8 Crucial Elements for Your Business Web Sites

If you are running a business and utilize website (and internet in general) as one of your tools, these articles is a must read. And if your business rely solely on internet, it is very critical that you should apply these tips to check your websites.

Key visitors to your commercial pages is not only human customers, they include web robots that crawl the internet and catalog your content.

The right combination of text and graphic presentation, is just one secret to successfully attract human visitors. But don’t neglect properly written code which may mean higher robot ratings. If bots love your website, your website will be quickly index by search engine, and they will display just the right search result information to tease searchers to click on your links.

Once a new prospect finds your web site, wherever they are coming from, you have 5 seconds to get them to stay.

Did you know web pages can load and appear correct with improper or deprecated HTML code? A browser may ignore your mistakes, and display what it thinks you meant, and it may look great. But web robots may not be as forgiving.

Below is a list of 8 basic but crucial elements for good search engine placement that need to be considered in your design and web site promotion. For details on code issues from the worldwide authority, visit the World Wide Web Consortium to view DOCTYPE and other quality standards.

1. DOCTYPE Statement
2. Page Title
3. Proper HTML Code
4. META Description
5. META Key Words
6. First Paragraph of the Home Page
7. An Extra Page of Just LINKS
8. Backlinks (Links to your pages)

85% of all web sites are missing or poorly coded these 8 key elements. In other words, as few as 15% of the 6 billion web pages online ever make it into some search engines. Even worse, there are mistakes that may result in your page being sandboxed, and the search engine web crawlers may never come back to see if it's corrected. This could explain why you "never get any hits".

Websites can be simple and professional without using fancy software to create your pages. Veteran programmers hand code and many create the HTML in NotePad. I have nothing against the use of flash, frame, but the user of the latest software may be losing a significant portion of new visitors (customers) because the visitor may lack the technology or newest version of browsers, and not to mention potential buyer with poor internet connection. It could mean lost profits.

Note: Search engine algorithms are evolve and vary by company, so some elements such as "an extra page of links" may not be as important today with some search robots.  Backlinks refer to marketing your site and getting other web sites to link to yours.

Finally, your potential customers and business partners want information. They do not visit your website to be entertained. Most have a need (problem) and want a fast answer (solution), so designs should be created to minimize the use of music or video unless that's your core business.  Anything that distracts from a positive first impression may violate the "5 Second Rule".