10 Simple Things To Check To Rapidly Improve Your web Site Performance

1. 10) Ads Integration

1.1. Avoid having too many promotion or advertising areas on your page. Readers prefer a quiet and focused experience without too many non-relevant distractions.

1.2. Integrate ads as how you would for a new content component. Don't just throw them there. Design the space around them and make them appear integrated inside your page design. Instead of interrupting make them become a prestigious resource area to check.

2. 6) Navigation - can one easily find other relevant content on your site?

2.1. On internal content pages, how easy it is for the reader to easily find more related, relevant content on the same topic as the one she has just read?

2.2. Are you naming your content categories in a clear and consistent way? Having too many is detrimental and not naming them effectively can really penalize your visibility on major search engines.

3. 7) Content Legibility

3.1. Make your content highly readable and optimized for screen reading.

3.2. Use lots of chunking and employ bold and links to highlight key points.

3.3. Use a larger font size unless your readers are all teenagers.

4. 8) Content Titling and SEO factors

4.1. The way you title your web site pages and content articles is critically important.

4.2. Do not use a newspaper-like publishing strategy

4.3. Target what users are searching for and use Google tools to find out

5. 9) Content Distribution

5.1. Make sure you provide above-the-fold, easy to see and access buttons for subscribing to your content by both email or RSS

5.2. Provide a clearly readable content license at the bottom of all of your content pages

6. 1) Size of your identity banner

6.1. Is it taking away too much vertical space for nothing?

6.2. Does it say clearly what you are about?

7. 2) Name and mission of your site - are these immediately visible?

7.1. Can the reader tell right away what your site is about?

7.2. Can the reader do this both on home page and internal pages?

8. 3) Is there content above the fold?

8.1. The "above the fold" area is what you see on screen without having to scroll down the page - this is what most people will see

8.2. Avoid having too many ads or other non-content elements pushing down your content below visibility. Most people will NOT scroll unless they first read something that interests them.

9. 4) Is your layout clean and professionally-looking?

9.1. Do you have one hundred and one things calling for attention?

9.2. Group key related items together and mute or drop all that is not key - less is more from a user viewpoint

10. 5) Credibility and reputation factors on-site - check them all!

10.1. Make sure you have a good About page that is up to date and which provides some real information about the PEOPLE, behind your site.

10.2. Provide easy to find information about where you are located or where you can be reached - everytime that it is possible offer multiple alternative ways to contact you

10.3. Display discretely but consistently article author's name and last name, date of publication

10.4. Do provide for all images and other content sources you may have cited or re-used in your content