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I would like to know what is the best thing to do during the time that a site is being developed. This particular site is an e-commerce one.
Right now I have my index page left completely blank, and I am not doing any marketing whatsoever... but I am wondering whether that is a mistake or not.
Considering all factors, especially search engines, what should I be doing?
Should I begin working on a splash page of some sort, submitting to search engines... or is it best to leave it as it is now?
And FYI it should probably take me anywhere from 1-2 more months to actually complete the site.
Thanks for your input.
Research can mean anything from finding sites that could potentially link to you to seeing who the top dogs are in your industry, what are the niches that you could target, etc.
Don't forget to also research your audience. There are sites that show their logs and you can see what keywords they use. Try and see if there are any newsgroups or discussion lists where potential users/customers in your industry discuss. Pay attention to what they are saying and get to know how they think.
Then once the site is developed, hire a good online copywriter (or do it yourself) to write some compelling copy based on the above research.
Good luck!
If you intend to compete on se traffic you must consider a comprehensive content strategy now- not later. The biggest problem I face is coming in after a site has been designed and being asked to make it work, as opposed to serving as a consultant through the design process.
The splash page should be much more than just a coming soon page. It should contain a lot of information about the up and coming site. During this period you can also be playing around with your keywords and metatags so the site is pretty optimised before it’s even launched. Once google has been once it will keep coming back so you can work away while the site is being finished.
If I have a large site that I know will take a couple of months to complete I admit that I upload the pages as they are completed. Putting up a half finished site has been frowned upon for many years but these days it is a great way of seeing exactly what a SE thinks of your site. During this period I also put a "last updated on" on the page so people can see you are indeed working on getting the site live.
Simon.
- confirm that designer is allowing for individual meta tagging in the catalog (ideally, you should be able to optimize the metadata for each product).
- start doing keyword research (I personally use Wordtracker.com)
- develop corresponding copy for each product that will work well with your optimized metadata
Hope this helps :)
