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With talk of the impending death of SEO as we know it by Google and rumors of Behavior Based Search, Intent Based Search and Universal Search, one has to wonder how they will ensure the success of their website. The only way any business, whether online of offline succeeds is by providing a top notch service or product and then having news of that service travel via word of mouth.

If your website truly provides a “solution” to a need or problem then it will be successfule no matter where it ranks on Google.  I dare say that a quality website that gives the visitor what they want on a consistant basis will do well even if they are at number 900 in a Google search return. Word of mouth is a powerful advertising medium. Good search return rankings will be a natural result of the success of a website as others link to it (at least for now).  We must learn to anticipate what visitors will want and to put ourselves in the visitors shoes. If I know someone has come to my site based on a referal then I need to make sure I solve their problem and then give an incentive to comeback.

Have content of the quality that will make them want to sign up for emails or subscribe to RSS feeds or at least bookmark your site. The new game in town is no longer going to be SEO but PQS (Provide Quality Solutions).

Minimalism is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “a style or technique (as in music, literature, or design) that is characterized by extreme spareness and simplicity “. Wikipedia goes further to say “minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features”.

More and more I am of the firm belief a minimalist design is the best option for a website. Google is a perfect example of minimalism in design. With a “sparse” design the visitor will know what to do. No searching around for menu links or reading through “keyword” laden text or over the top graphics. It is becoming more and more apparent to me that by providing a simple solution to a visitors need you will not only retain a visitor but that visitor will tell others how simple it is to find something at your site.

But what about text and keywords and relevant content you ask? All of that can be provided at your website; it just doesn’t all need to be stuffed into one spot. I think as more and more people become numb to webpage sensory overload, they are going to welcome a simple interface that quickly takes them to their answer. On subject or topic per page with one supporting advertisment that a business will pay for to be the only solution your site provides to it’s visitor.

Does this make sense to you. I am about to start and expirement with a domain I have had for a couple years that has not really done anyting on it’s own. I am going to pare down the design to the bare basics and turn it into a simple directory of answers the the particular industry that it deals with. No graphics, no rows of banner ads, no overwhelming text; Just a simple gateway to an answer. We will use social networking to promote and hopefully the quality of the visitors answer will become well known enough that the site starts to be known as the “only” destination for information and answers in it’s particular niche.

If this expirement is successful I will post the url on this blog as well all the steps I took to get the site known in its niche community.

Who knows, I may just be daydreaming, but then again, I like simple and easy to use. Maybe others will too.

What is your opinion?

I know that most people that read this blog are looking to make money online with blogs or websites. Sometimes we need to step back and take a break and do something for fun. I have started a new blog at www.ILikeEating.com and just like the title says, I like eating and I like writing about anyting food related. What is great about blogging for fun is that most successful money making blogs started out this way. When you write about what you love then it is easy to take care of your blog. It is not a daily chore but something you look forward to. 

Readers pick up on the fact that you are writing because you enjoy it. When a reader is not bombared by advertisnig as soon as your page comes up ( or those damn annoying pop up window that a lot of top MMO bloggers are using) the reader has a better experience. They realize you do this for fun and therefore the info is going to be better quality and more genuine. That is when you get traffice and referrals. Once your blog has grown to hundreds of unique visitors a day you can monetize is but dont go overboard like others………  (you know who I am talking about)

So take a break and start a blog for fun and see where it takes you.

Wow. That’s a mouthful isn’t it? It is exactly what it says it is. This short post is an experiment in longtail keyword titling. I want to see what combination of words in this blog title will bring me a decent search return and what the competition is. I will report back in a few days on the results.

What prompted me to do this was a posting I did the other day with Garry Conn’s name in it which gave me a google page 2 return when someone searched on his name.

Have you ever been to website where the subject and content is lost in all the clutter? The webpage opens up and you are immediately bombarded with ads, both static and flashing, division of topics, multiple headers and a double row menu across the top; and that is all before you start to scroll down.  Then all of a sudden a popup appears in the middle of your screen asking you to subscribe to an RSS feed or sign up for an email newsletter.  WOW talk about “website sensory overload”.

I guess I come from old school web design, if there is such a thing as old school.  I believe in the Keep It Simple philosophy of design.  When a visitor comes to one of my sites I want to be able to immediately find what they are looking for.  I do not want distractions and I don’t want my visitor to have to hunt for the information they are seeking.

Keeping your design simple has another major advantage as well. SEO (search engine optimization) is much easier on a simple site than on one with multiple layers of what some call information, what I call distractions.

I look at each website design two ways. How easy is it for my human visitor to navigate through my website and find what they are looking for and second, how the search engines move through the site on their periodic crawls. What I have found is that if the site is easy for a human to use then it will be very easy for a search engine to crawl. True, my websites might not be as “pretty” and “flashy” as some and they will never be considered as “eye candy” but what they will do is provide a constant source of information for the visitor.

Simple design equals simple use which equals a sticky website.  A sticky website means repeat visitors and repeat visitors will bring lots of traffic and you will benefit from that traffic by simple “unobtrusive” limited advertising, whether it be a banner ad or something as simple and effective as Adsense.
I would rather provide my visitors with solutions that may involve 2 or 3 advertisers than solutions that offer 15 or 20 advertisers. Those 2 or 3 will probably pay more than the total of the 15-20 due to the increased traffic you are sending them.

Anyway, that is my opinion for what it is worth.  How do you feel about this subject?