Website Optimization: Speed, Search Engine & Conversion Rate Secrets
398Website Optimization: Speed, Search Engine & Conversion Rate Secrets
398eBook
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Overview
Remember when an optimized website was one that merely didn't take all day to appear? Times have changed. Today, website optimization can spell the difference between enterprise success and failure, and it takes a lot more know-how to achieve success.
This book is a comprehensive guide to the tips, techniques, secrets, standards, and methods of website optimization. From increasing site traffic to maximizing leads, from revving up responsiveness to increasing navigability, from prospect retention to closing more sales, the world of 21st century website optimization is explored, exemplified and explained.
Website Optimization combines the disciplines of online marketing and site performance tuning to attain the competitive advantage necessary on today's Web. You'll learn how to improve your online marketing with effective paid and natural search engine visibility strategies, strengthened lead creation and conversion to sales methods, and gold-standard ad copywriting guidelines. Plus, your increased site speed, reduced download footprint, improved reliability, and improved navigability will work synergistically with those marketing methods to optimize your site's total effectiveness.
In this book for business and IT managers, author Andrew King, president of Website Optimization, LLC, has assembled experts in several key specialties to teach you:
- Search engine optimization -- addressing best (and worst) practices to improve search engine visibility, including step-by-step keyword optimization guidelines, category and tag cloud creation, and guerilla PR techniques to boost inbound links and improve rankings
- Pay-per-click optimization -- including ad copywriting guidelines, setting profit-driven goals, calculating and optimizing bids, landing page optimization, and campaign management tips
- Optimizing conversion rates -- increasing leads with site landing page guidelines, such as benefit-oriented copy, credibility-based design, value hierarchies, and tips on creating unique selling propositions and slogans
- Web performance tuning -- optimizing ways to use (X)HTML, CSS, and Ajax to increase speed, reduce your download footprint, and increase reliability
- Advanced tuning -- including client-side techniques such as on-demand content, progressive enhancement, and inline images to save HTTP requests. Plus server-side tips include improving parallelism, using cache control, browser sniffing, HTTP compression, and URL rewriting to remap links and preserve traffic
- Web metrics -- illustrating the best metrics and tools to gather details about visitors and measure web conversion and success rates. Covering both search marketing metrics and web performance measures including Pathloss and waterfall graphs
Website Optimization not only provides you with a strategy for success, it also offers specific techniques for you and your staff to follow. A profitable website needs to be well designed, current, highly responsive, and optimally persuasive if you're to attract prospects, convert them to buyers, and get them to come back for more. This book describes precisely what you need to accomplish to achieve all of those goals.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781449367718 |
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Publisher: | O'Reilly Media, Incorporated |
Publication date: | 07/08/2008 |
Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
Format: | eBook |
Pages: | 398 |
File size: | 10 MB |
About the Author
Andrew B. King is the President of Website Optimization, LLC, a Web Performance and Search Engine Marketing firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Since 2002, team WSO has helped firms optimize the effectiveness of their websites to improve their ROI. Their clients include Bank of America, AOL, Time Warner, Net Zero, WhitePages.com, and Caravan Tours. For more information on website optimization and a book companion site go to: http://www.websiteoptimization.com.
Andy is the author of Speed Up Your Site: Web Site Optimization, a highly regarded book on web site performance tuning and search engine optimization. Mr. King holds a BSME and MSME from the University of Michigan specializing in design optimization of structures. He was recruited by NASA after graduation, but chose instead to join the fast-paced world of engineering consultant.
Since 1993, Mr. King has worked full time as a web professional applying and teaching web optimization and creation techniques. He is the founder and former Managing Editor of WebReference.com and JavaScript.com, two award-winning developer sites acquired by Mecklermedia in 1997 (now Jupitermedia).
Table of Contents
Foreword xi
Preface xv
Search Engine Marketing Optimization
Natural Search Engine Optimization 5
The Benefits of SEO 5
Core SEO Techniques 7
Ten Steps to Higher Search Engine Rankings 11
Summary 41
SEO Case Study: PhillyDentistry.com 44
Original Site 44
First Redesign: Mid-2004 47
Second Redesign: Late 2007 50
Summary 54
Pay-per-Click Optimization 55
Pay-per-Click Basics and Definitions 56
Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Everybody Else 58
Goal Setting, Measurement, Analytics Support, and Closing the Loop 62
Keyword Discovery, Selection, and Analysis 66
Organizing and Optimizing Ad Groups 71
Optimizing Pay-per-Click Ads 74
Optimizing Landing Pages 81
Optimizing Bids 86
Other Pay-per-Click Issues 95
Summary 100
PPC Case Study: BodyGlove.com 103
Body Glove PPC Optimization 103
Summary 110
Conversion Rate Optimization 111
The Benefits ofCRO 111
Best Practices for CRO 112
Top 10 Factors to Maximize Conversion Rates 118
Staging Your CRO Campaign 127
Summary 145
Web Performance Optimization
Web Page Optimization 155
Common Web Page Problems 156
How to Optimize Your Web Page Speed 160
Summary 185
CSS Optimization 186
Build on a CSS Architecture 186
Top 10 Tips for Optimizing CSS 189
Summary 214
Ajax Optimization 216
Common Problems with Ajax 217
Ajax: New and Improved JavaScript Communications 218
Proper Application of Ajax 218
Rolling Your Own Ajax Solution 222
Relying on Ajax Libraries 226
JavaScript Optimization 230
Minimizing HTTP Requests 243
Choosing Data Formats Wisely 245
Addressing the Caching Quandary of Ajax 248
Addressing Network Robustness 250
Understanding the Ajax Architecture Effect 254
Summary 256
Advanced Web Performance Optimization 257
Server-Side Optimization Techniques 257
Client-Side Performance Techniques 282
Summary 296
Website Optimization Metrics 297
Website Success Metrics 298
Types of Web Analytics Software 302
Search Engine Marketing Metrics 310
Web Performance Metrics 323
Summary 347
Index 349