As you begin to optimize your Web site based on a comprehensive SEO strategy, clearly defined goals and a phased action plan, you will undoubtedly run into challenges. Integrating strategically sound copywriting with optimal layout, design and functionality can sometimes seem like the proverbial mixing of oil and water. Yet the results are clearly worth the effort.

The real key is to remember that you’re creating content to be viewed by human beings, not robots; your pages should never read as though they were written for a search engine. Users come first. If you should encounter a conflict between copywriting and your SEO goals, let the copy set the direction, and look for other ways to achieve the optimization objectives. There’s usually more than one good way to improve your rankings. What’s more – all the traffic in the world won’t help you generate any new business if your website’s visitor-to-lead conversion rate is 0%. 0% of ten times the traffic is still 0. Better to find a balance — perhaps opting for a strategy that may draw 20% less traffic, but converts at a 50% higher rate — you’d still be much better off than the other way around.

One of the most important aspects of a successful SEO effort is the overall structure of your site itself. The search engines need to be able to crawl the site effectively; even minor errors in code or overly-difficult navigation can thwart the spiders and leave important pages excluded from the final results. And the design and internal mapping of the site can affect ranking in a variety of ways, from subtle to dramatic.

Armed with your list of keywords, it’s important to place them properly to deliver visitors to the best landing pages for their particular search. Different keywords can have different effects depending on where your visitors are in the buying process, whether they’re gathering information, comparing alternatives, or actively deciding where to buy. By mapping the relevant search terms and phrases to the right pages, you can match visitors’ arrival points to their intentions, all with the goal of maximizing the return from the increased traffic generated by the search engines.

Campaign tracking software allows you to measure your results precisely to learn what pages are being viewed most often (and which are being ignored), how often searchers visit before buying, and how long the conversion process lasts.

For most searches, your home page is not the best landing page. Many visitors are best directed to interior pages where they can immediately find the specific information they seek.

Embarking on a website redesign project is never an easy undertaking – such projects can be cumbersome, intimidating, and expensive. Getting approval to start the project is the first hurdle, but once you do then comes the work of evaluating your project needs and establishing a strategy for execution. Regardless of whether you are outsourcing the project or handling it internally, for the average marketer or business owner knowing what needs to be taken into account for a successful website redesign is a foreign concept.

I've created this Website Redesign Checklist to help you focus your thoughts and formalize them into a clear framework. By answering the following questions you should be on your way to developing a comprehensive RFP or project-scope plan that has the potential to lead to a redesigned website that delivers on your organization’s core goals and objectives.

Please note that this blog post is pretty long. If you would prefer to discuss this via telephone with me, please feel free to contact me.