When we do a website we always include what we call “Basic SEO (Search Engine Optimization.”
Almost everyone wants their website to be found through searches. It is part of the whole “get rich online” thing but also a very sensible idea! The fact is, companies big and small are putting more of their marketing budgets into online efforts, a trend that has been going on for years and with no signs of a change anytime soon.
Why? Because every year, more people are looking more online for products, services and information, less to Yellow Pages, magazine and newspaper ads, TV commercials, etc.
As with all marketing purchases, when it comes to buying websites “Caveat Emptor” applies (Latin for “Let The Buyer Beware”). Lawyers and the government can’t protect you from wasting your money.
Every web designer claims to be an expert in SEO. That is actually true about 3% of the time. One reason is that there is a LOT to the subject, and it is constantly changing (as Google makes major changes in their algorithm as frequently as eight times a year).
Case in point: A prospective client came to us with an already built website asking if we could optimize it for the search engines, as the designer had failed to get them high search engine rankings.
The site was built entirely in Flash and had very little copy.
First of all, while Google now (as of June) can read some of the content in Flash files, it is only some. Second, if there is little copy in your website, what do you expect Google to munch on? They’re supposed to mind read what your site is about?
I could build two sites that looked identical to the visitor. One would be “search-engine friendly.” The other would be invisible to Google.
So, when we use the term “Basic SEO” all we mean is that we are building a site properly so that it is search-engine friendly, and will be recognized by Google as to what it is about, because of the content and structure of the site.
That is not a difficult task. But it isn’t going to happen if the person doing the optimizing doesn’t understand how Google works so he can make the right choices at numerous points when building the site.
So why don’t most web designers do it? They are designers, not SEO experts. It’s a lot of work to understand and keep up on the subject of SEO.
Of course, that makes it that much easier for our websites to get high rankings since they are often competing against sites poorly optimized, if at all.
So, my fellow website designers, stay ignorant my friends. Stay ignorant.
