Creating the Basis of Optimising

Analytics

Analytics are an important part of performance optimisation and monetization of websites. The key in improving sales might be small changes in the way you present or connect information, which you learn from studying the data collected by analytics reports.

There are basically two types of analytics used on websites: log file analyzers, and javascript-based or “on page” solutions. They both have technical benefits and limitations, but either will work well.

One nice thing about analytics is that it typically only needs to be set up once, and then you get a wealth of knowledge about what is happening on your site. With a few small adjustments, the data you collect can become very detailed and specific.

There are free and paid options, depending on the level of granularity you need. For most smaller businesses or personal sites, free options will work out fine, like Clicky (http://getclicky.com/), Piwik (http://piwik.org/) or Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/). I f you need something more robust, you could consider paid solutions like Overture (http://www.overture.com) or WebTrends (http://www.webtrends.com).

With the free options (all those listed above offer a javascript-based solution), you insert a little piece of code into the pages you want tracked. Often, you simply add it to the footer template which puts it on every page of the site.

Within 24 hours you can be accessing data about the visitors. Add some filters and goals specific to your site and you can keep the focus on conversion, using analytics to earn more.

Analytics data tells you how many visitors are hitting the website. It tells you when they engage with your content and when they simply bounce off the site. It tells you the keywords people use to find your site and on which pages they enter, and which pages they leave from. Simply put, everything you’ll want to do in optimising your website is tracked and measured by analytics data.

Even if you are unsure of what to do with analytics data, make sure you are collecting it as soon as you put a website live. At some point in the future, you (or whomever you hire to optimise your site) will be glad you started collecting information immediately. It is very easy—you literally can install it in minutes.

There is much more detail regarding the optimisation of analytics in the optimisation section of this guide.

A simple rule of thumb when starting out is to gather data, and when you think you have enough, gather more data. You can’t optimise what you are not measuring, and selecting a stable analytics package is a simple step toward making better things possible.

With analytics installed, you can start to consider the basic framework of the site. We suggest starting with a little keyword research, so that you can weave the competitive data learned about your keywords into your site build.

Keywords

When you are just starting a new, non-competitive, low or even moderately competitive site, keywords should be selected carefully, handled with respect, and not overdone.

Choose a few obvious keyphrases that match search queries for the content you’ll be developing. Add a little research to find some deeper opportunities and you’re typically off to a good start.

A lot of keyword research can be handled easily in-house or by a sole proprietor. The more competitive your niche, however, the more likely a professional’s guidance in keyword research, selection and strategy could help you focus and profit from your efforts.

Ideally, your keywords come together to make a tight little net, a bunch of performance-based phrases that are bringing you site conversions. They will be related to your brand/company and the products or services you offer. Keyphrases may also be specific to your geographic location or industry.

Some of the keywords you will know or logically conclude ahead of time. Others will become clear once you have done some research and industry analysis, while still more will come after you’ve been collecting data on the site for a few months (see Analytics optimisation for more).

By performing your research ahead of time and editing your keyword list as more data becomes available, the keywords will become a natural part of the message and architecture of the site, not an unnatural bulk applied to it later. This forethought and ongoing attention helps you win.

Blending Keyphrases into Site Architecture

It helps, if and when it makes sense, to weave a loose foundation of related keywords into the general structure of your website. Navigation options and category names can be strategically conceived and optimised, allowing them to answer keyword needs without distracting from the site’s usability.

As you gain focus for the site, increase market visibility and want to optimise, if your root keyphrases are an intrinsic part of your site’s architecture there is an established, relative framework from which to grow and build, logically.

When it’s possible, keep your main keywords as part of the informational architecture from the first site build forward. Over time, you might create a deeper, more meaningful connection to the main keywords you are targeting.

Keyword Research and the Longtail

One of the best tools currently available for doing some quick, yet thorough keyword research is the Keyword Tool on SEOBook.com (http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/). Entering a potential keyword or keyphrase here will show you the reported searches, trends, and many potential variations.

The SEOBook Keyword Research Tool can give you ideas if you have no idea which keyphrases to select for your site. Enter in the most obvious keyword about your site, and look at the variations that appear. There may be a lot of opportunity for you to take advantage of in longtail keyphrases.

Longtail keyphrases refer to extended variations of the root keyword. If a root keyphrase was “credit card” some longtail keyphrases might be “credit card application form,” “new credit card details,” “best credit card offers” or something similar. They are root keyphrases with modifiers before and/or after the root phrase.

You can see how the range of longtail possibilities is seemingly infinite. There is also a lot of value in targeting these keywords. Think of them as little buckets filling the larger buckets of the root keyphrases – small ways to keep winning on your way to success for the bigger, more challenging phrases.

Building for the Longtail

While some longtail wins will be phrases you research, target and optimise for specifically, some longtail wins come as a result from having content that is on-topic and relevant. Many longtail wins will come as a complete surprise. However they arrive, longtail keyphrase wins can be very lucrative over time.

What this means to a new site owner, is to choose a root set of keywords and phrases that the site should rank for, wisely. There is no magic number of keyphrases, or proper level of competitiveness to target for every site; you must use reason as your guide.

For example, if your site has 100 or so pages, targeting 5,000 competitive keyphrases is expecting too much. With a relatively small site, targeting even one competitive phrase is overly ambitious, and unrealistic.

Getting a site of this size to rank for about 20 moderately competitive keyphrases is probably much more realistic (but could be pretty ambitious, depending on the phrases targeted). Using a site of this size to dominate a very specific, small niche of 20-25 relative, geographically-focused keyphrases would probably not be expecting too much.

Figuring out exactly which keywords to target, and how to specifically approach them is going to vary from niche to niche and from situation to situation.

Keyword research never ends for a competitive website…it is the foundation of the SEO and SEM industries. This means there are a lot of opportunities out there, and more happen each time a new user approaches a search engine for an answer.

If you are new to the web and simply looking to get started:

  • Create a list of keywords and phrases you think are tied very closely to the answers offered by your site.
  • Blend these root keywords into the architecture of the site if you can, and bake-in an ability to scale or edit your architecture as the site grows and your needs change.
  • Run these root keywords through the SEOBook Keyword Research Tool (http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/). Using these longer-tail suggestions, consider different ways your content can connect to these queries more directly – think of the keyphrase suggestions as questions, and consider how you will answer them in your content.

Final thoughts on initial keywords

  • Some longtail strategies work almost immediately, while some keyphrases will take more time based on competitiveness, so balance in approach may help you achieve immediate wins followed by longer-term payoffs
  • Know that the root keywords of a site should remain pretty constant over time, while the related terms and associated phases will adjust to trends, reflected in and captured by future content and longtail strategies
  • The list of related keyphrases should continue growing as long as the site grows—it is fed by increasing the content on a site over time
  • Data based on performance and testing should soon be used to edit and balance the initial list of targeted keyphrases – always trust the data
  • Know that virtually anything is possible in search with the proper amount of resources and attention, and a first effort does not have to answer everything – you can always build upwards

At this point, we have covered how to register a domain, set up hosting and analytics, and select some keywords to consider while developing the site.

Next we will look at basic site development, touching briefly on coding and crawlability issues, thoughts behind information architecture, and what to consider regarding maintenance and updates. We’ll also take a look at common free solutions like Wordpress, Blogger, Drupal, and Joomla.