Finishing Touches Your site is almost complete...but first figure out how Web surfers will find it and what they'll see when they get there.

Meta tags and alt tags and interfaces, oh my! There are amillion things to think about when you set out to build yourbusiness's Web site. Below, we examine three critical elementsyou may be overlooking when it comes to what and who you'redesigning for: search engines, graphics-free surfers and usability.Relax: It's not hard to meet the standards surfers expect inthose areas, and our tips will help keep your start-up site on thefast track.

Gotta Have It

• Search engines: No, your Web site won't justmagically appear in all the major search engines the day youlaunch. We spoke to Danny Sullivan, editor of the newsletterSearchEngineWatch.com, to get a few tips on how tooptimize your Web site for getting ranked. His first piece ofadvice? Do some research. Understanding how search engines work isthe first step toward getting in good with the rankings.

For those of you who want to get hip to search-engine-attractingtips and tricks, Sullivan says, "It's generally good tohave pages with lots of HTML content on the different topics thatyou want to be found. Each page should have a unique HTML titlethat reflects the content of that page." Some of the Web'ssearch engines pay particular attention to your meta tags, soalways be sure to stock them with relevant terms.

"Many search engines make use of human-powered information,such as Yahoo!, LookSmart and the 'Open Directory Project'. How they list andrank you will often depend on the careful choice of the 25 or sowords you use to describe your Web site," Sullivan continues."Choose these carefully, and make use of 'express'submission programs whenever possible. While these cost money, theygreatly speed up the process." You can find even more tips,tutorials and resources at www.searchenginewatch.com.

• Stripped-down surfers: The proliferation of colorfulgraphics, banner ads and interactivity on the Net is generally seenas a positive technological advancement. But the more doodads thatbreed on sites, the slower the Web gets for the average surferusing a dial-up modem connection. Many surfers have turned toGuidescope, Internet Junkbuster, LeanWeb andSitescooper-software applications designed toremove unwanted clutter from the Web. Customers using theseprograms may be dropping by your site with the visual aids and adsturned off. You can get a look at your Web site though the mostuser-friendly of the bunch, Guidescope, by downloading a trialversion at its site.

There is, however, an even more basic method for speed surfingthat doesn't require extra software. In both Internet Explorerand Netscape Navigator, a simple click in preferences can turn offthe loading of graphics. While turning off graphics and cookies isa relatively rare trend right now, it does have consequences forhow you will ultimately design your site.

The main way to ensure your site is still usable for thestripped-down surfer is to fill in the "alt" tag for allyour images. Keep it concise and accurate, and your visitors willstill be able to read a description of what's there. Turn offall the graphics in your own browser and visit your site. If youcan get around and make sense of it, then you're in goodshape.

• Usability: There are no hard and fast rules for Webusability. No single approach will work for all sites. Before youcan incorporate a usability philosophy, it helps to identify yoursite's purpose. We asked Keith Instone, operator of usabilityresource site Usable Web, to help us figure it out. "Do notmake people think about how to use your site," he says."Your Web site has to be really, really, really obvious tothem. A usable site lets users navigate without making their brainshurt."

Thinking in terms of usability when it comes to Web site designreally pays off in increased customer satisfaction."Businesses can learn a lot from usability, especially when itcomes to understanding how people view technology and how it canimprove the way you serve customers' needs in the onlineworld," Instone says. "There are a wide range ofusability techniques that can help you figure out what features toadd (or, more often, not add) to your site, how to organize yourcontent so users don't have to think to find what they arelooking for, and how to evaluate your site to see if users arehaving problems."

One way to find out whether you're on the right track is toconduct usability testing. At its most basic, usability testinginvolves a person using a Web site while another observes and takesnotes. The observer is watching for how easily and how long ittakes testers to accomplish tasks, as well as which areas confusethem and their reactions to using the site. This kind of testinghelps you locate and patch any problem areas before your site goeslive.

Just as you would design a store to make your products easilyaccessible, the same goes for your Web site. "Small businessesare already all about knowing your customers, often on a personalbasis, and serving them well," says Instone. "If you putcustomers first, you will find yourself 'doing usability,'even though you might consider it just 'doing goodbusiness.'"