For those of you who are developing a website or revamping one, there are some terms you might not be familiar with but are vital to your website design and content.
HTTPS
Until recently, most website URLs, or Uniform Resource Locators, contained the prefix HTTP, which is short for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Google has been notifying website owners of the impending change from HTTP to HTTPS, which adds the word “Secure” to the end of the abbreviation.
I recently spoke with a Google representative at a local event hosted by Google and Mockingbird Marketing. The rep told me that in the near future, Google will label websites without the HTTPS protocol as unsecure.
What this means is that your website will undoubtedly receive less traffic because people will heed the warning and go elsewhere. The HTTPS protocol relates to your website’s SSL certificate, which is covered in the next entry.
SSL Certificate
SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It is a website certificate that authenticates the identity of your website and provides a padlock symbol in the URL. It encrypts sensitive data typed on your website, for example, via a contact information form. Visit Letsencrypt.org for information.
Mobile Responsiveness
Chances are your clients are accessing your website using a mobile device. Mobile responsiveness changes the layout of your website based on the device accessing it.
Google is improving its algorithm to crawl the web looking for mobile responsive content first, which will impact SEO for content that is not mobile responsive. Next up, SEO.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization, SEO, helps your website appear in organic searches using key words and phrases along with other ways to rank “above the fold.” SEO requires a separate article.
Above the Fold
“Above the fold” is used by the newspaper industry, referring to content that appears on the top half of the folded newspaper. For websites, it is any content that appears on screen before the reader scrolls down.
Call to Action
A Call to Action is a way to prompt the reader to do something by using buttons or language like “To sign up for a free consultation …” or “To talk to an attorney now … .”
Cross Linking
Cross linking imbeds hyperlinks in your website’s content to other content on your website. Visitors can find content more easily and spend more time on your website.
Bounce Rate
Bounce rate refers to the percentage of website visitors who leave a website without clicking through to any other page on a website.
Unique Visitors
A unique visitor is someone who visits a website during a particular analytics reporting period. This visitor is counted once no matter how often the person visits within that reporting period.
Page Views
A page view tells you that someone has looked at that page; however, it does not tell you whether the person read everything or what content the person found most intriguing.
Get to know the terms associated with your website and marketing. Be informed and involved.