If you’re reading this blog on our site, congratulations—you’re visiting an Outstanding Website according to the 2016 WebAwards!
That’s right—the WebAwards have awarded us an ‘Outstanding Website’ achievement!
The WebAwards is an annual competition that recognizes the best and most effective websites. It’s basically like a website Hall of Fame, curated by a panel of volunteer judges. We were graciously chosen for the award because we not only meet their high standards of quality but represent them.
Considering this award follows our being named a finalist for SEO Agency of the Year, 2016 is turning out to be one of our best years yet.
Read on to find out what went into us receiving this prestigious award.
What Does ‘Outstanding Website’ Mean?
First, it helps to understand what the WebAwards look for in a website. Their judging process looks at seven different factors that define the best of the best:
- Design
- Innovation
- Content
- Technology
- Interactivity
- Copywriting
- Ease of Use
As you can see, no one factor goes into an Outstanding Website. Each one is an essential piece of the puzzle in figuring out what websites people (and search engines like Google) like best. Not anyone can dominate, or the other parts will be left lacking. And for most of the web, this is the case.
For example, a lot of time and resources may have been put toward a website’s appearance, with lots of eye-popping graphics and smooth, parallax scrolling. However, the pages may not have any content whatsoever, which isn’t good if you want search engines to pick the site up.
For the 2016 WebAwards, each of these factors is judged on a 10-point scale; websites with 60 points or higher were eligible for Outstanding Website awards.
How We Won the Award
It’s easy to look at the list of factors then look at our site and say, “yup, that covers everything.” But there’s a lot more to an excellent website than meets the eye. To truly meet the WebAwards’ standards, a website can’t just have “innovation;” it needs execution. A website can’t just have “copywriting;” the writing needs to be there for a reason.
Here are the things we use to create a site that’s built to serve people and search engines to the best of its capacity.
Page speed. We’ll never get tired saying how much better faster websites are than slower ones. Page speed is the thing holding most sites back from being outstanding. That’s because people who click on your site won’t bother staying if the page doesn’t load in under 3 seconds.
We’ve spent a ton of time making sure the SEO Inc. website loads super quickly. We did this by getting all our pages on a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and reducing the Time to First Byte to under a second. How’s that for fast?
Thematic architecture. The organization is essential, both when moving a visitor toward making a purchase and before they even get to your site. With so much demanding people’s attention while they browse, your visitors need to be able to find what they’re looking for easily. Equally important is putting pages in the order in a way that Google understands. Thematic architecture accomplishes both by grouping related pages together in a way that is neat and organized. Categories should show an easy-to-understand hierarchy, with internal linking to support it.
Keyword research. Keywords are the backbone of every webpage on SEO Inc. No piece of content is created without a solid keyword strategy behind it. We incorporate our keywords seamlessly into our page content—no keyword stuffing here! We also utilize LSI keywords and synonyms to ensure even farther reach.
Thank You, 2016, WebAwards!
We’ve worked hard on our site to ensure our visitors have a pleasant experience. We’ve also put a tremendous effort toward making sure our site gets seen using white hat SEO. It just so happens that when you accomplish both you’ve got an Outstanding Website on your hands!
A big ‘thank you’ to the 2016 WebAwards for honoring us with the award. We’ll be sure to work just as hard next year to earn this again!
As for you, dear reader, stay tuned to find out how we fare at the Landy Awards later this month!
