Articles on Search Engine Optimization - Mr SEO

Why Designers don’t do it. Why website owners need it.

More and more website owners and web designers are beginning to understand the value of SEO. They know that SEO is one of the most, if not the most effective form of advertising on the internet. Surprisingly, I still come across web designers that still do not know what SEO is or who question the necessity of it.
Some web designers know SEO is important. However, most do not offer it to their clients. Usually, this is because they don't want to pay someone to do it for their clients. More importantly...they don’t care. They want to design your site and get out. They know you can greatly improve the value of your site by implementing an SEO friendly design into the build and save you money in the process.

The least they should do for you is create an SEO friendly site as this will affect your success far more than any graphic or layout ever will. They should design a site for you that allow spiders access to the content, not in frames or 100% Flash. It is the consumer who gets hurt in the end by designers who fail to consider the purpose of a site with an eye for aesthetics only. Once they learn about SEO and realize how un-SEO friendly their site is, it is too late. Now they have to pay for SEO and possible restructuring of the site, which could have been avoided. Many website owners who know of SEO try to get away with as little as possible.

Some people want tags optimized but refuse to optimize content. Why bother?
Web designer often come to me asking for optimization on a site with less than 20 words or refuse to change the content. It’s unreasonable to expect an SEO specialist to move mountains if his or her recommendations are not followed. It is safe to say that at least 80 percent of traffic comes from search engines. So why wouldn’t you want your site optimized? How do you plan to advertise?
Banners? PPC? Pop-ups? Come on. SEO is the most effective form of advertising. You can still use those other forms of advertising. But, the money invested will be less with proper optimization.

Large companies are starting to learn the value of SEO. However, designers are not pushing SEO. If Flash is what they want, that's fine. Use flash movies and banners inside HTML. You can still create an awesome look. The content should be HTML. Not only for search engines, but for the simple fact that it makes it so much easier to change the content and import RSS feeds. SEO has not reached its peek in the marketplace. People are still not using SEO to its fullest potential, but those who are reap the benefits everyday. Yes, SEO does cost money and yes, it can be expensive (especially if your
Site is large). SEO is not a one and done procedure. Of course, you will need to maintain your SEO with updates when necessary. Still, the benefits far outweigh the costs. Search engines will bring in more traffic than any other form of advertising on the internet.

So why are companies willing to pass it up? Is it because there is no guarantee of a top 10 ranking on Google for a brand new site? People who have unrealistic expectations are uneducated in regard to SEO. Those who are educated will know what they can reasonably expect with a competent SEO professional. It is up to the SEO specialist to meet those expectations. Once the initial SEO implementation is finished, maintaining and reporting will increase its effectiveness.



For Affordable SEO, SEM, website design and more visit Joe's site. To read the latest SEO News visit his blog.Or, read articles on SEO.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and web design go hand in hand. One cannot function without the other. Sure, you could have a well designed website on the internet and pay for traffic and advertising. However, no one will find you while doing a search. The benefits of being found on search engines will cut the cost of paid advertising. Yet everyday there are people who spend a great deal of money to have a site designed but wouldn't think of having it optimized. Why, you ask? Is it the cost of SEO? Would they rather have a site created and avoid optimization to save a few bucks? If that's the case…what do they plan to do with this site when it is completed? Advertise? SEO is advertising. It is actually one of the cheapest forms of advertising.
Were they planning on a PPC campaign? Buying banners? Page impressions on some click network? You've got to be kidding me. Why would anyone waste their money on those subpar options before optimizing their site?

In the long run, you’ll spend more on those “other” methods and receive fewer results than if you optimized and maintained the optimization of your site. Eventually, you’ll wind up needing SEO anyway. Trust me. If you ever wanted to know anything about something, chances are you’ve searched for it first. You didn't click on a banner or surf into it from some click through network. Now don’t get me wrong, PPC is great if you know what you’re doing. SEO paired off with PPC is a great combination. You may even do some PPC while your SEO is taking place. Any method is better than none at all.
Unfortunately, there are those who do business on the web who think that spending money on web design alone will help attract business. You can have the most interesting storefront the world has ever seen, but if you open up for business in the middle of the desert, it won't make any difference.

So, what do you do? Hire a designer and then an SEO guru? That would be costly. Hire a web designer that has some knowledge of SEO to optimize your site? Not a good idea. That may hurt more then help. Search engines today are smarter then they were just a few years ago. You don't want to be penalized for bad SEO methods or worse yet have no real SEO results from contracting a web designer with only marginal experience in optimization.

You need to find a web design company that has an SEO expert on board. SEO is a full time job. You want to make sure the SEO guru is knowledgeable and is up to speed with the latest algorithms. Check their portfolio and ask to see their SEO achievements. You should be able to contact their present or former clients to see if they are happy with their results. Remember, anybody can spot a great looking website, but SEO experience should be researched before you hire anyone. Ask for a proven track record. If you can find the right combination of an SEO guru and experienced web designers in one package, you can save a lot of time and money while taking care of the first two things every business should: getting customers to your site and giving them a reason to stay.



For Affordable SEO, SEM, website design and more visit Joe's site. To read the latest SEO News visit his blog.Or, read articles on SEO.