3min read

Websites vs Trees: Close Cousins?

by Article by Rachel Begg Rachel Begg | March 28, 2013 at 4:43 PM
Website VS TreesDid you know, the average U.S. Internet user views 2,750 web pages per month. 10.3 billion Google searches are conducted every month.

How many pages has your website? 5? 10? 50? If you answered 5, then you’re in good company. Most new websites start out as small tree saplings with as few as 5 little twig branches/pages, typically: home, about us, contact, products/services, pricing.

At Impulse Creative, our agency would consider this setup the main branches of your website. Next, we would ask you to dig a bit deeper. Remember those 10.3 billion Google searches per month? How many of those do you think are for your product or services?

Often we are asked, β€œWhat can I do to make sure that people in my target market are finding MY product or service?” Our best bet is: give a lot of TLC and nurturing to your little website sapling, until it resembles a sturdy tree and gets a larger share of Internet search hits on each page. We recommend plenty of strong branches that branch into smaller limbs – each with an adequate number of beautiful leafs.

Why? For once, because Google LOVES large websites. As larger your website/tree is, as more authority Goggle gives you. Now, how do you grow your little website sapling into a large tree with strong branches and a crown of lush leaves? Our best advice: become a resource for your prospective customer.

To get there, let’s go back to the tree analogy. As we know, a healthy tree consists of deep roots, a sturdy trunk, strong main branches, plenty of smaller limbs, and many many leaves. However, when you look at a healthy tree, what do you see first? Right, the attractive leafs!

See, these leafs are how search engines and Internet users will find your services. And this is how you should view your website: envision each of your individual webpages as one leaf, and use each leaf to focus on only ONE aspect of your business. Make sure that you fully describe how buying the product from your, rather from your competitors, better fulfills the customer’s needs. Think hard, to describe what sets you apart.

To make sure that each of your website’s leafs can stand on its own, make sure that it gets found through an Internet search for this specific services or product. We accomplish this through proper use of ALT tags, page titles, and description – among many other page attributes. 

Now imagine finding just one leaf of a tree. Do you still know which tree it belongs to? Why? Right – the leaf’s characteristics tie it to the tree it came from. There is no mistaken an oak leaf for a leaf of a chestnut. Same with your web pages: you want to make absolutely sure that this leaf/page is unmistakably a part of YOUR website, with YOUR original content.

How do you do that? Page headers & footers are great to let the visitor know who you are and how you can get reached, but also let your website visitor know what next steps you want them to take. Do you want them to contact you? Or do you have additional resources on your website that will help the consumer to solve his problem? Make sure that the visitor sees the connection to all other parts of your β€œtree”, so that there is no doubt where this β€œleaf” came from and belongs to.

Last, but not least, give your website tree time to grow. Yes, you can fertilize and nurture it, but you can’t rush organic growth.

Learn more about the Principles of Organic Website Growth by downloading our Free eBook!