Updates for the week ending July 15, 2022
This week I added a couple new processes to help ensure your next website is setting you up for SEO success.
I get really disappointed with web designers and developers who promise to give you an “SEOed” website. You can’t just build a website and consider your SEO done. SEO (done right) is a process that takes time and continual effort.
That being said, a good designer or developer can help you expedite your SEO campaign with a well-built website. This helps your SEO efforts by setting you up for success. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had to start an SEO campaign by going backwards and “fixing” websites that weren’t built in light of SEO best practices.
To ensure your next website is setup for success, I’ve added two new processes to Curious Ants:
- Website design best practices checklist
- Website launch checklist
Both of these processes are available to free members of Curious Ants.
Start with the website design best practices checklist. It will tell you what a good website (in light of SEO) will look like. What will it include? What won’t it have? This is much more than design- what good is a pretty website if Google can’t read it? This checklist includes technical requirements as well.
Once your developer has built your website (and is ready to launch) it’s time to use the website launch checklist. This will tell you how to prepare for a successful website launch as well as what you need to look at upon the launch of the website. It’s important to follow this checklist IMMEDIATELY upon the launch of a new website. You’re trying to catch errors before Google indexes them!
I’ve launched a lot of websites over the years. It’s funny: no matter how many developers have received these guidelines they always find ways to get around them! This isn’t because they’re bad developers. It’s because a successful launch for a web designer looks different than a successful launch for an SEO. They want it to “work.” I want it to be readable by Google and bring in more traffic (and leads) as a result. That’s why these need to be updated frequently. I’ll keep up with them, updating these checklists, as things change and developers find loopholes in my requirements.