Using competitive research, SEO techniques and digital marketing best practices to design, implement, and analytically analyze a successful corporate website for mobile and desktop

2. The goal of this presentation is to describe the process that was used to create
a responsive website that replaced an existing corporate site located at
http://www.distributorserviceinc.com
• The steps taken can be used to design any business website
• Though the site was created by a company employee with skills and
experience in HTML code, Adobe DreamWeaver and PhotoShop as well
professional writing, the process is similar to that used by outside design
firms
• Since the November 2015 re-launch, SEO best practices have helped
increased traffic more than 2,000%

3. • Initial Project Description
– Distributor Service, Inc. is a wholesale supplier of professional wood working supplies in
eight cities in the Midwest
– The company has had an online presence since 2001
• Early versions of the site were little more than a flyer
• A 2013 revision was functional, but non responsive and not optimized for search engines
– DSI’s direct competitors are limited to its geographical footprint/territories
• Much of the competition has unresponsive websites, no SEO focus and poorly designed, incomplete pages
• One competitor in particular has a large volume of traffic and a cart-driven, on-line ordering system
– Because DSI represents several different product lines from a variety of vendors, it is
important that they all be represented and easily accessible for the visitor
• Special consideration was given to break the site down into easily digestible categories that would be familiar to the site’s
visitors
• Many categories are broken down by vendor while other commodity sections just list product
– The management’s initial goal of the new website is for it to act as tool for existing
customers. They can use it to research DSI’s products and services before calling to place
an order
• DSI has an in-house call center who take customer orders and offer product advice
• The site has a Form section where customers can request quotes on specific products
– The designer’s goal is to have DSI’s site appear above its competitors in organic searches,
thereby becoming the go-to company to call when ordering professional woodworking
supplies

4. • The first step in the process was to make an initial evaluation of the existing site
and see how it stood up against competitors sites
– Using competitive online research tools like SEMrush and SEO Quake help pinpoint weakness of
DSI’s site
– The next step was to look at competitor sites and discover theirs keyword strengths and backlinks
• The SEMrush Dashboard
shows a competitor’s site
statistics
– An estimate of a site’s organic
traffic for first two pages
– Any pay-per-click advertising
– Backlink information
– Top organic keywords along
with keyword distribution
– Organic competitors for
keywords
– Additional information

5. • A simple, responsive HTML template was begun using Adobe DreamWeaver as the
main construction tool. This template was downloaded for free and modified by DSI
• Six website sections were created and an easy-to-use horizontal bar navigation was
created
• Technical direction was provided by industry experts who also know the customers
• Home/Products
– The index page as well as the primary
access to individual product
categories
• Services
– DSI offers value added services in
addition to products
• What’s New
– This section announces new products
and can be used to post price
specials
– It will also be a portal to various
content such as industry tips,
whitepapers and eventually video
clips
• Locations
– Google maps and phone/fax contact
information for all of DSI’s eight
locations
• Contact DSI
– The DSI contact form acts as a
request for quote or question portal

6. • Google's search engine uses a variety of methods to determine which pages are displayed first in the
results. Their exact formula is a secret, but there are always a few things you can do to improve your
positioning.
1. Keyword Phrases - A keyword phrase is, generally speaking, the words you think someone is most likely to put into a
search engine to find your content. They should appear in your content. Don't overdo it. If it looks spammy, it probably is.
Again, the point here is to speak like a human and just use the words that humans are most likely to use when searching
for a page about your topic.
2. Keyword Density -One of the things Google looks for when it catalogs pages is the density of the keyword usage. In other
words, how often the keyword occurs. Use natural phrasing. Don't try to trick the search engine by repeating the same
word over and over or making text "invisible." It doesn't work.
3. Links - One of the biggest factors Google looks at is the hyperlink. Google looks at both links to and from your website.
Google looks at the words you use in links to help determine the content of your page. Use links within web pages as a
way to emphasize keywords. Rather than saying, "click here to learn more about SEO" you should say: Read more about
SEO (Search Engine Optimization).
4. Backlinks or Inbound Links- (IBL’s) are links that are directed toward your website and are the building blocks to good
Search Engine Optimization. The number of backlinks a website has is in a good indicator of its popularity or importance
with search engines. Search engines, namely Google, give more credit to websites that have a larger number of quality
backlinks and consider those websites more relevant in a search query.
5. Make Your Graphics Search Friendly - Give your images <alt> attributes. Not only does it make your website more
accessible to the visually impaired, it also gives you another chance to place your keywords where Google can see them.
Just don't stuff keywords that don't belong.
6. The Importance of an h1 Tag- The h1 is the most important tag and it should never be skipped on a page. Search spiders
pay attention to the words used in the h1 tag as it should contain a basic description of the page content, just as the page
title does.
7. Meta description tags- While not important to search engine rankings, are extremely important in gaining user click-
through from SERPs. These short paragraphs are a webmaster’s opportunity to advertise content to searchers and to let
them know exactly whether the given page contains the information they're looking for.

7. • The next few slides will show details that can be ascertained about other sites
using SEO tools such as SEMrush and SEO Quake
• Using SEO Quake, here is a look at 2-word keyword phrases used on the home
page of creativepultrusions.com. This information was obtained by clicking
“Density” on the SEO Quake toolbar
2-Keyword Phrase Repeats Density Prominence
creative pultrusions 7 2.32% 58.35%
conditions of 4 1.33% 37.31%
and conditions 4 1.33% 37.48%
terms and 4 1.33% 37.65%
availability list 4 1.33% 45.44%
structurals availability 4 1.33% 45.61%
standard structurals 4 1.33% 45.77%
pultex® standard 4 1.33% 45.94%
1 888.274.7855 3 1.00% 42.62%
alum bank 3 1.00% 26.92%
Keyword density is the percentage of
times a keyword or phrase appears on a
web page compared to the total number
of words on the page. In the context of
search engine optimization keyword
density can be used as a factor in
determining whether a web page is
relevant to a specified keyword or
keyword phrase.
hardwood lumber, wood finish,
hardwood plywood, m.l campbell, dsi is,
distributor service, plywood hardwood,
product line, panel products, the best
Keep in mind, keyword padding is not
the way to achieve good density. When
composing website text, you should
write for human readability. Paying close
attention to each word on a page can
make a difference.
DSI’s Top 10 2-word keyword phrases

8. • Finding out who your competitors for keywords are is a great way to gain an
edge. You can examine their sites, find out their keywords and add them to
your own text.
• This information is found using SEMrush’s Organic Competitor report
Domain Competitor Relevance Common Keywords Organic Keywords
libertypultrusions.com 16.55 50 419
nationalgrating.com 10.61 33 485
bedfordreinforced.com 10.44 47 903
strongwell.com 10.37 78 2574
pultrusions.org 10.19 21 63
structuralfiberglass.com 9.78 23 196
fibergrate.com 9.36 47 1285
afpfiberglass.com 7.62 17 207
unicomposite.com 7.04 15 371
pultrusionindustry.org 6.42 14 133

9. • This is the SEO Quake report
for CP’s Products and
Solutions
– The URL, Page Title and Meta
Description are highlighted with green
checkmarks. This means those
elements are SEO optimized
– The Meta Keywords icon means room
for improvement. However, a few too
many keywords do not hurt
– The <H1> tags can use improvement.
“Product Solutions” is nice, but not
descriptive. It could read “Pultrusion
Product Solutions.” Also, adding <H2>
and <H3> tags can’t hurt.
– I’ve checked and the important
images are not missing ALT tags. It
appears any missing alt tags are
unimportant.
– The amount of text can be increased
• 500-750 words on a page or at
least 250-300 unique words to set
the tone from the keywords and
co-occurrence they produce. The
idea is to use related synonyms
and supporting keywords (based
on a theme) for targeting the
keyword with that page (in the
title, h1, in the first 25 words on
the page, etc.).

10. • Meta Heading Tags
– Strong Page Title – company name along
with tagline
– Meta Description – Contains products
offered
– Meta keywords – collection of products
and services
• GEO Metatag
– Geo-tagging the site to Carnegie, PA
helps with local searches
• Google Tag Manager
– This script snippet allows for global, site-
wide changes and additions to be made
by manipulating the code at one source

11. .
• Responsive website design uses flexible layouts, flexible images and cascading style sheets so that the
layout is changed automatically for the viewer depending on which device they’re using.
• The flexibility is achieved by inserting <div classes> into the html code that are defined on a site’s
cascading style sheet. This compartmentalizes each section and allows it to resize.
• A cascading style sheet is a separate, master file that tells all pages how to treat certain code
snippets

12. • The whole purpose of a website is to provide information a visitor can use
• Without being an industry expert, a website designer must work closely with someone who is
• There must also be some type understanding about the target market and a guess as to who
they will use the website
• Since DSI distributes other’s products, the site borrowed heavily from its major vendors
Key Types of Content
• Product Selection
– Make it clear what you sell and
provide an easy pathway for a
visitor to view your inventory
• Value Added Services
– Does your business offer services?
Like in advertising, have a clear
USP and define why it is valuable
• Technical Information
– Are your visitors looking for MSDS
sheets, blueprints or technical
data?
– Is there legal verbiage that is
important to visitors?
• Additional Content

13. • Google Analytics doesn’t just give you a page tracker count, it highlights how your visitors are finding your
site and lets you know what there're looking for. This view is sorted by “Entrances.”
– Pageviews is the total number of pages viewed. Repeated views of a single page are counted.
– Unique Pageviews is the number of sessions during which the specified page was viewed at least once.
– Entrances is the number of times visitors entered your site through a specified page or set of pages.
– Bounce Rate is the percentage of single-page visits (i.e. visits in which the person left your site from the entrance page without
interacting with the page).

14. Define the project and its goals
Evaluate your site vs. competition
Create your sties design concept
Keep in mind SEO best practices
Write with keyword density and readability
Check out competitors for keywords
Pay attention to SEO Quake analysis
Include meta tags and descriptions
What makes a site responsive?
Compiling useful content
The importance of Google Analytics