Design for Online Engagement: SEO, Content and Design Optimization for Editors and Designers

PART I:

A Model of the Online Communication Universe

If you work in the world of online communication, you probably spend a lot of time thinking about how people communicate on the web. You probably think about the business needs of your clients. You think about the needs of their audiences. You think about design and brand issues and how they might influence the visual and verbal content on a site. You think about the code behind the pages. You think about how to get visitors to engage on the site and how the client might be able to start a relationship with visitors. It’s a lot to consider, and I’m always looking to break it down into a more understandable form so I can wrap my brain around it. So I came up with a simple mental model. I call it the sushi model.

Starting from the outside…

Brand: What do you stand for? Everything an organization does is wrapped in its brand. Every action and every message is a reflection of the ethos of the organization. At its core a brand is about positioning yourself among your peers. It’s the unique value you provide your audience, and it’s the unique way you deliver your offering. It is also the most valuable asset your organization owns, contributing a considerable amount to stockholder value.

Design: How do you express your brand strategy? One of the first experiences people have with an organization is through its brand communications. Because of their visual nature, the design elements of a brand have a tremendous impact on how the brand is perceived by an audience. In many cases, the design of the product, its packaging and advertising are the trigger and motivator for an audience to engage with the brand. Visual identity is made of several important graphic components that are designed to work together to represent the brand.

Audience Need: Whom are you trying to reach? Knowing the needs of your audience, their personalities and the context of your offering in their lives is critical information that will inform everything from the language you use to the design direction. Your goals should tie directly to an audience need. And like any good communication endeavor, what you’re talking about should be relevant to the group of people you want to connect with.

Organizational Goals:What are you trying to achieve? The reason your site exists is to communicate an idea to a specific audience. You could be trying to promote an idea, sell a widget or tell a story. It could be anything. By conducting business analysis you can identify organizational goals to tie your communication efforts to, and bring focus to your sites goals. Focus is as much about knowing what you’re NOT going to do as it is about knowing what you ARE going to do. As a rule of thumb, your online content should be tied directly to your organizational goals.

Usability:How can you make it easy for your visitors? Now that your target audience has found your site, they need to be able to easily find what they are looking for. This is where usability comes into play. Clear navigation, calls to action and well thought-out design help make the site experience more positive for visitors, allowing them to achieve their goals quickly.

Accessibility:How can you be inclusive? Over 20 percent of people on the web have some sort of visual, hearing, physical, speech or behavioral disability. This makes accessibility a key factor in ensuring a wide range of users can access your site. Accessibility standards like Section 508 or the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) have a carryover effect by making sites more usable and more search engine friendly.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO):How will people find your site? To find your content, people will conduct a search query. The more closely the search words they use match the keywords on your site, the more likely they are to make an online connection with your brand. Keywords are just one element that improve site optimization. Other key elements include attracting links from highly regarded outside sites, the number of social media likes and shares for your content.

Content strategy: What do visitors want to know? Content is the reason people visit your site. High quality relevant content sets the foundation for establishing a relationship with your site visitors. If your content is really good and other sites want to link to you, you start to create site authority, which makes your site even more prominent in searches. Along with the quality of the content, you also need to know how to promote your content. You increase your chances of creating awareness for your brand through the use of search and landing page optimization, as well as identifying influential bloggers, social media and news channels to promote your content.

Engagement, relationship building and loyalty: How can the brand create a mutually beneficial relationship? At the core of communication is the goal of creating a mutually beneficial relationship between a brand and an audience. Almost everything you do on your site is about achieving this goal. Relationships are generally demonstrated through engagements, or interactions in which both parties provide a value to each other. But strong relationships don’t happen overnight. In fact, researchers have found that relationships are developed through many small interactions over time. In the online world, a relationship can culminate in many ways including making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, downloading a white paper or even making a comment on a post. But engagement is not the endgame of your online communication presence. Loyalty is ultimately what you are hoping to achieve.

Online Communication Model

So there you have it. The sushi model of online communication.

But you didn’t buy this book to talk about sushi. You’re interested in the forbidden