25 Ways To Improve Your Site In 5 Minutes
Posted by Andrew Faulkner on February 12th, 2008.
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A while back I wrote 25 Ways To Improve Your Site Today. Many people thought it was useful. I’m trying again now with a twist. I’m offering you, dear reader, tips to improve your site in various ways - each one only taking approximately 5 minutes.
This is starting to sound like a one-page spammy advert (did I mention my advice is free free free!) so let’s get stuck in. After all, you only have 5 minutes to read this…
The Tips
Disclaimer: The tips I’ve come up with would take me about 5 minutes to complete on website’s I’ve built. Everyone builds sites differently so times may vary. :-)
Usability/Accessibility
- Use your logo: Link it to your homepage. Sounds simple enough but it will save time for your users.
- Make links obvious: It’s a quick job to style them so they contrast against regular body copy.
- Make text readable: Don’t worry about cramming text so small so it stays ‘above the fold’ - let your text breathe by adding line height and space. And don’t be shy about increasing your font size.
- Make a useful 404 page: Maybe put a few words to explain what a 404 error is and point people to your site map, homepage or search facility.
- Offer a way to contact: Sounds simple, but if there is no way to contact you, people may not be able to tell you of issues on the site.
SEO
- Add title attributes: Add relevant title attributes to your main navigation. It will strengthen on-page SEO with very little effort.
- Create a Google site map: There are many generators and it only takes minutes. You can increase your website’s saturation almost instantly.
- Optimise title tags: Check title tags are relevant on your key pages and improve them where necessary.
- Check headers: Check that pages make use of H1, H2 and H3 tags. Check that these contain your main keywords (and still make perfect sense to the reader. No spammy tactics, else a kitten will tread on broken glass remember.)
- Link from your copy: Often forgotten about, why not interlink from key pages deeper into the site?
Design/Development
- Feedback: Get a few people to make one suggestion each about your site. It’s easy to be blind to mistakes on your own website.
- Browsers: Check your main website’s functionality in (e-commerce/gallery etc) in as many browsers as possible. Note any issues to fix later.
- Give direction: Your homepage isn’t an ‘about’ page. Give visitors a reason to click around. (Log in / Sign up / Request brochure etc.)
- Let the user be in control: Avoid popups, resizers and all those nasty things. It’s the users browser, not yours. Most popups can simply be placed on a new page.
- Animation: I’m not against a bit of useful animation, but don’t let images animate continually whilst the user is trying to read the content or look at a product. It’s like trying to sell a car to someone whilst dancing around distractingly in the background in a giant banana suit. Almost.
Content
- Rewrite: Read your opening paragraph. If it doesn’t engage you then rewrite it.
- Simplify: If you use too much jargon, replace as many instances as you can with clear wording. Jargon doesn’t help anyone.
- RSS: Let your RSS feed be auto-discovered. It’s easier for the user to locate that way.
- Don’t overdo it: People don’t have all day. Put key information in succinct paragraphs on the page. Waffling (except for around here!) is not for the web.
- Accessible: Check that you can access all the key pages of your site as a first time user. You may need a volunteer or two to test this theory.
Off Site
- Visibility: Check that you’re high in Google for your company name. If not, add a few links to your site with the company name in the link.
- Be nice: Answer a question on a forum about your speciality. You’ll gain a friend and some respect. Authority = traffic.
- Get involved: If you’re not on (by on I mean even a basic profile/listing) all of the cool places to hang out (Facebook for instance) then sign up. People may be looking for your services via these channels.
- Read: Read stuff on the internet? But it’s all fake? I kid. Read a news story about your industry - it may come in handy as a reference.
- Stay Ahead: Similar to the above, except this time keep an eye on new web technology. If you can use a new technology to your advantage and you get in there first then you may have just carved out a niche.
Helped?
I hope that helped out a few of you with little time on your hands. Let me know your quick tips by leaving a comment.
Make A Comment
( 90 so far )
90 Responses to 25 Ways To Improve Your Site In 5 Minutes
Very cool list. Thank you!
Several of these tips are worth their weight in gold — and most really do take only a few minutes. In particular, I’m appreciative of the reminder to generate a Google sitemap — you’ve reminded me that I have a site I’m trying to build up without one!
Very simple stuff, but all solid and necessary recommendations. Nice work.
Great list!
A useful list containing good advice; I’m sure everyone reading it is thinking, like me, "Ah, yes, could do that better!". One suggested addition for content:
Separate your stuff from their stuff: There’s little more annoying than having paragraphs cut up with adverts, at best breaking a readers train of thought and at worst confusing them over what is or is not original content. We all want to get rich, but keeping your ads separate from the main body of the post, or styling them so they don’t blend in, is much kinder on your readers.
good list but… title attributes dont add any benefit to seo - you mean alt attributes which do… if you think otherwise test it i did… also backed by seobook and seomoz!
I think you’ld have to add 5-minutes for reading your actual list here… kidding.Great list of practical step-by-step development/implementation website how to tips.Keep-It-Simple-See (Kiss)
I want to also add that consistency is very important. If different parts of the website look different it will greatly confuse users. Keeping all links in the same place throughtout the site is essential. Great list by the way.
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Think this will take more than 5 minutes but I do agreee that they are very important things to do and while together they may take more than 5 minutes each tip will only take 5 odd minutes (or was that what you were implying?)
So far so good I feel these will help me in the future :)
[…] 25 Ways To Improve Your Site In 5 Minutes […]
Wow! Thanks so much for this great list. They look to be kind of obvious but they are very simple and quite simple to implement.
Helpful list, most of all when starting a new website :)In the long run, I think the last two posts are the most crucial to your success.Everything else comes with experience and time…
[…] 25 Ways To Improve Your Site In 5 Minutes […]
Speaking of checking your site in as many browsers as possible, are you aware that in IE 6, your home page appears as dark grey text on a dark blue background and cannot be read?
Most of this I knew, but pointing the obvious again and agin is a good thing.And I read some new interesting tricks also !
Sometimes we forget the simplest of things. This a good checklist.
Andrew, good list. Always good to see authoritive postings that reafirm that things are being done right.You must be real fast to get all the above done in 5 mins
I’ve recently completed a one-pager for a small company. Now they’re wondering why they’re not in the top 10 in Google!I’ve convinced them to make an investment each month in order to allow me to build traffic to the site - some of the tips in this article will help greatly :)
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excellent and thanks for the quick review
Thanks for this great list it’ll be very usefull
in 5 minutes? you must be joking?
A true master would do all 25 in five mins! Alas I think you may have to be superman to do so which is why I think Andy meant each one was to take 5 mins! Great list. Rewriting content is something that is worth doing every now and again. Refine and define. So often the wording and tone of voice of a site is not addressed and is an after thought if a thought at all.Matt
Wow! Nice List! Thank you very much! My site is offline now, but i will open it again with another name… from 0… because i made it wrong las time. and before i open the new one, i will chek every point on the list :)
Thank you for some very sound advice, I’ll be adding some of these to my "To do before pushing live!" list. Thanks!
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That’s so good! good job
these are really good , I have to say I have been doing this for a while now ad it really works good
One little change that would really help the users is to shorten the page title enough so that the user does not have to edit it down to get it to fit in the bookmark menu.
Fortunately, I have an extension to Firefox (OpenBook) that gives me a title box that’s exactly the right size for the menu. It helps when I have to edit them, which is most of the time.
Also, Mr. Rushworth, proper punctuation and capitalization makes your web site (and your postings) much easier to read. Like most etiquette, it’s a matter of consideration.
And to that other webmaster: Always write your website in the language of the country that is being published in. In my case (the US) that means English.
Good article
Thanks for the 25 Ways To Improve Your Site In 5 Minutes. I hope to be able to apply these into our website.We appreciate your generous spirit and the helpful tips you give to make other websites more friendly and accessible.The best in life and work in the service of others. Dr. Jose P.M. CunananEditor. withnews.org. Internet news for the disabled and the poor.pepz2002@yahoo.com
Good stuff Andrew, clear and simple tips to follow.
It’s reallt great and helpful.Thank you.
This is a complete check list. I like the "…trying to sell a car to someone whilst dancing around distractingly in the background in a giant banana suit" in the animation item under Design/Development.Thank you!
One more tip:Create separate print styles that only print the actual content of the page, as in "printer friendly". Nobody really wants your logo or advertisements on their printout.
Good call on the sitemap generator. I used to sit and try and make my own and would waste an hour or two- now I just use one of these, and they do a better job than I used to do.
Very Very Very Useful article you got here mate. Thank you for this great post, keep up the good work.
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Excellent advice it’s hard to keep web design and seo clear and uncluttered but you’ve managed to say it. I’m never too old to take note.
Very cool. Ugh. I know I should make googlemaps.Just one thing. What do you mean when you say ‘Let your RSS feed be auto-discovered’? What is auto-discovery in relation to an RSS feed?Very useful list otherwise. I was glad to know I do more of those than I realised. :)
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<blockquote>Disclaimer: The tips I’ve come up with would take me about 5 minutes to complete on website’s I’ve built. Everyone builds sites differently so times may vary. :-) </blockquote>Very funny. Come on man let’s get realistic. Most of the stuff you put in there needs more than that, even for the veteran developer.
[…] 25 Ways to Improve Your Site in 5 Minutes […]
This acts as a great checklist. Some small simple changes to increase your website. Many Thanks
great explanation..keep it up bro.. :)
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Out of all this, I think #2 is the one that gets me. A lot of designs I see these days have put style over substance when it comes to links. Why not underline links in text? To date, I haven’t received a good answer.Great tips, thanks.
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Hi.. Gr8 Works. Hats Off to your Tips. its really a good stuff for designers, SEO Guys, CEO of Company and all who engased in Online Services. Thanks Again :)
heheh, everything’s right ;) thanks to remember…
Simple advice, but all solid and necessary recommendations for a good website.
Soooper doooper fantastic!!I fixed everything on Usability checklist before reading this one. I think I’ll need to improve on Off Site.
so simple, so niceam gonna use it ..
thease are the basic points.
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An other great post. Thanks for sharing.
The SEO tips are gold dust! Excellent, well done
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Simple but effective!
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Love the list … thanks for putting it together! And ohh yeah CONTENT IS KING!!
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meta tages will help listings in google and well colour coded sites catch the eye, dont use too many colours, 6-7 is nough apart from top title gfx
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This is a great web site. I have some great web pages myself if you are interested to share. But I should not go on about my site too much, that is not fair, right?
Great article, Thanks,Stu Collett.
Good list, some simple pointers but admittedly often forget a few of those. Make a good checklist I think. Thanks
f44Vbv hi! how you doin?
Nothing that I didn’t know but looks honest helpful just right ! good job
really good to tips to note after designing and before making it live.
really good tips, thanks for sharing them
Useful tips, thank you! I will use your ideas on my commercial ice machines blog and i hope it will make my site more useful. While writing a blog post I dont really pay attention to the quality of the post, but I definately should’ve.Thank you
ebigboss.com is a B2B marketplace that assists buyers and sellers trade with each other at a reliable, common platform
Great list of things to do, An essential. Recommended for every site!Glad I found this post.
title attributes dont help seo in any way, theyre discounted from keyword density and dont contribute to anchor text
Domaineering is the web-based marketing business of acquiring and monetizing Internet domain names focusing on their use specifically as an advertising medium rather than primarily speculating on domains as intellectual property investments for resale as in domaining where generating advertising revenue is considered more of a bonus while awaiting a sale. In essence, the domain names function as virtual Internet billboards with generic domain names being highly valued for their revenue generating potential derived from attracting Internet traffic hits. Revenue is earned as potential customers view pay per click ( PPC ) ads or the Internet traffic attracted may be redirected to another website. Hence, the domain name itself is the revenue generating asset conveying information beyond just functioning as a typical web address. As the value here is intrinsically in the domain name and not in a website’s products or services, these domains are developed for advertising, ( i.e, "parked" ), and not into "conventional" websites. As with traditional advertising, domaineering is part art and part science. Often to be the most effective as an advertising tool, the domain names and their corresponding landing pages must be engineered or optimized to produce maximum revenue which may require considerable skill and keen knowledge of search engine optimization ( SEO ) practices, marketing psychology and an understanding of the target market audience. Domaineering generally utilizes a firm offering domain parking services to provide the sponsored "feed" of a word or phrase searched for thus creating a mini-directory populated largely by advertisers paying to promote their products and services under a relevant generic keyword domain. Occasionally content is added to develop a functional mini-website. Domaineers contend that their product, i.e., "domain advertising", is a bona fide offering of goods or services in and of itself which provides rights to and legitimate interests in the generic domains they use. This serves as a rebuttal or defense in addressing occasional accusations of cybersquatting. Domaineers and some of those who advertise online using keywords believe domaineering provides a useful, legal and legitimate Internet marketing service while opponents of domaineering decry the practice as increasing the ubiquitous commercialization of the world wide web. Domaineering aka "domain advertising" is practiced by both large organizations which may have registered hundreds or even thousands of domains to individual entrepreneurial minded domaineers who may only own one or a few. The earliest known verifiable identification and defining of domaineering as a distinct Internet advertising practice is attributed to Canadian Professor William Lorenz.
Always looking for ways to improve my site and sites that i make. It’s even better when the tips take under 5 min improve your site. Great post keep it up. Thank you
Заметка вроде старая уже, но я только сегодня ее прочитал. Интересно, что тут скажешь. :)
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Some great ways to definately improve a website.
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