Why Tableless Design Is Good For SEO
The feud between designers who prefer building sites with tables and those who go tableless (using the DIV tags) is cooling off. No one is claiming victory, no one admitting defeat, but it does seem like the table-less designers have the upper hand now. One convincing way of winning over former table users is educating them as to why tableless design is good for SEO. The bottom line for most sites is usually rank- and/or sales-related success, and that’s what SEO does. Therefore, whatever is good for SEO work and deployment is good for business.
It is not that you cannot build great table-based sites, of course. There are definitely some advantages to using tables, especially in the construction end of things, the main one being that they take a lot less time than DIV-based ones. There is also the fact that table sites are more widely compatible, looking good in a range of browsers. The DIV-ers will counter by saying that ease of use and basic compatibility are not the determining factors. Once again, is the site working better or not, and is it working in the sense of achieving your goals for it (which for many firms simply means conversions, or sales).
Table talk
Table layouts trade ease of use for, quite simply, a little bit of a mess. That is, they create what webmasters call junk code. In addition, the separation of design from data that is the hallmark of DIV-based layouts is among the several reasons that the feuding referred to above is on the wane. It has been pretty well established that tableless designs are more difficult to execute, but not so difficult as to make it too costly or problematic. If you can learn how to place DIV tags in accord with your CSS definitions, you can certainly learn how to do tableless designs.
Tableless designs are search engine-friendly, and have a positive effect on your SEO strategies and tactics because the main file is not larded up with layout-related definitions. These exist separately in the CSS file and do not interfere with or complicate the layout itself. Sure, there are plenty of high-ranking sites that are built with tables, but there are many variables at work to affect ranking and without intense study and analysis there is no way to assert that having or not having tables is the vital factor. However, it certainly is an important one, for the reasons set out in this article.
Multiple advantages
One of the great things about DIV-based layouts is the ease with which you can change the look of an entire Web site by revising the definitions in your CSS file. There are several places on the Internet, such as CSSZenGarden.com, where you can get a dramatic demonstration of how easy this is to accomplish. Seeing the pages morph quickly between designs (and quite different ones, too) is a very compelling argument in favor of tableless design. Besides the direct benefits, tableless design also indirectly benefits your SEO efforts by allowing site updates, revisions and additions to be accomplished speedily.
When you learn to use the various DIV tags and control your layouts, you also get increased compatibility across a wide range of browsing devices, not just computers. We are already far past the point where optimizing either content or designs for PCs alone makes any sense, as the variety of mobile devices (phones, iPads, iPods, netbooks, etc.) is increasing daily and the most successful sites will be those that are accessible to the most devices and most people. It does take some effort to learn how to do tableless design, but there is no question that the payoff is huge so the investment in time and effort does pay off.
Bottom line
There is an almost infinite number of variables affecting how your Web site will rank, as well as how much your content and SEO efforts have to do with it. However, the table vs. tableless feud has gone on long enough to make a few things pretty clear. The major advantage, as mentioned above, is the removal of layout-related code to a separate file, keeping the design efficient and allowing search engine spiders easier access to the important item without a lot of muss and fuss. Muss and fuss always translate into wasted time and slow page loads, other negatives of the table model that you can now avoid. You may need to invest some time and effort in learning new ways to do what you used to do with tables, but the results will be worth it.
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Hurdles To Your Buy Process
The marketplace today is highly competitive. Getting customers’ attention and capturing their interest in your products or services are challenging tasks. It stands to reason, therefore, that the last thing you would want is glitches in your system when your customers come to make the actual purchases. Having hurdles in your buy process could be the difference between making or losing a sale. It is therefore important to be aware of possible hurdles and know how to avoid them. It is also essential that you understand why there should be as few hurdles as possible in your buy process if you want to grow your business. Keeping customers happy is a sure way to increase your sales, and reducing buying hurdles is a positive way to do this.
What Customers Are Looking for in a Buy Process
While different people shop in different ways, there are few general aspects to buying that are similar no matter what your buying personality is. Whether you have a retail shop or an online store, you need to know what your customer wants so when they enter your store, you can make a sale to them. In your store, you will probably have specific types of products. You may carry only one brand or several types of a particular product. That is not what is important. Rather customers must be able to easily find your products. If you have a physical retail shop, you should have aisles or departments posted so customers know where to look for items. Ideally, you should also have sales people on hand to assist customers should they require help. Products should be clearly displayed so customers can evaluate their options.
If it is a technical item, it is usually a good idea to have the specifications on a piece of cardboard on the display. If the product is functional, customers will appreciate a demonstration of the product. For example, if it is a stereo system, they will want to hear the clarity of sound and see the different features. The price must be clearly marked. Most retail stores use barcode systems and this can be frustrating for customers if the price is only featured on the shelves. Sometimes customers may not know if the shelf price refers to the products above or below the shelves.
When it comes to making payment, customers want to be able to have a choice of paying by credit card, debit card or cash. If you do not have the facilities to accept credit cards, you may lose out on the sale. Once the purchase has been made, customers will want a receipt as proof of purchase. This is especially important when the item has a warranty that is time specific.
Why You Need to Streamline Your Buy Process
If a customer is making a purchase online and the system fails, most likely they will simply logout and go and purchase the item elsewhere. Unless you have a truly unique product, customers will be able to purchase the item easily from someone else. Even if they have to pay a little more, most often they won’t mind doing that if they known that the buy process is hassle-free. The main reason is that at the checkout phase, the customer has already decided to make the purchase. It is the actual decision-making process that takes the greatest amount of time and effort. Once the decision has been made, customers want to be able to get their product. If they can’t, they will get frustrated and be less inclined to purchase from you. For this reason, it is also important that you can accept different forms of payment.
The Importance of Accepting Card Payments
Studies show that almost 75 percent of all purchases are made using credit cards. If you do not have credit card facilities, this could be a serious hurdle in your buy process. Regardless of whether customers are shopping online or in a physical store, if they are told that their card is not an acceptable form of payment,the chances are that they will leave the items and shop instead where their credit cards are accepted. The simpler your buy process and the fewer hurdles in it, the more chance you have of dramatically increasing your sales. Make buying easy for customers. Give them detailed information on your products, have accurate pricing and make it easy for them to pay. In doing this, you will be reducing buying hurdles for your customers.
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