There are many important aspects to SEO. Anyone who has ever created a website knows this. In fact, the number of components involved in optimization can be mind boggling at times. For this reason, you should take the time to focus on particular aspects of your site. One of the most important – and often neglected – parts of maintaining a healthy site is maintaining its overall appearance.

This might sound like a very general statement, and one that is not particularly quantifiable. But if you learn what to look for and go about the process carefully, you should end up with a great looking site that both the search engines and your site viewers will love. This will help reduce your bounce rate and keep your traffic flowing.

Color schemes

A very basic question you should consider – and this will go beyond your website to include all of your company literature, merchandise, etc – is what you want your basic color scheme to be. It is true that completely overhauling your look will take work, but if you find that you are getting outdated it might be worth it.

Take a hard look at your branding and think about whether it is in tune with where your industry is these days. In a recent survey, about a third of consumers said that they preferred the color blue for websites and other branding materials. Red is a close second, and branding experts recommend using no more than two main colors for marketing materials. 

With a high-quality website, you can sell company merchandise and illustrate it through professional-looking images. Whatever suits your business, you can attach a company logo to and experiment with other types of images and color schemes. Company bags, phone cases, or whatever you like you can add to a page in corresponding colors. You can even find free mockups online at https://www.ls.graphics/free-mockups to see how the final product looks and if it attracts your team and customers. 

Text versus other content

One of the first things you should consider is the amount of text versus images, videos, and other types of content on any given page. While this varies from page to page – your homepage will be different from individual product pages, etc – the general rule that many people go by is 60/40. This means that there should be no less than 60% text on any given page in comparison to other types of content.

While it can be the case that a great image can capture people’s attention, it won’t always make the sale unless it is backed up by an explanation. So while including non-text content is definitely important, it shouldn’t overtake text in proportion on any given page.

Spacing

There are also subtle rules about text size and spacing. Site viewers will be irritated if text is too small or faint to read, and they will frequently be turned away as a result. People also don’t want to look at a page where the text looks like nothing but a big long title. Website experts recommend the following rules for spacing:

• Line height be at least 1.5 times the size of whatever font is on a page
• Paragraphs should be two times font size. 
• Letter spacing – also known as tracking – should be at least .12 times font size

Content type variation

With so many types of content to choose from, the question invariably arises of what you should be including on your site. Is it necessary to include videos? Infographics? VR content? The answer is that it depends very much on your industry. While infographics are nice – and can certainly prove useful if site viewers need hard statistics to make a decision – they might not be necessary in every case. If you are running a forex site, they are great. If you’re selling children’s toys, not necessarily.

The same goes for videos and other kinds of content. If you’re not sure what you should and should not include, do some research on your industry. Look at your closest competitors. If everyone else is including VR videos that take viewers through the inner components of their products, you should consider doing this, too.

Don’t forget your personal style

In the end, you should always put your own personal stamp on your site. Definitely obey the rules of SEO, but don’t let the process rob you of the idea that inspired your business in the first place. There is a happy medium for everyone, and your customers will respond accordingly if you get it right.