4 Important Pieces Every Website Needs and Doesn't Have

When you're designing your new website - it's easy to get caught up in how it looks. Everyone focuses on layout, colors, consistency - and don't get me wrong they're important too! But, how pretty is your website if NO ONE can find it??

There are 4 Important Pieces Every Website Needs and Don't Have.

Don't be a statistic - check to see if you have:

1. SEO (search engine optimization)

 Is more important today than ever. If you aren't promoting your own website and blog posts to be seen - who is really seeing them?

You spend all this time writing and perfecting the perfect content, and damn it, you have something VALUABLE to say or sell!

But are you preaching to an empty auditorium?

You say that it's too technical for you to know how to do - and yes, SEO can be complex but that's why we're here to help you, and why most bloggers and websites go unseen.

- Wordpress sites. Basically if you want SEO, Wordpress.ORG (not .COM)  is your go-to blogging platform. They have plugins like "SEO by YOAST" that you can install to help optimize not only your pages, but every single individual blog post! And it's set up by red, yellow, or green to show you how well search engines will find your content. However, note that YOAST is just a check-list tool to make sure your keyword is properly installed throughout your website.

The main component of SEO is making sure you have the CORRECT key word optimized. And for that my friends, the world is not free.

If you're using Google Adwords to search for Key words - that's a rookie mistake. Read this article by Dan the Man to see why you're doing it wrong. Then realize you have to spend money to make money - and you'll have to invest in a SEO tool link like BrainstormTools.com (what I use and recommend!) Market Samuari or WordTracker.


There are no more excuses! Companies and software have made SEO user-friendly, and without it - you don't exist. 

You need at least 50-60 % of your own traffic coming from organic search engine traffic - meaning it's an investment. It will continue to keep sending people to your site day after day long after your website or blog post has gone up!

2. Copyright Stamp

Did you read the previous blog post on stealing copyright images off the Internet? Tisk! Tisk! Well, DON'T let people steal yours either! A simple copyright stamp on your website lets users know that you OWN your stuff - including images. So, if anyone DOES use them, they need to:

1. Ask your permission

2. take them down if you didn't give permission

3. Even pay a royalty if they are using it for profitable use - such as on their OWN website.

Now it may be a lot of work to keep checking to see if ALL your images are being used anywhere else on the web, but if you have a main image or logo or profile photo of yourself, it's not a bad idea to make sure you're not being catfished out there!

How to check for your images being used elsewhere on the web:

1. Save your image on your computer desktop.

2. go to google.com/images and drag the image into the search bar.

3. google will run an image search to see if that exact photo is popping up anywhere else on the web.

Amazing.

3. Privacy Policy

I hardly see people with privacy policies on their websites anymore and this can be dangerous territory if you're not careful. It's just a simple way to protect yourself and let your users know you are not maliciously collecting their information and selling it to marketers for money.

The other really cool thing? There are companies that will make these for you - for FREE! You can join a trial membership with Rocket Lawyer, and have them generate your own privacy policy (along with lots of other really cool business documents you might need).


4. Terms of Use.

Another key component to your website that a lot of other people overlook Terms of Use. The terms of use just defines in detail the purpose of your site, and how you and your visitors interact, and what you may or may not do with that information. Such as - you can dictate how a community board is used and monitored on your site, as well as comments. Or you can discuss third party vendors, and how you may not be responsible for visitors once they leave your site via a link.

You may think it is redundant and boring, however, it is always better to take a few minutes and set it up so you can protect yourself and your content! You'll thank me in the future.