Years ago I was under the impression that all web designers did more than just “design” websites.  I thought they also incorporated search engine optimization techniques into their websites to give them greater visibility and improve search engine rankings.  I learned the hard way!

I hired a web designer to create an e-commerce site for me and kept wondering when he was going to get my input on keywords for my industry.  The answer was apparently “never”!   After my website was published to the internet…and I was told it was done…I asked why keywords weren’t incorporated into my site, why all my page titles were the same, etc…  I quickly learned that the price I had been quoted for web design covered only the “design”.  It did NOT cover keyword research and website or search engine optimization.

If I wanted my website optimized for search engines, I would have to pay more money.  I was given a second quote for optimizing my website and making it more visible on the internet.  My web designer called this Phase II.  I feel very strongly that it should have been part of Phase I.  After all, what’s the point of having a website if no one can find it on the internet!

I’m sharing this story in the hope that you will not make the same mistake I did years ago.  And, to stress how important it is to incorporate keyword research and website optimization into the initial design or redesign of your website.  Doing so will save you money in the long run because your website will not need to be reworked to include search engine optimization techniques.

Beware:  Many web designers do not know how to do keyword research and they also do not know “where” your keywords should be placed for search engine optimization.

If you are having a website designed or redesigned, make sure you:

• Hire a web designer who knows how to do keyword research and how to utilize keywords throughout your site.
• Or, hire a Search Engine Optimization Consultant to:

1. conduct keyword research
2. provide your web designer with keyword rich text
3. give your web designer direction on “which keywords to place where”

I’m speaking from experience here.  Both as someone who paid a web designer for a site that wasn’t search engine optimized…AND now…as a web designer and search engine optimization consultant who works with other web designers to help them incorporate search engine optimization techniques into their designs.

Do yourself a huge favor…make sure keywords and search engine optimization techniques are part of your initial web design project or your redesign project.  Doing so will save you money in the long run and make your website more visible on the internet from the beginning.

In conclusion, make sure you know whether or not your “web design” quote includes keyword research and search engine optimization.  If it doesn’t, ask your prospective web designer if they offer these services.  If they don’t, look for another web designer or hire a search engine optimization consultant to work WITH your web designer.

Passionate about optimization!
Kimberly Yow
Marketing That’s Easy

It never ceases to amaze me that so many people skip the all important step of keyword research.  Keyword research is the act of determining:

• which keywords your potential customers are searching on
• how many times each keyword is typed into various search engines
• the number of websites that are competing for or using each keyword

Before you create a website, start up a blog, write online articles or press releases or post any business content on the web…you simply must do keyword research.  Once you have used keyword research tools (such as WordTracker.com) and have determined the keywords you want to target, then you can start writing web content with those keywords in mind.

Ideally each website page or article should focus on only 1-2 keywords so you can achieve keyword rich content which will help your search engine rankings.

A keyword is a word or phrase that people type into a search engine in order to find web content.  Keywords are also used by web designers and web content writers to draw people to a specific website.

If web designers and writers do not use the keywords that people are “actually searching on”, then they will not have the website traffic that they desire.

An example might be if a website repeatedly uses the phrase “automobile insurance” yet their target customers are actually searching for “car insurance”.

When thinking about keywords, you need to think like your customer.  Are they going to tell their friends they need to get a quote on automobile insurance or are they going to say they need a quote on car insurance?

In our next blog we will discuss Keyword Research…