Guest post by Jonathan Parker
There are always people out there looking to make quick money with services based not on uncompromising quality but minimalism or mediocrity. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is no different of an industry.
I learned years ago that there is this “website designers vs. SEO” mentality. For real results, SEO must be involved throughout the entire website design process.
Whether you call the clean coding of a website good SEO practice or first-rate website development, your’re missing the boat. Does SEO include making sure the website is coded optimally? Yes, but it’s only part of the overall picture.
Having a website built by a first-rate website designer using clean code is good starting point since we can then focus on more important aspects of SEO including keyword research, keyword tracking, other On-Page SEO tactics, Off-Page SEO, and Content Creation. By having your website perfectly coded, you are only implementing one part of your SEO Strategy.
Your website is the foundation for your marketing and lead generation efforts. However, it does not by itself generate new leads for your business. It makes a good impression on people searching for you directly but great SEO is how you actually gain NEW leads online. Let’s look at myth versus fact about achieving SEO results.
Myth: “Search engine optimization is only about outranking your competitors…”
Fact: SEO is not only about outranking competitors. It is all about driving quality traffic to your site for more opportunities to make a sale. Off-Page SEO increases your rankings, but just as importantly, gains quality referral traffic to your site.
Myth: “If you have competitor websites that are doing HTML properly…they will outrank you”
What are Google’s and other popular search engines’ number one goal? Provide the most credible and relevant results to their end users.
Fact: Credibility comes from Off-Page SEO, which builds links to your site. These links,
also referred to as backlinks, are seen as votes of credibility to the search engines. Google will rank a site with many credible backlinks and that is coded at a third-rate website design level well before a site without credible backlinks that is perfectly coded.
Myth: “SEO techniques are usually only required if your site has quality competition.”
Fact: Very few niches nowadays have such low amount of competition where just optimal coding can get you ranking on the first page, as optimal coding is only one aspect of the SEO lead generation strategy.
Myth: “It’s worse if the SEO staff is inside the design agency.”
Fact: Keyword research and analysis finds the profitable and accessible phrases around which to base the website’s content. This is best completed before writing even one piece of code. If you develop a site and then incorporate SEO afterwards, it’s not a true results-driven marketing or lead generation effort.
Again, web design isn’t something that generates leads or quality traffic. It is where your leads are directed to learn more and buy. SEO is the actual lead generation aspect to gain new business online.
It’s important to make sure SEO is involved from the start so that the website is built on the most profitable and accessible keyword phrases. Oftentimes a website designer without knowledge of SEO will develop a perfectly coded site that doesn’t make first page search results and therefore sits in a dark back alley of the Internet only gaining low quality traffic that never leads to any sales.
If you are in this position, then perhaps our team can recharge your lead generation.
Jon Parker is the owner of Recharged Business Solutions. On the web: www.nhleadgeneration.com Phone: (603) 493-6344 Email: jparker@rechargedsolutions.com
