From Clicks to Clients: 5 Ways to Optimize Your Website

Creating a website that’s both user-friendly and search-engine-optimized might sound overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. By focusing on a few key strategies, you can ensure your site performs well, engages visitors, and supports your business goals.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine an existing site, these five essentials will help you build a strong foundation for online success.

1. Keyword Strategy

You probably already know what keywords are—they’re the words or phrases we type into Google to find what we’re looking for. For business owners, keywords are the terms most relevant to your business and the services or products you offer.

A keyword strategy involves using those words strategically in your content to improve how Google ranks your website. But it’s not as simple as just picking a few words and sprinkling them into your text.

A good keyword strategy requires research. You need to find words that are relevant to your business, understand how often people search for them, and assess how competitive they are—meaning how many other sites are using those same keywords.

When done well, a solid keyword strategy can boost your ranking and bring more traffic to your site—ideally, the righttraffic, if you’ve chosen the right keywords.

Think about how people search on Google. My husband, for example, typically types one or two words and scans through the results. I, on the other hand, tend to use longer, more specific phrases—and honestly, I usually find what I’m looking for faster.

This is similar to how keyword strategies work.

Let’s say you sell flowers. You might assume “flowers + your city” is a good keyword, and it probably is. But if it’s highly competitive, it might be harder to rank for that term.

That’s where long-tail keywords come in. These are longer, more specific phrases that mimic how potential clients search. They can give you a better chance of showing up in search results. For example, instead of “flowers in Marin County,” you might use phrases like “inexpensive flowers in Marin” or “most elegant florist in Marin.”

Of course, research is essential. If you decide to target “inexpensive flowers in Marin,” your flowers should actually be affordable. Otherwise, visitors will quickly leave your site, which can hurt your ranking more than it helps.

Accuracy and relevance are key when it comes to keywords. Put yourself in your potential clients’ shoes—what might they type into Google to find a business like yours? Research which keywords are highly competitive and look for less competitive alternatives that might work better for your goals.

2. Site Usability

Getting people to your site is only half the battle—you need to keep them there. That’s where content and user experience become essential.

When visitors land on your site, what’s their first impression? Does your site load quickly? Is the mobile experience just as good as the desktop version, or does it fall short?

If your site takes too long to load, or if it’s hard to navigate, visitors may leave within seconds. And here’s the kicker—search engines notice this. A high bounce rate signals to Google that your site might not be providing value, making it less likely to recommend your site in future searches.

To keep visitors engaged:

• Make sure your site loads quickly. Slow-loading pages are a major turn-off.

• Optimize for mobile. More people browse on their phones than ever before, and a poor mobile experience can cost you potential customers.

• Ensure your content is clear, relevant, and easy to find. People should immediately understand what your business offers and how it meets their needs.

A seamless, user-friendly experience can keep visitors on your site longer, increasing the chances they’ll take action—and improving your site’s ranking in the process.

3. Imagery

Beautiful, well-crafted images are a must for any website. Visitors want visuals that are meaningful, contextual, and tell a story. But having stunning images isn’t enough—they also need to be optimized for search engines.

Here’s why: if your images are too large, they can slow down your site’s load time, frustrating users and hurting your ranking. And if Google doesn’t know what your images are—because they’re not labeled or tagged properly—your site won’t rank as high as it could.

For example, as a web designer in Marin County, I might upload an image of a website I’ve designed. A smart approach would be to label the image with relevant, descriptive text, like: “responsive-website-design-for-marin-county-small-business.jpg.” This tells Google what the image is about, where it’s from, and its context.

However, it’s important to avoid keyword stuffing—repeatedly using the same keyword in every image tag, like “marin-web-designer.” Overdoing it can backfire. Google may flag your tags as spammy or irrelevant, which can hurt your ranking.

The key is to strike a balance:

• Use descriptive, accurate image names and alt tags that reflect the content and purpose of the image.

• Avoid repetitive or generic labels that don’t add value.

• Optimize your image sizes to keep your site fast and user-friendly.

When your images are properly optimized, they enhance both user experience and your site’s visibility, helping you tell your story in a way that resonates with visitors and ranks well with search engines.

4. Optimized Design Elements

Pop-ups to collect emails, videos, scrolling animations—these design elements can add value to your website. They can engage visitors, highlight key information, and make your site more dynamic.

But too much of a good thing can backfire. Overloading your site with too many interactive or moving elements can overwhelm users and, worse, slow down your site’s performance. And as we discussed above, a slow site frustrates visitors and can negatively affect your search engine ranking.

To make the most of design elements, apply them thoughtfully:

• Choose impact over quantity: Only include elements that serve a clear purpose and enhance the user experience.

• Test site performance: Regularly check your site’s speed and usability to ensure these features aren’t causing slowdowns.

• Keep it user-friendly: Ensure elements like pop-ups or animations are unobtrusive and don’t disrupt navigation.

The goal is to strike the right balance: create a site that’s engaging and visually appealing without sacrificing usability or performance. Thoughtful design choices can keep visitors on your site longer, improve their experience, and ultimately boost your rankings.

5. Valuable Content

The most important thing you can do for your business, your users, and your SEO is to create valuable content. Let me say it again: the single most important thing you can do is provide content that matters to your audience.

When people land on your site, high-quality content keeps them there longer, which improves your SEO. But even more importantly, valuable content builds trust and encourages visitors to take action—whether that’s making a purchase, signing up for your services, or simply reaching out. After all, isn’t that the main purpose of your website?

Don’t get so caught up in the technical details that you lose sight of your “why.” Why did you start your business? What expertise do you bring to the table?

 Don’t be shy.  Share your expertise with the world.