Increasing Traffic To Your Site

Now that you have a sense of how many people are visiting your site and what they're interested in, you're probably wondering how you can encourage more visitors. After all, you've put a lot of effort into getting your site online, and it deserves attention! There are two factors that drive people to your site: its quality and quantity of content. If you work to continually improve your site in these areas, you'll achieve this goal.

Focus on quality

Quality content is relevant. If you're developing a site for the Chemistry Department, try to think of topics, information, and materials that visitors will want to know about. These could range from course documents to audio or video clips, to descriptions of lab equipment or resources.

Quality content is also useful. For example, interactive applications such as searchable databases, directories, and Frequently Asked Questions all build user loyalty because they perform functions that makes visitors' lives easier.

Finally, quality content is unique. If your site contains information found nowhere else, people will seek it out. Fortunately, most web developers at Boston University are, by nature of their work, putting unique information on the Web: there aren't multiple Boston University Department of Chemistry sites competing for visitors, for example.

Quality also implies quality of experience. A well-designed interface, visually appealing graphics, working links, and attention to writing style and grammar make your site attractive. Some other suggestions for achieving the highest quality pages possible:

• Use alt attribute for image tags. This adds more searchable text on your pages, as well as providing a way for low-bandwidth and visitors with screen readers to better access your content. Make certain that the alt attribute text is descriptive of the link destination. Ideally, the alt attribute should contain relevant keywords. Don't use the same words for your alt attribute throughout the page!
  
• Avoid using Flash for navigation or complete sites. Sites completely created in Flash are not indexed by search spiders, effectively eliminating referrals from search engines--your most likely source of new visitors.
  
• Check your HTML for errors. And, when creating text links, try to include keywords. Avoid text links such as Click here!
  
• Avoid using frames, as many search spiders can't read them without correct <noframes> tags.
  
• Be consistent. Try not to move content around, and if you do be sure to provide redirect pages to the new page locations. Otherwise, you'll frustrate visitors who return to the site only to be unable to find the information they came for. You'll also break the links other sites have made to yours -- and recall that your site's importance is in large part determined by the number and type of sites linking to it.