Anyone with an audience or a product needs a website. That includes corporations, small businesses, individuals & personal brands. It's a 24-hour salesperson dedicated to spreading your message and singing your praises. So why not give it the best shot you can in being found by those who are looking for you?

SEO (search engine optimization) has never been more important that it is today. With so many bot accounts and fly-by-night websites, quality content is getting harder and harder to recognize. In order to combat this, Authentication, Authority and Legitimacy are now being used as quality control metrics on search results. I'll be writing about this more over the next few months, but I wanted to give you some basics today.

The architecture of your website. Is it logical and structured with the user in mind? Is it designed with only the most essential elements showing? Does one page lead naturally into another with internal links?

Is your content organized, keyword rich and narrative driven? What story are you telling?

Is your brand engaging through other mediums like social media, email marketing and local events? Local events lead to backlinks. Social leads to sharing/awareness and email marketing leads to direct sales channels.

These are the basics. Something digestible and easy to remember. I'll be discussing the importance of each step over the coming weeks and exactly what goes into successful website design and development. If you'd like me to focus on something in particular, leave it in the comments and I'll make sure to address it in future posts.

Website Design & SEO Tactics Using the ACE Model

The architecture of your website. Is it logical and structured with the user in mind? Is it designed with only the most essential elements showing? Does one page lead naturally into another with internal links?

Is your content organized, keyword rich and narrative driven? What story are you telling?

Is your brand engaging through other mediums like social media, email marketing and local events? Local events lead to backlinks. Social leads to sharing/awareness and email marketing leads to direct sales channels.