How a 4th Grade Lesson Makes your Website More Successful

November 4, 2010

Remember 4th Grade? I don’t remember much. But, for some reason, I DO remember the lesson on Outlines. You know, like this:

I. Oh, c’mon

A. Is this really necessary?
i. Yes, it’s definitely a good way to rank better in searches
ii. Also helps users navigate your website more easily
iii. And find the things they need

B. When I was in 4th Grade, I never thought I’d EVER use this
i. It was boring
ii. And, totally unnecessary, since I was going be a spy

C. But, it appears that Outlines really help websites work better

II. Who says it works?

A. Um, Google, for one
i. A site that’s organized gets indexed faster/better by Google
ii. When related topics on a website are grouped together, Google can use its logic to find things easily
iii. Google works for the SEARCHER, and rewards well-organized sites.
iv. I’m not kidding. It’s true.

B. And, BeeLine. Your friendly neighborhood Website Designer and Optimizer.
i. We work hard on that initial outline before building or re-designing a site
ii. And it pays off in a site that’s more successful. (That means it brings in more customers, who are ready to buy the products you have on your site.)

C. ALL the Web Optimizer Gurus, who write books and blogs and articles
i. Which we read (yawn)
ii. Then when we build or improve sites, we use what we've learned. We optimize them so they’re successful to both Google AND your customer.

Here’s a short quote from one of the gurus:
Your site architecture—how you organize and present your content—will influence your search rankings.*

In 4th Grade, Miss Crenshaw made us do outlines over and over again until we got them right. I thought to myself, “Why do I need to know this? WHEN could I possibly use this in my REAL life?”

But, years later I find myself using the Outline lesson every single day while planning websites.

Because (another quote) ….
Proper planning of how content is organized and then accessed is another crucial yet often overlooked step in SEO [Search Engine Optimization]. Search engine crawlers are designed to emulate the behavior of site visitors as they follow links and index page content. It’s important that you design your site architecture to make navigating as easy as possible for both your visitors and the search engines.*
Search Engine Crawlers are the machines – owned by Google, MSN and Bing -- that collect every word on the Internet (mind boggling) and store them. So when you search on that word, you see all the websites that contain those words. How can you get your site listed first? Organize. Outline. If your site is a mess, Google will hand it back without much of a grade. Just like Miss Crenshaw did in 4th grade.

So, I guess it's time to brush up on your Outlining skills if you want your website to be at the top of the list when people look for your product online. I wonder if Miss Crenshaw is still teaching 4th grade.

*Mike Hudson, SEO Expert

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~ Barb Emerson,  BeeLine Design www.BeeLineDesign.com

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