A commonly misunderstood element of SEO is the amount of time and effort required to achieve long-term success. Sure, the basics are pretty easy to understand: Write good content, structure it well, follow search engine guidelines, build inbound links. Pretty basic stuff…until one considers the challenges associated with complying with changing and unwritten algorithms while also following business strategy and keeping the design sharp.
Accomplishing those goals is a tall task for a web developer, who typically doesn’t like to stick their nose in the business side. And the marketing folks will tell you, they don’t like tech – they’re left-brainers. So who sees both the forest and the trees?
A Two-Headed Monster For Your Competitors
Enter the SEO guru. We’re not usually the ones that the developers look to emulate…the textbooks and programming manuals never mentioned anything about search engine compliance, and the marketing/design folks probably curse us under their breath after we brief them on the technical challenges of optimizing their creative opus. As an SEO consultant, you have to be comfortable in that role. Seeing both perspectives of the same picture - or strategy as it were - is a required skill in our trade.
A Solid Web Design is Like a Wink from a Pretty Girl…
A well-branded and eye-catching design is difficult to value but high-value nonetheless, and the marketing/design folks will rightfully make sure that point is clear. The first impression of a web design WILL turn heads, one way or the other. Very few successful web sites overcome bounce rate and click-through challenges without a design that’s up to date and gentle on the eyes. Web users have become accustomed to designs that make good use of space, reduce the boxy feel of web sites past, and limit content. If yours isn’t up to par in that area, you risk being perceived to be a fly-by-nighter or a stick in the mud.
…Content Stucture Converts That Wink into Digits in your Handheld
Nevertheless, while a nice design will get your foot in the door, a well-laid out content plan, usable navigational structure, and effective capture mechanisms are equally important for generating conversions and achieving search positioning. Web developers know the basics of each, and will help you understand the technical factors when putting them in place. Most developers today take usability classes or have read up enough to be sound in the fundamentals, but their right-brain mentality craves code standards more than content and search engine compliance. A good developer can code as much logic around your capture forms as you could imagine if you give them enough time, but they may place it in code that search engines can't read. Without an SEO to recommend content placement and SEO programming techniques, you risk the likelihood that your site will be ignored by all but the most diligent readers and interested potential customers.
Bringing Designers & Developers Together Since 1999
A good SEO should consider themselves as the architect, appliance salesmen, and government regulations officer for your website home. We wear a lot of hats, and thus it takes a lot of time, determination, and attention to detail to turn your website into an effective and lasting outpost on the web. While SEO may seem pretty easy in purpose, in practice it can be quite a challenge to pool together everyone’s efforts into one vision for your company. Like most challenges, however, the reward is high value – for the business in the form of online generated sales activities and leads – but also for the SEO. To be a good SEO you have to love a challenge, and further, immerse yourself in the objectives and strategy of the company you work for, the ever-changing search engine industry, and the relationship-building it takes to make it all work. It’s not for dummies.
