原文: 25 Ways To Improve Your Site Today

Yes, the title may look like this post should be on an amateur blog and that it will be full of references to clip art and animated gifs, but this is serious. I’ve compiled a list of what I think are 25 ways to improve your website in as little time as possible. All can be done in a matter of minutes. Now, a website is hard work and usually there are no quick fixes but this list should provide you with a few pointers to make some updates today. If you like, it can also be used as a basis for a quality check document.

Usability/Accessibility

Because it matters. If people can’t use your site, they won’t stay.

1. Navigation: Ensure that your navigation is easy to use and consistent. You may be able to use it, but could a newcomer find the information they desire?
2. Search: If you don’t have a search box, then why not? Sometimes navigation isn’t enough. It may not be a 5 minute job to add a custom search facility, but it is extremely quick to add a third party search like Google’s.
3. Click here: Why? Change this phrase everywhere on your site. It doesn’t make sense out of context. The user has to read the whole paragraph (which they probably won’t) to understand why they should click there. Consider phrases like “Download the profit/loss graph” or “Listen to the podcast entitled food for thought.”
4. Title & Alt Attributes: Use them how they are supposed to be used. If you haven’t used any at all, then a quick fix will be to start adding them to navigation and other elements on every page.
5. General: If you’ve got any code snippets that could annoy the user, like resizing browser windows or opening new pages in a new window, then remove them. Just because you like something a particular way, your users may not. Don’t take over their desktop.

Search Engine Optimisation - SEO

Because you want to be found. (On-page tips only here)

1. Titles: Add consistent, relevant but different titles (title tag) to every page in your site. If you already have titles, check that they are short and describe the content of the page.
2. Link around: Internal links to your pages (I’m thinking from the body copy here) are just as important as external links. Besides the usability gain, you have the unique opportunity of specifying your link and title text.
3. Strengthen keywords: Probably the quickest thing you can do. Highlight some keywords and phrases and add a strong tag (bold) around them. This shouldn’t be overused but can provide some positive results if used sparingly.
4. Headers: The correct use of headers (in a semantic, logical manner) can produce fantastic results. The H1 tag is the most important - try using some keywords in there.
5. Overkill: It seems whenever I speak to someone about SEO and give them some tips, they go way overboard. This can really ruin all the hard work you’ve done for the user. So remember, optimise with the user in mind. And stay away from dodgy SEO stuff - every time you use black-hat SEO, a kitten steps on broken glass.

Design/Development Process

Design is our passion. Let it show.

1. Images: By all means create beautiful images, but don’t forget to optimise them for the web. You may have a quick connection - not everybody does.
2. Design comes from scratch(pad): Don’t necessarily fire up your graphics editor before thinking about the design. It can only take 10 minutes to draw (you know - pencil and paper) various layouts and wireframe the design. Doing this will make you think more about placement of elements and less about the aesthetics.
3. Contrast/Text-size: Ensure that contrast levels and text sizes are ‘acceptable’ - There are no golden figures (although recommendations are available) to aim for but at least check with other people using different setups. Just because you have perfect 20:20 vision doesn’t mean that anyone can read your site.
4. Consistency: There’s nothing worse (OK - an exaggeration, yes) than a website that doesn’t function consistently. A user can find it hard enough to learn how a website is put together without having to remember all the little quirks and foibles on your site.
5. Testing: Check (or get others to check) the site under as many conditions as possible. Try to do this every time the site has a significant update. It’s worth it as it only takes a minute or two.

Content

That’s why people visit the site.

1. Text/Whitespace: There’s a big trap that often people fall into. Whitespace. How many times have you heard “we need to fill that space and cram the text in a bit more” ? More text in a single area isn’t a good thing. It can make it harder and less enjoyable to read the content. It you had a shop would you cram as many products in as possible? No. You’d let them have space so they get noticed. Do the same with your text.
2. Write for your audience: Can people understand your text? Think about your audience and reword those confusing sentences.
3. Corporate Boasting: Which is more useful ~ “We provide 200 megaunits of wobble-sprockets to our worldwide, global markets” ~ or ~ “We can provide a wobble-sprocket to you anywhere in the world.” Speak to the reader and engage them. Don’t waffle.
4. Use interest: If someone has read an article or item of content, then it is fair to assume that they were interested. Instead of leaving them high-and-dry after an article, point them somewhere related, whether it be another article or a product perhaps.
5. Objectives: When writing content, make a little mental note of what your goal is for the page (e.g. encourage registration) and try to guess what the users goal is (e.g. to get at information.) Match the two (e.g. “to find this information simply sign up”) and you’re golden.

Off-Site

Because it’s not all about you.

1. Hang out: For reasons surrounding traffic and respect. Go to forums, blogs and portals within your niche and hang out. Offer advice, link up with people and gain respect. Doing this for 10 minutes a day will improve your image and lead to quality, niche-lead traffic. A bonus. Oh, and don’t spam your community.
2. Learn: As well as handing out advice, listen. Whether it be listening to colleagues, competition or potential clients you are bound to learn an awful lot just by witnessing other people’s actions.
3. Encourage viral promotion: Not particularly in a gimmicky-email-newsletter fashion (that takes budget and time) but in a social fashion. Tell your friends and colleagues (and clients if relevant) something unique about you, your company or website and chances are they’ll pass it on. 5 minutes of blabbering could lead to heaps of traffic.
4. Be yourself: When interacting online, don’t conform to internet stereotypes - just be yourself. Doing this will mean that you are natural when interacting online and more likely to take a similar approach as you would offline. So, take your offline business ways online.
5. Spam: As in don’t spam. Every time you spam, you are adding disrespect to your own company/site. It’s the real-world equivalent of pushing a leaflet into a potential customer’s mouth.

And there we go. I hope this list is useful and has shown you how easy it is to improve various aspects of your website and its marketing. This isn’t exhaustive by any means - as I said earlier it takes effort and time to really get your site near-perfect. Evolution is the key: tweak, feedback, measure and repeat. Oh, and before you go looking, no, I don’t always practice what I preach!

译文: 25 种能马上改善网站、提高浏览量的方法

这是我为了在最短时间内改善网站、提高浏览量而编制出的一份清单，只需要几分钟，你就可以按照这 25 条对你的网站做出修改，提高浏览量（我修改后，浏览量提高了不少）：

实用性/方便浏览

如果人们不能方便的使用你的网站，他们就不会对你的网站产生兴趣。

1 . 网站导航 ： 你的网站导航要易于使用。你要确保新访问者能够通过你的网站导航简单方便并且快速的找到他所要的内容。

2 . 搜索框 ： 如果你没有一个搜索框，我建议你最好加一个上去，导航有时是不够用的。加一个搜索框可能要很久，但如果像我一样在网站上加入 google 搜索框这种第三方搜索框却是很快的。

3 . 点击这里 ： 把你网站上所有的 “点击这里” 都改掉，访问者不会通过点击 “点击这里”来了解里面的内容，最好用 下载的盈利/亏损图 或 每个月的文章归档 等代替 “点击这里”。

4 . Title & Alt Attributes ： 如果你还没有使用它，最好现在就使用，并把它加入导航页等一切页面。这里还有一篇详细说明：Proper Use of ALT and TITLE Attributes 。

5 . 通用性 ： 如果你网站上有一些不好的代码，例如：设置浏览器窗口大小、在新的窗口打开新的页面等，这可能会使访问者感到反感，最好把他们去掉。

搜索引擎优化 - SEO

1 . 标题 ： 在你的各个页面发入相关但不相同的标题（ tag ），检查它们是不是简短并能够表达文章的内容。

2 . 内部链接 ： 在你的网页内多使用内部链接，这个外部链接是一样重要的。

3 . 加强关键词 ： 这可能是最容易的事了。加强一些关键词和短语，加上一些特别的标签（ 比如说 加粗字体 和 斜体 ），不过这也不能使用的过于频繁。

4 . Headers ： 正确使用报头（ 在语义、逻辑上 ）也可产生意想不到的效果。H1 是很重要的，尽量用一些关键词。

5 . 请勿过度 SEO 。

设计/开发过程

1 . 外观/图片 ： 尽你最大的努力使你的网站看起来美观漂亮，但是不要忘记，这些 外观/图片 要适合你的网站，而且还要考虑到网络速度方面的问题，不是每个人的网络都像你一样快。

4 . 独特性 ： 从功能上要有自己的独特性，现在有很多网站，如果你没有自己的独特性，要别人记住你是很难的。

5 . 测试 ： 在你的网站每次做出重大修改后，都要通过各种方式测试你的网站，越多方式越好。

网站内容

1 . 内容和空白处 ： 你是不是经常听到这句话：“我们要填充这个空白处，这样可容纳的文字会多一点”。记住，不是越多的文字越好，太多的文字会可以阅读者产生不愉快的情绪，就像一家服装店，如果里面堆的满满的衣服，你爱去逛吗?

2 . 为你的读者写文章 ： 别人是不是能理解你的文章？想想你的读者，改掉一些混乱的句子，使语言通俗易懂。

3 . 把你网站的特点明确的写出来 ： 如：我们能提供全球市场的……或我们能为你在世界上任何地方提供……

4 . 寻找读者的爱好 ： 寻找你文章里最受欢迎的，找出读者的爱好。

5 . 把你的目标加入文章中 ： 在写作的内容里加入心理暗示，使读者注意到你想要达到的目标（ 例如想要读者登记 ），尝试去猜测用户的目标是什么 ( 例如看资料 )，在你的内容里加入相应的暗示（ 要找到这些资料只需要简单的注册一下 ）等。

在你的网站以外

1 . 和其它人交流 ： 去论坛，博客和门户网站与人交流，为别人出主意，这可以建立一个良好的形象，每天 10 分钟，会带来意想不到的效果。

2 . 学习 ： 多听取意见，无论是同仁、竞争者或潜在客户。

3 . “病毒式”推广 ： 通过电子邮件通讯的方式把你的网站内容告知你身边的人，注意：只是你认识的人。

4 . 做回你自己 ：

5 . 不要进行真的病毒式推广 ： 这样会破坏你网站的形象。