| What do you mean by SEO Web Design asked a | | | | vulnerable when first starting out. |
| new client of mine? | | | | Excited and eager to get started, they overlook the |
| I had just been reviewing her site and noticed that | | | | basic principles of marketing and are often taken in |
| the company who had previously designed it and it | | | | by smooth-talking salesmen flashing dollar signs in |
| has to said, had created a visually eye-catching | | | | front their imaginative eyes. |
| website, had however made some basic errors in | | | | "Get a website! You need a website! You must have |
| their haste to please her. | | | | a website! Put up a few pages and hey presto |
| To start from the beginning she had contacted me | | | | before you know it you will be the envy of all your |
| after she had come across one of my articles. It's | | | | friends and neighbours!" seems to be the common |
| funny how life works though because, that in itself | | | | thread. |
| would not have prompted her to get in touch, but a | | | | Getting back to my client, she looked at me fairly |
| friend of hers who I had been doing some SEO work | | | | blankly when I said that SEO web design meant that |
| for had got in touch with her after about 6 years. | | | | the design of a website had more to do with |
| And of course they got to discussing life and work | | | | following certain guidelines than how good it looked |
| etc; and to cut a long story short her friend | | | | to her. |
| recommended that she get in touch with me. | | | | "But I thought that if a site was well designed that |
| Now her frustration was that she should have had | | | | people would like it and buy from it" she exclaimed |
| every ingredient for success. Her site was in a | | | | almost daring me to disagree with her. |
| relatively niche market, competition wasn't that high | | | | Yes, I answered disarmingly and gently proceeded to |
| and yet after paying out a sizeable chunk of money | | | | point out that without visitors having a great looking |
| on getting her website professionally designed, her | | | | website wouldn't be doing her any favours at all. |
| site was nowhere to be found on Google. | | | | SEO Web Design - The Basics |
| So what could possibly be going wrong? | | | | Which brings me neatly to the crux of this article i.e. |
| A Brief Background | | | | SEO web design. So, let's take a look at a simple |
| There is an old saying in Internet Marketing that | | | | layout in the first instance. |
| good designers make bad SEO experts. Why? You | | | | Say you have a header/logo at the top of the page |
| may well ask. | | | | followed by some descriptive text that says |
| The truth is that in my experience of the last 10 | | | | "Welcome to my web...., followed by some pictures |
| years in online marketing, most of the designers that | | | | and the left hand side contains a column with some |
| I have worked with and come across have | | | | navigation links in it etc, etc; |
| sharpened their design skills on HTML, XHTML, | | | | Now search engines like Google scan a web page |
| Javascript and CSS. | | | | from left to right beginning at the very top. And as in |
| A lot of them have been in the forefront of the web | | | | our example above since most websites have a left |
| design industry leading the way in site design and | | | | hand column containing navigation links, Google will |
| architecture but therein lies the root problem of the | | | | automatically view the content of the links column |
| story. | | | | before it gets to the body of your page. |
| The online marketing industry moves at a frenetic | | | | There are simple methods to counter this and force |
| pace. What was once a 'de facto' standard is now | | | | Google to read your main body content first and this |
| old hat and consigned to 'wheely' bin of Internet | | | | why it is very important to get SEO Web Design at |
| marketing. | | | | the very start of the design phase. |
| Faced with the constant flux of new ideas and | | | | Then there's another critical factor that determines |
| innovations, a good designer already inundated with | | | | the ranking of your web pages and that is targeting |
| back orders has little choice but to concentrate on | | | | the wrong keyword. Get that wrong initially and you |
| pleasing the clients' esoteric eye. | | | | can almost kiss goodbye to getting decent rankings. |
| He/she may have picked up a few SEO tidbits along | | | | Now how many designers know just these basic |
| the way either in meeting rooms or from | | | | facts? |
| beleaguered colleagues rushing from one project to | | | | My client had started to see the picture. In her |
| the next but very seldom do you come across a | | | | eagerness to get her business going she had gone to |
| good designer who knows and understands the | | | | the first person that she had come across. |
| impact of SEO upon web design. | | | | The company had a good portfolio of sites and more |
| This is not meant to be a criticism nor is meant to | | | | importantly for her the cost was roughly near the |
| decry the genuine efforts of the design community | | | | budget that she was looking for and so without |
| at large but merely to point out that it is quite | | | | further thought she decided to go for it. |
| difficult to serve two very demanding masters at the | | | | 2 years down the road and with just a handful of |
| same time. | | | | sales, she was very close to quitting. |
| There are sadly many who miss the point altogether, | | | | Her dreams had given way to despair and far from |
| tearing their proverbial hair out when faced with their | | | | being the envy of her friends and neighbors, she had |
| client's low keyword ranking despair and frustration. | | | | even reached the point of not looking at nor caring |
| The backdrop to this that millions of 'would-be' | | | | about her site anymore. |
| entrepreneurs join the Internet juggernaut on a daily | | | | The question is, was she too late to do anything |
| basis in search of financial freedom. These aspiring | | | | about it? |
| businessmen and women are usually at their most | | | | |