Looks matter, that’s all there is to it. Textbooks say that a user will judge a site in the first 7 seconds (visible or not!). If your site is confusing, or appears to be misleading, out of date, untrustworthy or displeasing for any other reason, the visitor gives you the axe. Personally, I think this window of opportunity continues to shrink and that it’s probably decreased to somewhere between 3-5 seconds.
What do you look for in a website? A well designed trustworthy logo? The information that you are looking for, right at your fingertips? Of course, we all do. The graphics should be sharp, and clear but also optimized. Large, intricate graphics will take much more than 5-7 seconds to load, and should be minimized wherever possible.
Fast paced web users are faced with dredging through endless stacks of information. Do you think anyone ever gets to page 243 of their Google search, much less page 200,389,001? If the information on your site is well written with the appropriate key words and is well organized, you will retain readers that are browsing for your subject matter. If I run a design website, I wouldn’t be posting copy or blogging about the latest Tupperware models. Users trust that your text copy (web lingo for "content") will be useful and up to date. The more they see this, the more trust and power your brand name and website will capture and retain.
This won’t work miracles, because SEO is so multi-faceted that even the pros have to constantly monitor search engine trends… but it may help if your content is not up to par.
First, define what keywords your customers are searching for. Using free tools such as Google Adwords Keyword Tool you can really hone in on popular search terms for your market. Then, evaluate your pages and see how often you use these keywords. Structure matters, so using these hot-button keywords in page titles, headers, and subsequent headers assures Google that your information really does pertain to your industry.
