The True Cost of Being #1: Reinforcing Best Practice

Maintaining a healthy perspective about a site's rank within search engines is often a challenge for many website owners. In an effort to be #1, many companies hire so-called 'experts' who excessively manipulate the code of a website with the hope of improving the site's rank.

Does the code of your website really matter?

Yes, the quality of your website's code matters a great deal! Although it may not directly impact your conversion, clean code does aid in...

• Overall performance of your website
• The ability to easily maintain your website over time
• Often lowering the cost(s) involved with a future re-design
• Organically increase the chance of your website ranking reasonably well

By respecting and understanding the long-term importance of best practice, reputable web firms will be able to help you start off on the right food.

Does your content incorporate proper keyword usage?

Since the ultimately goal is to create a positive user experience that will ultimately help your conversion, the last thing you want to do is pad your content with keywords. Sure, you may temporarily increase your search engine rank, but remember one thing: nothing encourages a user to exit your site ASAP as when your website content is excessive and unreadable.

Remember: a good content writer...

• Understands the importance of researching keywords
• Researches the terms your audience uses in a search
• Writes engaging content using a distinctive tone of voice

Content creation is a large part of maintaining a healthy website. Anyone can toss a few keywords on to a page, but a talented content writer will can them in such a way that improves your site's copy.

Do you have a marketing strategy?

Ironically, when search engine rank becomes an obsession, it's not uncommon for it to come at a detriment to your business because in many cases, a solid marketing strategy was never developed. While a high-ranking website is a big help, it's how you market your product/service that plays a large part in long-term success.