50 Simple Tips for Improving Your Website
This checklist provides 50 simple ways for you to make your website even better!
1. Use .htaccess to redirect the non-www version of your website to the www version.
2. Extend the registration of your domain for at least five years.
3. Make sure that when a visitor clicks your website’s logo, they are taken back to the homepage.
4. If you think your font is too small, make it bigger!
5. Remove widgets that aren’t directly enhancing your website.
6. Include an easy to find contact link, e-mail address or phone number on every page of your website.
7. Use a CSS stylesheet to make your website printer friendly.
8. Fix or remove broken links (external and internal).
9. Add ALT tags to all of your images.
10. If your website is using frames, get rid of them!
11. If you don’t have a robots.txt file, create one.
12. Provide the same basic navigation menu on every page of your website.
13. Use the same color for links throughout your website.
14. Spell check your content.
15. Format your content so that it is easy to scan.
16. Add at least one picture to every page of your website.
17. If you don’t have an About page, create one.
18. Use your About page to show your brand’s personality.
19. Include at least three pictures on your About page.
20. If your website has pop-up windows, get rid of them!
21. Link to relevant social media profiles from your About page.
22. Add a search box near the top of your website’s layout.
23. Create a privacy policy page.
24. Place a link to your privacy policy at the bottom of every page.
25. Use dashes in filenames instead of underscores.
26. Add a link to Google Maps on your Contact page.
27. Add internal links from one piece of content to another.
28. Write a unique META description for all of your main pages.
29. Validate your source code and correct any errors.
30. If you have a link exchange page, get rid of it!
31. Add a site search box to your 404 page.
32. Create a sitemap for your website.
33. Add a link to your sitemap at the bottom of every page of your website.
34. Add a copyright notification to the bottom of every page of your website.
35. Underline your links throughout your website.
36. Turn off music that automatically plays.
37. Get rid of any flashing GIF animations.
38. Include your website logo at the top of every page.
39. Register the .net and .org versions of your domain and redirect them to your website.
40. If you don’t have a help or support section, create one!
41. When you answer a question via e-mail, add the answer to the help/support section.
42. Look at your contact forms and see if there is any information you don’t have to request from your visitors.
43. Add your analytics code to every page of your website.
44. Get rid of any pages that automatically resize visitors’ browser window.
45. Create a favicon for your website.
46. Only use email address that include @yourdomain.
47. Label each box of any forms on your website.
48. Show a confirmation any time a visitor completes a significant action on your website.
49. Create one new piece of quality content for your website every week.
50. Leave a comment with your suggestion for the fiftieth tip!
September 30th, 2008 at 1:48 am
Many good things can be done without flash.. so try to reduce it and make the site more user-friendly.
Try to reduce or limit the number of ads on your website.
September 30th, 2008 at 5:07 am
Print this list out. Hang it on a Clip Board and DO these 49 things!
September 30th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Nice tip Rich!
September 30th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Chetan:
Both great tips! Even though Google is getting better at handling Flash, I still don’t think it provides that great of a user experience (for example, I can’t view Flash content on my iPhone).
And in regards to ads, I couldn’t agree more. People want to plaster ads all over their blogs and websites, but they don’t realize that if they’re using a program like AdSense, they could actually be more profitable by using less ad units.
September 30th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
Sweeet
50th tip : Check source code for any unused script and remove it
September 30th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
50. Invest time on creating a one of a kind layout.
September 30th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
@Sandeep: Very true; doing this periodically can also help you ensure the security of your site.
@JONxBLAZE: That’s a great way to set yourself apart from your competitors!
September 30th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Pretty nice list. I ran 100 tips like this a few months ago.
http://www.thesportsdollar.com/2008/03/100-fluffs-to-building-better-sports.html
September 30th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
@kellex: Nice list, you’ve got a lot of great tips on it!
October 1st, 2008 at 10:15 am
Great suggestions, although with Point 1, htaccess is Apache only, so for Windows hosted sites, it would not apply, although you can use similar set ups in IIS, for those with shared hosting this is usually not available.
On the point about small text, I am afraid I had to increase Firefox’s font size to see the Titles next to each field in the form, as well as the comments being left. ;o)
October 1st, 2008 at 3:24 pm
I think #4 should be done on this site.
October 1st, 2008 at 4:41 pm
Forgive the newbness, but why is “www.” so important?
October 1st, 2008 at 5:37 pm
@Carl Grint and Alisha: Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll forward it to the person who is in charge of the SEOHosting design.
October 1st, 2008 at 5:42 pm
@Vadim: Great question. The reason that it’s important is because not redirecting the non-www version of your site to the www can cause duplicate content issues. I think the link below will explain everything for you, but if you have any additional questions, don’t hesitate to leave another comment!
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66359
October 3rd, 2008 at 12:37 am
[...] my last post about 50 simple ways to improve your website, #11 on the checklist was to create a robots.txt file. I received several [...]
October 3rd, 2008 at 4:37 am
Nice tips here. I’ve found that a bunch of them can be coverd via various wordpress plugins, thereby taking the stress out of ‘am I doing this right’? A quick search turned up a number of plugins that address many of these issues.
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:55 am
@gWallet: This is exactly why I like WordPress so much! In addition to the plugins you found, you should also start using these (I’ve found them to all be invaluable):
http://www.seohosting.com/blog/articles/wordpress-great-but-not-perfect/
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
Concerning item 19 you should insert the following pictures
- One picture of the office building
- One picture of the office itself
- One picture of the team
October 3rd, 2008 at 3:17 pm
@Cid Vegas: Agreed, that would be the perfect combination of pictures to give your customers a complete look at your company.
October 5th, 2008 at 1:19 am
50. Encourage comments and try to reply all of them…
October 5th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
@Tamal Anwar: As you may have noticed from this comment thread, this is definitely a strategy I like to use! I think getting the chance to have discussions with your readers is one of the best parts of writing a blog.
October 6th, 2008 at 5:38 am
Thanks a lot! I am on the way of these tips
October 6th, 2008 at 11:58 am
@Yasin: You’re welcome, I’m glad these tips are helping you out!
October 7th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
simply fabulous tips
October 7th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
@Shameer: Glad you think so, I hope they help you improve your website!
October 7th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
This gets a Stumble up from me.
October 7th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
@Ryan G: Thanks for that, I really appreciate your support!
October 8th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
Hi Nice post. Keep it up.
Just to let your readers know they are having difficulty in find a good hosting company then I guess the belwo mentioned post can help you out
http://webcritics.peepsreview.com/?p=27
October 8th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
@Sunny Kapoor: Glad to see that you use Host Gator (in case you didn’t know, we’re a specialized division of Host Gator)!
October 9th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
@Tyler Banfield: I see. In my case though it seems the www version already redirects to the non-www version (mudlet.org is the site in question), so I guess that’s why I was confused. But I’ll keep the tip for the future to stick to either www or no-www, thanks
October 9th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
@Vadim P: Yup, you’re fine redirecting to the non-www, the key is picking one or the other
I can’t find an example right now, but I’ve seen sites that haven’t implemented this, and when you do a site:theurl.com search in Google, you will see the exact same pages indexed twice (for example, once as www .theurl.com/services and once as theurl.com/services)
October 10th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
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October 13th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
51. Don’t use ugly unprofessional looking clipart. It’s up there with animated gifs.
Other than that pretty good list.
October 13th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
@Aidan: Ouch, point taken
October 15th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Create great copy for your website, even if it is just a little blurb on each page. Good schtuff in this article, thanks. Art
October 16th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
was curious if you would mind me republishing this list in an ebook about websites – with acknowledgement and link of course!
Please feel free to email me. Terri@tlcservicesonline.com
October 17th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
@Terri: Sounds great, I’ll get in touch with you via email.
October 18th, 2008 at 6:22 am
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October 21st, 2008 at 7:07 pm
[...] Read More… [...]
November 11th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Nice list. Printed it for easy reminder. Thanks
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:10 am
I have one to add to the list. If you website doesn’t have a blog add one.
November 24th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
use the stumble is cool
December 11th, 2008 at 5:48 am
dont knwo if its the right place to ask but, the main thing in every seo remains to be back links. but i wonder what this new feature of google search reults ranking does. any idea any one?
December 12th, 2008 at 12:46 am
@Zeeshan: Actually, one of our authors just made a post about this topic last week: http://www.seohosting.com/blog/search-engine-news/google-promote-button-and-seo/
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Tip number 50:
If you use rich media like flash or silverlight, offer the content contained within in an low tech form for devices (like mobile phones or just pc’s without the specified plugin)
For instance: if you use the quicktime vr plugin for a view of your store, also offer a 360 view jpg for those who don’t have quicktime installed.
January 10th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
In what way will the .org and .net registration and pointing help me please?
Worth the additional cost really?
Nick
January 28th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
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February 6th, 2009 at 2:22 am
Great check list.
50th. Be sure to have contact info at the bottom of each page. (Don’t make visitors waste time having to click around to find a phone number or mailing address.
That may seem oh -so -20th century but make it easy for people to actually talk to you or mail you a note).
BONUS Tip: Don’t just spell check.. it’s flawed. Make sure your content is triplechecked for grammar and punctuation.
February 9th, 2009 at 2:19 am
Tip 50: When using flash Always embed alternate content beneath the so that users who don’t have flash can view a static version or be prompted to download the flash plug-in.
February 11th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Thanks for sharing!! nice tips!
and I think a simple and use-friendly interface will gain more recognitions.
February 13th, 2009 at 11:11 am
[...] 50 Simple Tips for Improving Your Website [...]
February 17th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Really nice tips, simple but includes most important tips, I wish I knew these when I first started.
February 24th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Verry nice work. Keep it going.
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:08 am
With all the additional tips from the comments i would say that this should not just be a “50 simple tips” article.
April 15th, 2009 at 7:54 am
2. Extend the registration of your domain for at least five years.
We’ve never found that an extended renewal adds any value to the site itself and generally encourage our clients to renew two years at a time, mostly for their own convenience and comfort-level. But I’m curious why you believe a 5 year renewal is so beneficial?
April 15th, 2009 at 10:59 am
@Leanne ; the idea is that spammers don’t usually buy domains for longer than one year at a time. So it’s been perceived that domains with longer registrations tend to appear more “legit” to search engines.
April 19th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
This was an excellent refresher course in an easy to read list form. I have gone away with my own list now of things to work on. thankyou so much!
May 1st, 2009 at 3:38 pm
#50 is a modification of some mentioned.
Don’t use flash for navigation. Or keep the mobile users in mind.
My buddy’s site uses it and every time I check it out on my mobile device I have to scroll to the bottom of the site to navigate.
May 1st, 2009 at 7:36 pm
Very important tips. Funny how many sites don’t follow these things.
May 14th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Printable version please
May 15th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
@ Nick Jones – the .net and the .org registration keeps others from using them which could dilute your rankings.
May 16th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Thanks
Didnt know about 47. Label each box of any forms on your website.
May 25th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Great tips! We will go over your list as we review our own website. Thanks!
June 1st, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Great list. I’m a huge fan of htaccess/robots.txt usage.
June 6th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Great Tips! Can you expand on #30? How can I eliminate Link Exchange page without sacrificing the benefit of the inbound links it generates?
June 10th, 2009 at 1:01 am
[...] 50 Simple Tips for Improving Your Website [...]
June 25th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
i just found out that the .org and .net registration are of utmost use & they catch up with rankings pretty faster than comparative dotcoms?
Worth the additional cost really? i must say
July 5th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Good simple list of tips. Espeically for all websites, there are things you can do with WordPress but that’s a more specific list.
July 25th, 2009 at 7:37 am
These 50 tips are simple yet they are the major things to do to improve a certain website. Thanks for sharing them.
Vic
August 2nd, 2009 at 2:21 pm
Why is the .net and .org version of the website important?
August 3rd, 2009 at 3:20 am
@John Murphy,
In the event that someone types your domain name and .net or .org, you can ensure that they get to your website instead of losing them to a competitor.
August 14th, 2009 at 12:09 am
hi Chetan,
I agree that with what you have commented that many good things can be done without flash, as far as I know based of my little experience, A website that is more on flash effects, cannot be easily detect by wwww.google.com. Make your site a simple one but unique.
August 17th, 2009 at 8:00 am
Thanks for the list. This one looks really usefull and the order to prioritize could be followed (that’s sometine hardest thing with top20 list!).
50 . Using microformats for better snippets on search results
51 . Submit on local listing
September 16th, 2009 at 8:44 am
great tips here. But a MUST use test: ‘the grandmother test’. Can your grandmother use your website, does she know how to navigate it and what’s it about… If so, congrats, you’re doing a good job
September 24th, 2009 at 11:56 am
My god, i can’t read it right now..there is too long list..
allow me to bookmark this page please
thanks Tyler..
September 27th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Check out Seth Godin’s 10 website tips on his blog. Also good stuff and for the most part not represented here!
September 28th, 2009 at 11:52 am
If you don’t have a Contact Us page, create one. Put REAL, concrete, verifiable information on it (names, address, phone numbers), not just an anonymous form.
Do NOT have an anonymous-looking site – looks too much like a scammer. Do NOT have a “private” domain name.
Do a Website you are proud of, and claim it!
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Make your website content rich and only relevant content to your theme/model.
Give out quality information to readers and visitor rather than only focusing on commercial aspects.
Last but not the least ………… 'do aggressive and targeted marketing'
November 2nd, 2009 at 12:31 pm
SEO is MUST. Style of site is also critical.
TiMi
http://www.fashno.com
http://www.fashno.com
November 4th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Very good and important document. Hope this will help lots of people.
Ayushi Travel
November 19th, 2009 at 10:23 am
How many of the above tips affect display speed of your WP/ or other blog? I have read recently that if your blog is slow, then the Google Bot skips your site. Any thoughts on this issue? Also, is there a plugin or site that can measure how long does it take for your blog to display its home page?
MikeR
December 18th, 2009 at 8:09 am
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December 23rd, 2009 at 12:13 am
Hi, I just thought I would post a comment and inform you that your website layout is really screwed up on the Firefox browser. Seems to work fine in IE however. Anyways keep up the great work.
January 9th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
those are some great tips, however with time some things change and i guess a few of those tips has to be changed now for example the email is as good as gmail now
January 29th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
Very informative article. I’ve found your blog via Google and I’m really happy about the information you provide in your posts. Btw your sites layout is really broken on the Chrome browser. Would be great if you could fix that. Anyhow keep up the good work!
February 7th, 2010 at 1:41 am
When you mentioned create a help section, did you mean FAQ, Frequently Asked Questions page? That would be a good idea, like if you get a lot of emails asking the same questions, you can suggest adding a page to your site where you provide those questions and your answers to those questions! Great, Great Advice!!!! Keep up the good work!
Jarrod
March 3rd, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Whats the problem with a link exchange page?
March 4th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Really a sweet list.
Though I might sumup a lot of those simply as
Use a CMS such as wordpress or Joomla with appropriate plugins. I have used WP for a looong time and I should say I have never regretted it.
March 5th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
Very nice tips. I will apply this tips on our website. Thank you so much.