It’s much said that humanity looks to have lost its common sense. This just isn’t true, but it would be eager if people chucked common sense when starting a site. Common sense has no place in the design process!

Common sense suggests that the first step in designing a website is…to design the site! In this case, common sense takes a fall. The last step in starting a website is the design. The first step is to research. The second is using the research to create a layout. The third step is planning out your optimization. Then, and only then, should the website be built. Let’s take a closer look.

Research is all about figuring out what keywords your prospects are using on the web. Keywords are simply the phrase being typed into search engines for various subjects. For example, the keyword phrase on this page is “website designing and optimization” and a couple hundred people type it into search engines each day. The best tool for research is Wordtracker.. Before you go running off to do research, however, we need to discuss how to use it.

Undoubtedly, you have a very strong opinion about what your prospects are searching for and want. You are undoubtedly wrong. Sorry, but it has been proven over and over again. People type in the strangest things when searching for things on the web. You should use Wordtracker to identify the exact phrases being typed. You should then look for trends. As those trends appear, you should start laying out your site. Each trend should have its own section on the site. Don’t fight the results of the research. You want to sell to your prospects, so make sure your site layout matches the subjects they are looking for on the net.

Optimizing your site is not the easiest of tasks. In fact, it goes well beyond the scope of this article. Nonetheless, the important thing to realize is that you must have an optimization plan in place before the site is built. Optimization techniques are like the electrical wiring in a skyscraper. Once they are in place, it takes a lot of effort, time and money to change them. Get it right from the outset. Once you do that, you are ready to actually build your site.

Website designing and optimization should be done in concert with one another. If you can avoid building a site before even thinking about optimization, you will be far ahead of most sites on the web.