Good websites and Search Engine Optimisation
Discussion
Morning all.
I have been asked to find examples of good websites for my new employer. We are a small SME and are developing SW for the testing of Autonomous vehicles. I am also interested in search engine optimisation, which seems like a bit of a black art, but any examples of webpages optimised for this would be great.
Also happy to hear from any bootstrap web developers who can help me to create a SEO optimised amazing webpage - most welcome.
I have been asked to find examples of good websites for my new employer. We are a small SME and are developing SW for the testing of Autonomous vehicles. I am also interested in search engine optimisation, which seems like a bit of a black art, but any examples of webpages optimised for this would be great.
Also happy to hear from any bootstrap web developers who can help me to create a SEO optimised amazing webpage - most welcome.
Not a good website per se, but I always refer to [ur]https://saaspages.xyz/[/url] when I want inspiration.
As for SEO, it has been a while since I did it for a living, but you have two choices. The first is to try and game the system by building keyword heavy pages, lots of quality backlinks, internal links and so on. The problem with this approach is that you are always trying to stay one step ahead of Google's latest changes.
The other approach is simply to write lots of good quality, relevant content. This IMO is the best approach, but takes more work.
The quality content approach is also more likely to get you traction on tech news/aggregation sites where your potential customers might be browsing.
The other question I would have is whether autonomous car companies will even be looking for testing software by searching Google? Surely you are most likely to gain customers by attending industry conferences, demoing your software, presenting sessions etc. as well as via a network of contacts built from past and present industry experience?
As for SEO, it has been a while since I did it for a living, but you have two choices. The first is to try and game the system by building keyword heavy pages, lots of quality backlinks, internal links and so on. The problem with this approach is that you are always trying to stay one step ahead of Google's latest changes.
The other approach is simply to write lots of good quality, relevant content. This IMO is the best approach, but takes more work.
The quality content approach is also more likely to get you traction on tech news/aggregation sites where your potential customers might be browsing.
The other question I would have is whether autonomous car companies will even be looking for testing software by searching Google? Surely you are most likely to gain customers by attending industry conferences, demoing your software, presenting sessions etc. as well as via a network of contacts built from past and present industry experience?
I'm by no means an expert on SEO, I think it's snake oil, but the basics of it is that you should create a website for the user. Not for Google.
The content should be written in such a way that is engaging to the user. Spelling and punctuation is key, along with short snappy paragraphs. The content should be interspersed with good quality photography. So not compressed to hell images etc.
After this, it's about making the website load as quickly as possible. This can be painful depending on how deep you go down the optimisation rabbit hole. Going through the pages to see whether or not there is CSS being loaded by the site that's not being used. If that's the case, then you remove the CSS. Making sure the images are resized properly, and then looking at the server to make sure you're caching stuff where you should be etc.
A year ago I set up a personal website which I used as an opportunity to try out and test some SEO/coding things. The site can be found here: My Wife Hates This Car. In it's current guise, I've optimised it as much as I dare really in terms of how the server works, optimised the theme and cut out bloat where I can. In terms of how Google looks at it, the changes I've made from just throwing up a WordPress site with any old theme to what it is now, Google likes the site. Return visitors has increased, organic search traffic has also increased.
Throughout all of the SEO stuff I've done, I've used Google's Lighthouse in Chrome, and used a plugin for WordPress called RankMath. It's by no means perfect though with room for improvement.
My main focus throughout the career I've had has always been the user, and I think if you keep them in mind more so than Google then you will find that Google will end up liking your site more. Make the site lean in both style (so it's easy to navigate) and super quick to load, as well as being mobile friendly, and you'll do fine.
The content should be written in such a way that is engaging to the user. Spelling and punctuation is key, along with short snappy paragraphs. The content should be interspersed with good quality photography. So not compressed to hell images etc.
After this, it's about making the website load as quickly as possible. This can be painful depending on how deep you go down the optimisation rabbit hole. Going through the pages to see whether or not there is CSS being loaded by the site that's not being used. If that's the case, then you remove the CSS. Making sure the images are resized properly, and then looking at the server to make sure you're caching stuff where you should be etc.
A year ago I set up a personal website which I used as an opportunity to try out and test some SEO/coding things. The site can be found here: My Wife Hates This Car. In it's current guise, I've optimised it as much as I dare really in terms of how the server works, optimised the theme and cut out bloat where I can. In terms of how Google looks at it, the changes I've made from just throwing up a WordPress site with any old theme to what it is now, Google likes the site. Return visitors has increased, organic search traffic has also increased.
Throughout all of the SEO stuff I've done, I've used Google's Lighthouse in Chrome, and used a plugin for WordPress called RankMath. It's by no means perfect though with room for improvement.
My main focus throughout the career I've had has always been the user, and I think if you keep them in mind more so than Google then you will find that Google will end up liking your site more. Make the site lean in both style (so it's easy to navigate) and super quick to load, as well as being mobile friendly, and you'll do fine.
We develop websites and we SEO them too. SEO is not snake oil, done well it works very well. We manage the SEO on an e-commerce site that brings in £40k a month of free traffic, average order value £30-£40 of which 80% is profit so you can do the math. They pay their SEO bill within minutes of invoicing LOL
Saying that there are a lot of snake oil sellers when it comes to SEO, its finding the right people who know their stuff. The best test of an SEO firm is to ask them about SEOing something you know would be very hard or almost impossible to achieve, if they say they can do it then you know they are snake oil. We turn away SEO projects regularly, only taking on those where we know we can offer a ROI.
Saying that there are a lot of snake oil sellers when it comes to SEO, its finding the right people who know their stuff. The best test of an SEO firm is to ask them about SEOing something you know would be very hard or almost impossible to achieve, if they say they can do it then you know they are snake oil. We turn away SEO projects regularly, only taking on those where we know we can offer a ROI.
CzechItOut said:
The other question I would have is whether autonomous car companies will even be looking for testing software by searching Google? Surely you are most likely to gain customers by attending industry conferences, demoing your software, presenting sessions etc. as well as via a network of contacts built from past and present industry experience?
^^This, imo. For the product/service you have the website should be used in the second stage of your marketing (convincing the customer), not the first (awareness)Si1295 said:
CzechItOut said:
The other question I would have is whether autonomous car companies will even be looking for testing software by searching Google? Surely you are most likely to gain customers by attending industry conferences, demoing your software, presenting sessions etc. as well as via a network of contacts built from past and present industry experience?
^^This, imo. For the product/service you have the website should be used in the second stage of your marketing (convincing the customer), not the first (awareness)Gassing Station | Business | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff