Every single day, some of the best SEO companies in the world answer questions from local businesses about search engine optimization. Usually these conversations include explanations about "on-site" and "off-site" SEO. Search engine optimization typically involves a detailed analysis of website text content and HTML code. Of course, off-page SEO will always include some form of back-linking. Although search engines are always changing, one constant has been that successful strategies include back-linking, social media interaction and references from trusted websites.
It's no surprise that the web design process is still very much a design-driven industry. This is because most web design companies are owned and managed by web designers and as such, the main goal of the design process is to create a great looking design. A web designer's main goal is not usually, however, to create a website that is designed to achieve high organic search engine rankings.
It takes at least three skill-sets create an SEO friendly site. You need a great designer that can deliver the eye-candy. Any company that is spending money on a custom design will want a great design that has the "WOW" factor. Second, you also need a talented, disciplined developer that can take the digital artwork and convert it to clean, validated website code. The third is the SEO talent. Your consultant needs to be able to research and develop the search data and work with the web developer to weave the strategy into to first line of code.
In practice, however, the designers still drive the entire process. When this happens, the company gets a great looking new site that is hacked together on the back-end. These sites almost never get search engine rank for competitive search terms. The client company then searches for Internet marketing assistance, but the new consultant starts at a disadvantage because they have to try to rank a site that is poorly structured and coded.
In many cases, companies need to re-develop websites (even brand new websites) in order to achieve search engine friendly coding. This puts Internet marketing professionals in a tough position. They have to explain to their prospective customers, in simple terms, why they may have to redevelop a new site. A leading Kansas City web design company uses the following analogies to explain the relationship between web development and SEO:
1. The Race Car Driver: This is an effective SEO analogy and may be among the best. To excel on the search engines, you need to have an optimized website that is well structured with search engine friendly coding. Your website is the race car. No matter how fast your car is, it still needs a driver to be able to compete. A skilled driver cannot win with a substandard car, and a poor driver cannot win with a the most advanced race car. This is an ideal analogy for search engine optimization - you need a great driver and a great car to win the race, just like you need a great website and a great Internet marketer succeed with Google. The only difference is that with Google and the other major search engines, the race never ends.
2. New Home Construction: Many prospective clients can identify with the home building process. Web design in particular is very similar to the construction process. In home building, the architects will draft construction plans for the project. This is like the design process where the designer creates website mockups. It is during the website design phase where the business owner can easily modify the artwork. In home building, it's easy to change the floor plan prior to construction, but once construction starts, its very difficult and often expensive to make changes. Website development is the exact same. Once approved web artwork is committed to the coding process, design and layout changes are much more difficult to implement. In web design your search engine optimization professional is like the builder and inspector, making sure that the site has proper coding, structure and usability.
3. Sharp Shooters: Similar to race car driving, this analogy pairs the best equipment with the best operator to achieve the best results. A firearm cannot aim and fire itself and a sharp shooter needs a world class weapon to achieve the highest accuracy.
4. Landscapers: Landscaping may be one of the best web design analogies in terms of the amount of time and effort it takes to design, install and maintain a landscaping plan. After installation, a residential landscape needs periodic watering, pruning, pest control, mulching and fertilization. The regular maintenance aspect of landscaping parallels the ongoing effort that a website needs in order to grow into high natural search engine positions. The process takes time and consultants with digital green thumbs are usually able to provide their clients with much higher search engine visibility that the could have achieved on their own.
5. The Fisherman: Fishing is favorite SEO analogy for many reasons. The best angle to use for this analogy relates to net fishing. Think of recreational fishers in an area using chum and other luring techniques to draw fish into a body of water. Fishermen use specialized lures, bait and equipment to catch fish one-by-one. This is akin to traditional marketing where companies use mass marketing to target a relatively small group of potential buyers. In the online marketing field, we call this: offline demand creation. As fishermen use all their fancy methods to attract fish, think of a commercial fishing vessel that comes by and scoops up all the fish. This is EXACTLY what a SEO does. Consumers see the demand creation by companies on TV, print and radio...then then run to the internet to research when they are actually ready to make a purchase decision. Internet marketing, when done effectively, enables your company to steal this market share created by your competitors.
Next time you get stuck trying to explain the relationship between online marketing and web development, try using one of these analogies.
It's no surprise that the web design process is still very much a design-driven industry. This is because most web design companies are owned and managed by web designers and as such, the main goal of the design process is to create a great looking design. A web designer's main goal is not usually, however, to create a website that is designed to achieve high organic search engine rankings.
It takes at least three skill-sets create an SEO friendly site. You need a great designer that can deliver the eye-candy. Any company that is spending money on a custom design will want a great design that has the "WOW" factor. Second, you also need a talented, disciplined developer that can take the digital artwork and convert it to clean, validated website code. The third is the SEO talent. Your consultant needs to be able to research and develop the search data and work with the web developer to weave the strategy into to first line of code.
In practice, however, the designers still drive the entire process. When this happens, the company gets a great looking new site that is hacked together on the back-end. These sites almost never get search engine rank for competitive search terms. The client company then searches for Internet marketing assistance, but the new consultant starts at a disadvantage because they have to try to rank a site that is poorly structured and coded.
In many cases, companies need to re-develop websites (even brand new websites) in order to achieve search engine friendly coding. This puts Internet marketing professionals in a tough position. They have to explain to their prospective customers, in simple terms, why they may have to redevelop a new site. A leading Kansas City web design company uses the following analogies to explain the relationship between web development and SEO:
1. The Race Car Driver: This is an effective SEO analogy and may be among the best. To excel on the search engines, you need to have an optimized website that is well structured with search engine friendly coding. Your website is the race car. No matter how fast your car is, it still needs a driver to be able to compete. A skilled driver cannot win with a substandard car, and a poor driver cannot win with a the most advanced race car. This is an ideal analogy for search engine optimization - you need a great driver and a great car to win the race, just like you need a great website and a great Internet marketer succeed with Google. The only difference is that with Google and the other major search engines, the race never ends.
2. New Home Construction: Many prospective clients can identify with the home building process. Web design in particular is very similar to the construction process. In home building, the architects will draft construction plans for the project. This is like the design process where the designer creates website mockups. It is during the website design phase where the business owner can easily modify the artwork. In home building, it's easy to change the floor plan prior to construction, but once construction starts, its very difficult and often expensive to make changes. Website development is the exact same. Once approved web artwork is committed to the coding process, design and layout changes are much more difficult to implement. In web design your search engine optimization professional is like the builder and inspector, making sure that the site has proper coding, structure and usability.
3. Sharp Shooters: Similar to race car driving, this analogy pairs the best equipment with the best operator to achieve the best results. A firearm cannot aim and fire itself and a sharp shooter needs a world class weapon to achieve the highest accuracy.
4. Landscapers: Landscaping may be one of the best web design analogies in terms of the amount of time and effort it takes to design, install and maintain a landscaping plan. After installation, a residential landscape needs periodic watering, pruning, pest control, mulching and fertilization. The regular maintenance aspect of landscaping parallels the ongoing effort that a website needs in order to grow into high natural search engine positions. The process takes time and consultants with digital green thumbs are usually able to provide their clients with much higher search engine visibility that the could have achieved on their own.
5. The Fisherman: Fishing is favorite SEO analogy for many reasons. The best angle to use for this analogy relates to net fishing. Think of recreational fishers in an area using chum and other luring techniques to draw fish into a body of water. Fishermen use specialized lures, bait and equipment to catch fish one-by-one. This is akin to traditional marketing where companies use mass marketing to target a relatively small group of potential buyers. In the online marketing field, we call this: offline demand creation. As fishermen use all their fancy methods to attract fish, think of a commercial fishing vessel that comes by and scoops up all the fish. This is EXACTLY what a SEO does. Consumers see the demand creation by companies on TV, print and radio...then then run to the internet to research when they are actually ready to make a purchase decision. Internet marketing, when done effectively, enables your company to steal this market share created by your competitors.
Next time you get stuck trying to explain the relationship between online marketing and web development, try using one of these analogies.
About the Author:
About the author: Kansas City Web Design is an Internet marketing and web development company based in Overland Park, KS. For more information on the author, visit: Website-Design Kansas City
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