Introduction
Everything on the internet
Is there anything today for which there is no information on the internet?
Such a thing is extremely difficult.
However, even though internet use in recent years has reached such a high level that it almost seems strange for some information not to exist there, at the same time there is a gap in what the right way is for a small to medium business owner, a blogger, or even a hobbyist to develop an online presence.
Additionally, many new professionals in the internet space—developers, SEO analysts, marketers, etc.—struggle to understand two fundamental things:
- What the real needs are behind commissioning a task.
- What the most appropriate approach is for creation and what the key components of a good online presence are.
How this book helps.
Having worked for many years in a tremendously demanding, high-level environment where—among other things—there was responsibility for the effective presence of a complex, high-traffic application in search engines (e.g., Google Search), and also for several years as the owner of the online presence of a small local business, there were recurring questions encountered quite often even to this day.
Small-to-medium professionals and hobbyists want a proper, solid online presence but don’t know where to start and where to stop.
Professionals who take on serving the above need (when that happens, since many times attempts are made directly by the owners themselves) often cannot discern the true need and the scope of the work assigned to them.
This book attempts to answer both of these groups of people.
Small and medium professionals, hobbyists, bloggers, etc., will learn the basic principles and the method to achieve a solid, successful online presence and will be able to speak the same language as professionals to whom they may want to outsource related work.
Professionals who take on developing a site’s presence on the internet will be able to “read” behind the brief and understand the motivation, set boundaries, explain critical parameters, and achieve optimal results and efficient collaborations.
The internet ecosystem.
As internet usage matures, so do search engines (a core element of internet use), ranking algorithms, and digital marketing practices, while social media and video-sharing applications also evolve and mature rapidly.
All the above tools that “live” on the internet—such as Google Search, Facebook, Google My Business, Google Maps, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, etc.—surface information, pages, businesses, blogs, photos, and user videos, trying each time to answer specific questions in the best possible way.
On the other side, the content creation side—whether it is a simple web page with, say, a food recipe, or information about a massive company like Apple—the creators’ primary motivation is for the page to attract visitors, for them to “consume” the information it contains, and, depending on the page type and purpose, to proceed to the next step.
This could be purchasing a product, subscribing to a newsletter, watching a video, or even selling ad space within the page, etc.
The primary motivation of content creators on the internet is for users to “consume” the information so that they proceed to the next step.
On the one hand, tools evolve to answer visitors’ questions with the best information; on the other, content creators do their best so their pages appear across tools and gain traffic and visitors.
Among millions of results
How can one result appear among millions of others?
One of the techniques developed very early—alongside the explosion of internet use and the establishment of Google Search as the most common way to find information—was Search Engine Optimization (SEO), i.e., optimization for search engines.
SEO initially involved very simple technical elements a page should contain to appear in search results in a position likely to be chosen (usually the top spots or, at worst, the first page of results).
Over time, SEO also evolved rapidly and today includes a set of tools and methodologies that extend both off-page and on-page.
More importantly, with SEO’s development, it has become more of a general philosophy and a way of thinking about how an information presence should be structured, rather than a few technical guidelines for developers or advertisers.
Beyond that, SEO provides the right tools to explore acceptance and the scale of potential usage for something even before it starts (need validation).
Today SEO plays a central role not only in search engine results but also in delivering a great user experience.
After all, interaction does not start from a well-designed home page (home page), but from a results list.
The number 1 spot
One of the most common questions encountered over the years as a Front-End Engineer and SEO Expert is: “How can I rank first on Google for a given query?”.
The same question, as a personal exercise, was asked in the early steps as well, whether it concerned primary employment (a hyper–high-traffic website) or the small local family business under responsibility. Everyone—including the author—wants the first spot in Google results.
With years and gained experience, the answer to the above is clear: the first spot is not necessary.
Plainly.
What is needed is strong ranking across a set of specific queries where the intent matches exactly what the page targets.
Consider, for example, a specific query targeted for several years regarding a small family business.
The business was a small guesthouse (accommodation services) in a popular winter destination.
For a long time, the official site’s pages (arahova-pansion.gr) were developed with the goal of ranking first for the search term “Arachova”.
After many attempts (several are mentioned later in the book), it finally “reached” first place in Google results for the target keyword “Arachova” (fig. 1).
Figure 1: First place for Arahova Pansion for the “Arachova” query.
Only then did it become clear that this query is quite broad, and the primary intent behind it is certainly not only accommodation in Arachova—the reason the business site had been set up.
It would later become apparent that such a generic query has a wide scope: someone may want to see where the settlement is geographically, population data, which region it belongs to, the current weather, how to get there and the distance from major urban centers, etc.
Surely a percentage of those searching during the period when the page ranked first were also looking for accommodation; however, using resources (server load) and providing information that did not primarily concern accommodation in Arachova was not the wisest move.
Today, those pages rank well for queries more directly related to accommodation in Arachova, as well as adjacent accommodation-related target keywords.
Target keywords
Choosing the right target keywords from the outset is of paramount importance.
If the site’s information is structured properly and correct interlinking between distinct sections is implemented, the chances of strong rankings increase significantly.
However, selecting target keywords is a tremendously difficult and complex process, because there is a lot of seasonality in how people search on the internet, and the target keyword set is certain to change over time regardless of seasonality.
Therefore, when discussing keyword selection, it must be kept in mind that this is a process with nuances and specific characteristics depending on the information type.
At the same time, it is dynamic and changes over time, which means the same query in a different timeframe will differ; thus, the target keyword set will need updating.
Competitors
Another important element, once a solid selection of keywords is made, is that the main competitors become defined.
After defining competitors, it is easier to take the right actions to “win,” as analyzing profiles and identifying strengths and weaknesses becomes possible.
What success means
Correct goal selection enables defining a core measure of success from the start.
After targeting specific queries, it is relatively easy to find how many people search those terms and then investigate the results currently received by those searchers.
The latter—what results they get—is also a very strong indicator of what a new page or set of pages should contain to win the rankings.
The audience
Another core element for planning a page’s online presence is the audience it addresses as well as the objective of the presentation.
These will largely determine the most appropriate approach to proceed, e.g., tone, information type (text, photos, video), and elements that will make a difference.
For example, if a page’s goal is health information, then direct answers to serious common questions with a serious, evidence-based tone; patient and physician testimonies and information; and direct contact details are the best approach. The goal is trust and confidence before the solution or answer offered by the page is presented.
Conversely, if the goal is travel services for young people, the tone can be more relaxed, the need is likely not very immediate (destination selection and trip planning), content can be accompanied by videos and photos with experiences of other travelers, there may be an element of sharing, indicative cost, and reasons to choose it (e.g., a mini-app to add a free extra service).
The field
The audience and goal will determine not only the communication tone and content type but also the field in which the online presence should be developed.
Today there are many ways to have a “space” on the internet apart from having a personal site.
One may have a highly effective page or manage a Facebook group; someone else may have a very popular Instagram profile; a third may have a YouTube or TikTok channel with many subscribers; while another may rely exclusively on Google My Business for showcasing a business.
There are many such options, and choosing the most effective one requires study.
The advantage of these postings that do not concern an official website is that they require minimal technical knowledge and can become incredibly successful.
The disadvantage is that the information and content practically do not belong to the creator but to third parties who can suspend or delete a profile and destroy what was painstakingly built in a moment.
For these reasons, the wiser choice for something more professional is to avoid dependence on third parties regarding online presence.
This leads to the oldest and soundest—albeit often more challenging—option: creating a site (hereafter also called by the Greek term “ιστότοπος”).
The site
Creating a site starts with the fundamental choice of a domain name, e.g., myname.gr.
The domain will outlast any investment made in an online presence.
In a few years, pages may not be viewed on smartphones, tablets, desktops, laptops, etc., but it is certain the same domain names and the brand being built now will remain.
A good domain should be indicative—say something about the brand—hold meaning for the target audience, potentially reflect something visual or relate to a story, so it can stick in people’s memory for easy recall, and also resonate emotionally.
A domain consists of two parts: the main name and the extension, or top-level domain (com, gr, org, etc.). Both elements are extremely important and must be chosen carefully.
After choosing the domain, a basic inventory of the information it will contain is necessary, divided into core logical sections, each of which holds related information.
Also, unique elements—information or functions not present in competitors—that could make a difference should be sought, provided they solve a visitor problem.
With these in hand, the core navigation tree (navigation menu) can be created.
A site consists of the part the visitor sees and interacts with—the front—and usually a second part where information is managed and content is entered, described by the general term “content management system” (CMS).
The most common CMS for many years has been WordPress, an open-source platform, powering roughly 34% of all websites on the internet today, with a 60% share among CMSs; 14.7% of top global sites run on WordPress.
Using a tool like WordPress (or similar) for a website today is relatively easy, with options both for hosting such software on a private server or with a provider (at some cost) that ensures correct installation and operation (such as Automattic, the official company behind WordPress).
If hosting the CMS and website in a private environment is chosen, a server must obviously be purchased or rented to store information and serve it via URLs to those who request them.
The pieces form the picture.
What remains is for the right information to be laid out on the website’s pages with sound architecture, solid interlinking, correct colors and visual elements, good and properly sized typography, and in a way that allows the visitor to read, navigate, consume the content, and proceed to the next step.
The essence of a page: the next step
That exact next step is the essence of every page: Every page on the internet has (or should have) a goal, which may be a click on a link, purchase of a product, viewing a video, etc. The “next step” on each page is known as a “conversion.”
The primary motivation of content creators on the internet is for users to “consume” the information so that they proceed to the next step.
The visitor experience of a page is extremely important for the goal—conversion—and for ultimate success.
Every time someone enters a page, there is an experience. The quality of that experience significantly affects their opinion (did they like it or not?), the likelihood of recommending it to others, and the final conversion into a customer.
Unfortunately, many websites today are either not built correctly with the purpose of converting visitors or the assumptions they make about conversion are incorrect.
This happens—arguably—because while the output of a designer/site developer or an agency may be aesthetically pleasing, that does not necessarily mean it is optimal at converting a visitor into a customer.
In reality, many companies do not even know which criteria are most important for a successful website.
This can be verified very quickly when, during a visit to a designer/developer or an agency, the first question asked is, “How would you like your website to look?”
Clients who want to build a solid online presence obviously do not know how they would like their website to look. So, they usually check competitors’ websites to see what theirs should look like.
But what happens if competitor sites are also poorly designed for conversion, and they are looking in the wrong place?
Vicious circle.
Poorly designed websites that fail to convert visitors into customers keep getting replicated.
Eventually, the client and the agency end up evaluating the new website based on how it looks.
Yet, in reality, the most important criterion is not how it looks, but how it works and how it performs, ultimately impacting revenue.
The most important criterion for a site is how it works and how it performs, ultimately impacting revenue.
The ultimate goal of a set of pages is to convert visitors into customers!
For the visitor experience of a page, many factors matter beyond structure, information architecture, navigation, and sound design.
Indicatively, factors such as load speed, stability, and responsiveness are metrics that have recently been incorporated into how Google evaluates millions of pages to display its results (Core Web Vitals).
A good site is not enough
Having a properly designed and efficient site, optimized for conversions, what remains is for people to find it on the vast internet and choose it among thousands of similar results. This is where Search Engine Optimization—the optimization for search engines—comes in.
For a page to appear in Google Search results (or any similar search engine, e.g., Bing, DuckDuckGo, etc.), the engine must first “discover” and evaluate it so it is included among potential answers; then it must be assessed as a sufficiently good result to rank higher than competing results for a given query.
There are—and will be discussed in separate chapters—a series of actions for both submitting a site to search engines and strengthening the site itself to be considered a good result.
On the other hand, are search engines the only way for someone to find and visit a page?
Certainly, not!
Social media, various forums, groups, and digital communities (e.g., Reddit), etc., can lead millions of people to a page without that page even existing in Google’s data.
Here as well, the critical element is to recognize the best and most efficient field of action for the website and invest time there.
Today, however, Google Search sends more people to sites than ever. The odds are that a well-structured site will appear in Google results and some will choose it.
Therefore, even if a site’s main traffic source is not a search engine, optimization for appearance in such an engine provides all the guarantees for a successful outcome.
What constitutes a successful outcome?
For a business’s online presence, a successful outcome might be a new customer. For a professional blog, a new subscriber. For a local amateur association, readership and citizen awareness around specific issues. And for a cooking group, selling space and ads within the site itself.
Conversely, on the other side, a successful outcome would be a happy customer of a new service or product previously unknown, a subscriber to a stream of information found valuable, a connected and sensitized community, and finally a successful and targeted presentation of a business to a group of people.
The information collected and recorded in this book is hoped to be useful to new content creators on the internet—professionals or hobbyists—web design and promotion companies, and anyone wanting to understand in depth how information creation and consumption on the internet works today.
How to read the book
This book can be read either sequentially, chapter by chapter, or by starting from the chapter considered most important, then going back, etc.
For the chapter sequence, a “first things first” approach was followed—i.e., the most fundamental matters first and the less central/peripheral ones afterwards.
The sections are in the order an online presence should be built from scratch.
For the reading experience, layout, fonts, and colors were chosen to support more comfortable reading that helps the reader.
Cover image source: Unsplash.com