Usability – designing for people

New Web sites, particularly newly registered Internet domain names, can take many months, sometimes 6 to 12 months to become fully visible on search engines. Get something out there early, even if you are not ready for a full-on Web site.

Some businesses are in the fortunate position of not needing a Web site to help them generate business. Indeed, there is something very cool about being so good, you just don’t need a Web site.

Other businesses may have plans for a new Web site, but need to delay for budgeting reasons, or have a large project in the pipeline which could take many months to complete.

In all these cases, the new Web site could take a long time to show up in search results, particularly on Google which sandboxes new Web sites. Google considers established Web sites to be more credible and trustworthy, which directly affects how highly that site will rank in search results.

Here’s a good tip: even if you don’t need a Web site, or have plans to launch one in the future, get at least one search friendly Web page out there as soon as possible. This helps to get you established with the search engines and will pay dividends when the real Web site comes along, helping you to generate traffic sooner and achieve results quicker.

Make sure your holding page is search friendly and contains some content relevant to the business you are in. Don’t just sling up a ‘coming soon’ or ‘under construction’ page. Create something useful and relevant even if it doesn’t reveal the true identity or purpose of the site which will replace it.