Presentation GoalsThe goal of this presentation is to describe the process that was used to create a responsive website that replaced an existing corporate site located athttp://www.distributorserviceinc.com

• The steps taken can be used to design any business website• Though the site was created by a company employee with skills

and experience in HTML code, Adobe DreamWeaver and PhotoShop as well professional writing, the process is similar to that used by outside design firms

• Since the November 2015 re-launch, SEO best practices have helped increased traffic more than 2,000%

• Initial Project Description– Distributor Service, Inc. is a wholesale supplier of professional wood working supplies

in eight cities in the Midwest– The company has had an online presence since 2001

• Early versions of the site were little more than a flyer• A 2013 revision was functional, but non responsive and not optimized for search engines

– DSI’s direct competitors are limited to its geographical footprint/territories• Much of the competition has unresponsive websites, no SEO focus and poorly designed, incomplete pages• One competitor in particular has a large volume of traffic and a cart-driven, on-line ordering system

– Because DSI represents several different product lines from a variety of vendors, it is important that they all be represented and easily accessible for the visitor• Special consideration was given to break the site down into easily digestible categories that would be familiar to

the site’s visitors• Many categories are broken down by vendor while other commodity sections just list product

– The management’s initial goal of the new website is for it to act as tool for existing customers. They can use it to research DSI’s products and services before calling to place an order• DSI has an in-house call center who take customer orders and offer product advice• The site has a Form section where customers can request quotes on specific products

– The designer’s goal is to have DSI’s site appear above its competitors in organic searches, thereby becoming the go-to company to call when ordering professional woodworking supplies

Define the Project

• The first step in the process was to make an initial evaluation of the existing site and see how it stood up against competitors sites– Using competitive online research tools like SEMrush and SEO Quake help pinpoint weakness of

DSI’s site– The next step was to look at competitor sites and discover theirs keyword strengths and backlinks

Early Research stage

• The SEMrush Dashboard shows a competitor’s site statistics – An estimate of a site’s

organic traffic for first two pages

– Any pay-per-click advertising

– Backlink information– Top organic keywords along

with keyword distribution– Organic competitors for

keywords– Additional information

• A simple, responsive HTML template was begun using Adobe DreamWeaver as the main construction tool. This template was downloaded for free and modified by DSI

• Six website sections were created and an easy-to-use horizontal bar navigation was created

• Technical direction was provided by industry experts who also know the customers

Design Concept

• Home/Products– The index page as well as the primary

access to individual product categories• Services

– DSI offers value added services in addition to products

• What’s New– This section announces new products

and can be used to post price specials– It will also be a portal to various

content such as industry tips, whitepapers and eventually video clips

• Locations– Google maps and phone/fax contact

information for all of DSI’s eight locations

• Contact DSI– The DSI contact form acts as a request

for quote or question portal• Website Search

• Google's search engine uses a variety of methods to determine which pages are displayed first in the results. Their exact formula is a secret, but there are always a few things you can do to improve your positioning.

1. Keyword Phrases - A keyword phrase is, generally speaking, the words you think someone is most likely to put into a search engine to find your content. They should appear in your content. Don't overdo it. If it looks spammy, it probably is. Again, the point here is to speak like a human and just use the words that humans are most likely to use when searching for a page about your topic.

2. Keyword Density -One of the things Google looks for when it catalogs pages is the density of the keyword usage. In other words, how often the keyword occurs. Use natural phrasing. Don't try to trick the search engine by repeating the same word over and over or making text "invisible." It doesn't work.

3. Links - One of the biggest factors Google looks at is the hyperlink. Google looks at both links to and from your website. Google looks at the words you use in links to help determine the content of your page. Use links within web pages as a way to emphasize keywords. Rather than saying, "click here to learn more about SEO" you should say: Read more about SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

4. Backlinks or Inbound Links- (IBL’s) are links that are directed toward your website and are the building blocks to good Search Engine Optimization. The number of backlinks a website has is in a good indicator of its popularity or importance with search engines. Search engines, namely Google, give more credit to websites that have a larger number of quality backlinks and consider those websites more relevant in a search query.

5. Make Your Graphics Search Friendly - Give your images <alt> attributes. Not only does it make your website more accessible to the visually impaired, it also gives you another chance to place your keywords where Google can see them. Just don't stuff keywords that don't belong.

6. The Importance of an h1 Tag- The h1 is the most important tag and it should never be skipped on a page. Search spiders pay attention to the words used in the h1 tag as it should contain a basic description of the page content, just as the page title does.

7. Meta description tags- While not important to search engine rankings, are extremely important in gaining user click-through from SERPs. These short paragraphs are a webmaster’s opportunity to advertise content to searchers and to let them know exactly whether the given page contains the information they're looking for.

Keys to ranking higher

• The next few slides will show details that can be ascertained about other sites using SEO tools such as SEMrush and SEO Quake

• Using SEO Quake, here is a look at 2-word keyword phrases used on the home page of creativepultrusions.com. This information was obtained by clicking “Density” on the SEO Quake toolbar

CP Keyword Density

2-Keyword Phrase Repeats

Density Prominence

creative pultrusions 7 2.32% 58.35%

conditions of 4 1.33% 37.31%

and conditions 4 1.33% 37.48%

terms and 4 1.33% 37.65%

availability list 4 1.33% 45.44%

structurals availability

4 1.33% 45.61%

standard structurals 4 1.33% 45.77%

pultex® standard 4 1.33% 45.94%

1 888.274.7855 3 1.00% 42.62%

alum bank 3 1.00% 26.92%

Keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword or phrase appears on a web page compared to the total number of words on the page. In the context of search engine optimization keyword density can be used as a factor in determining whether a web page is relevant to a specified keyword or keyword phrase.

hardwood lumber, wood finish, hardwood plywood, m.l campbell, dsi is, distributor service, plywood hardwood, product line, panel products, the best

Keep in mind, keyword padding is not the way to achieve good density. When composing website text, you should write for human readability. Paying close attention to each word on a page can make a difference.

DSI’s Top 10 2-word keyword phrases

• Finding out who your competitors for keywords are is a great way to gain an edge. You can examine their sites, find out their keywords and add them to your own text.

• This information is found using SEMrush’s Organic Competitor report

CP Keyword Competitors

Domain Competitor Relevance Common Keywords Organic Keywords

libertypultrusions.com 16.55 50 419

nationalgrating.com 10.61 33 485

bedfordreinforced.com 10.44 47 903

strongwell.com 10.37 78 2574

pultrusions.org 10.19 21 63

structuralfiberglass.com 9.78 23 196

fibergrate.com 9.36 47 1285

afpfiberglass.com 7.62 17 207

unicomposite.com 7.04 15 371

pultrusionindustry.org 6.42 14 133

• This is the SEO Quake report for CP’s Products and Solutions– The URL, Page Title and Meta

Description are highlighted with green checkmarks. This means those elements are SEO optimized

– The Meta Keywords icon means room for improvement. However, a few too many keywords do not hurt

– The <H1> tags can use improvement. “Product Solutions” is nice, but not descriptive. It could read “Pultrusion Product Solutions.” Also, adding <H2> and <H3> tags can’t hurt.

– I’ve checked and the important images are not missing ALT tags. It appears any missing alt tags are unimportant.

– The amount of text can be increased• 500-750 words on a page or at least 250-

300 unique words to set the tone from the keywords and co-occurrence they produce. The idea is to use related synonyms and supporting keywords (based on a theme) for targeting the keyword with that page (in the title, h1, in the first 25 words on the page, etc.).

CP SEO Quake Analysis

All-in-All, The Page is SEO Optimized!

HTML Code Meta tags

• Meta Heading Tags– Strong Page Title – company name

along with tagline– Meta Description – Contains products

offered– Meta keywords – collection of

products and services• GEO Metatag

– Geo-tagging the site to Carnegie, PA helps with local searches

• Google Tag Manager– This script snippet allows for global,

site-wide changes and additions to be made by manipulating the code at one source

.• Responsive website design uses flexible layouts, flexible images and cascading style sheets so that the layout is changed

automatically for the viewer depending on which device they’re using.• The flexibility is achieved by inserting <div classes> into the html code that are defined on a site’s

cascading style sheet. This compartmentalizes each section and allows it to resize. • A cascading style sheet is a separate, master file that tells all pages how to treat certain code snippets

What’s Responsive Mean?

Desktop View iPhone HTML Code

• The whole purpose of a website is to provide information a visitor can use• Without being an industry expert, a website designer must work closely with someone who is• There must also be some type understanding about the target market and a guess as to who

they will use the website• Since DSI distributes other’s products, the site borrowed heavily from its major vendors

Compiling Content

Key Types of Content• Product Selection

– Make it clear what you sell and provide an easy pathway for a visitor to view your inventory

• Value Added Services– Does your business offer services?

Like in advertising, have a clear USP and define why it is valuable

• Technical Information– Are your visitors looking for MSDS

sheets, blueprints or technical data?

– Is there legal verbiage that is important to visitors?

• Additional Content– Videos, whitepapers,

testimonials…

• Google Analytics doesn’t just give you a page tracker count, it highlights how your visitors are finding your site and lets you know what there're looking for. This view is sorted by “Entrances.”– Pageviews is the total number of pages viewed. Repeated views of a single page are counted.– Unique Pageviews is the number of sessions during which the specified page was viewed at least once.– Entrances is the number of times visitors entered your site through a specified page or set of pages.– Bounce Rate is the percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page without

interacting with the page).

Importance of Analytics

Presentation summaryDefine the project and its goals

Evaluate your site vs. competition

Create your sties design concept

Keep in mind SEO best practices

Write with keyword density and readability

Check out competitors for keywords

Pay attention to SEO Quake analysis

Include meta tags and descriptions

What makes a site responsive?

Compiling useful content

The importance of Google Analytics