singular to get the visitor to perform an action.
3. Path optimization. A page is merely a single step along a path It may start from the home page, or an email. Optimizing the path is more to do with matching the message and expectation of the visitor than anything else. Optimising at this level lets you leap ahead of competitors.
4. Segment Optimisation. Optimising for market segments is the domain of the landing page. Recent statistics released by Google show that 40% of keywords are unique. To construct a home page or an inner page that caters for multiple keywords or keyword phrases is a challenge that’s not always successful. Different respondents arrive with different needs and varying frames of reference. At this level up, you start optimizing different paths to cater to those different audiences. With this optimization, you can reveal tremendous insights about who your customers are andhow they view themselves and their interest in your company. These discoveries not only improve your conversion rate for specific paths — they can help optimize our segmentation strategy at a higher level too. Creating landing pages for specifi market needs will bring you greater conversions.
5. Campaign Optimisation. In 2012 there is a more fluid marketing environment; there are still different initiatives in the field that connect certain messages, offers, audiences, and tactics with common threads. At the campaign level, web page optimisation is matching the pages and paths with the right messages of the campaign, and using the front-line results to inform and improve overall campaign effectiveness. It requires coordination and continuity.
6. Operations Optimisation. Maximizing the efficiency of your overall landing page capabilities is the key here. The personal skills required in operations of web page optimisation are design, production and construction. Increasing the reaction speed of changes to web page alteration can dramatically increase conversions. Monitoring social media chatter may reveal shifts in demand that if acted upon swiftly will increase conversions.
7. Strategy optimization. At the very top of the pyramid, the focus is on optimising marketing strategy. At this level of web page optimisation there are directions that must be considered and are namely: which strategic segments do we follow and which segmented market has the largest growth.

To learn about what Vincent Sandford of SEO Synovation can do for your business email him or visit his website on web marketing.