For many entrepreneurs engaged in online business, the biggest concerns are improving search engine rankings and conversion rate. Indeed, it would be very difficult to generate sales and sustain your business without these factors. Unfortunately, some forget about the importance of a good Web design.

Strictly believing that more traffic would result to better sales, they tend to forget that a website must be user-friendly to foster loyalty and return visits.

In the words of Stoney deGeyter at Search Engine Guide, “SEO and SEM without good usability is like inviting people out to eat at a rat and roach infested restaurant. You may bring people in, but you won’t make them happy.” He then expounded on this idea and made this conclusion:

By fixing usability issues you can sell more while without having to spend a lot of money always trying to bring in a lot of new traffic. A little goes a long way. Once you are able to increase your conversion rates, every dollar you spend on marketing and SEO will be more effective and have a much bigger impact on your profit margins.

If truth be told, SEO and Web usability are interdependent of each other. But before you let in anybody to your house, make sure it is presentable and comfortable. So, which comes first? I guess you already know the answer. For more tips on how to improve your Website, check our Web development archives.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008 at 9:44 am and is filed under web development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.