Behemoth Article Directory United Federation of Writers

Web designers are natural partners in SEO. After all, shouldn’t the person who designs and builds a website have a strong interest in knowing how to make it search friendly? After gaining coverage in the New York Times and Newsweek, SEO has become positively mainstream. We’re betting you’ve already had a client ask for SEO, or you wish to add it to your service offerings. Want to use SEO for a bigger slice of the proposal pie or to gain a longer list of prospects? Here are some of the challenges and advantages we expect you’ll face:????

Advantage: The Inside Track You’re already on the job, providing web design services. Your client trusts you, and the site files are nestled safely on your hard drive. Lucky for you, it is often difficult for an outside SEO consultant to be inserted into the very early stages of web design. This is because much of the website is still theoretical early on, and “theoretical” SEO can only get you so far. Use your status to your advantage: As the designer, you can easily introduce SEO early in the conversation and be sure it is integrated into design decisions throughout the process.?????

Challenge: Hucksters Abound No, no, we’re not talking about you. We’re talking about those other web designers. You know, the ones who feature SEO as an add-on to their regular services, and then just stick HTML titles on some pages, with no keyword research or insight to back them up? They probably charge a couple hundred bucks for the add-on, spend 10 minutes on the work, and accomplish nothing for their clients. Unfortunately, you have to compete with these guys. To protect your reputation.????

We have a feeling that once you have a solid understanding of search engine-friendly design and are integrating SEO best practices into your web development, it won’t just be an add-on, it will be a principle applied to all your projects. With this important capability in your portfolio, you’ll have a better chance of landing the projects you want, and heck, we won’t blame you if you raise your rates a bit.????

Challenge: A Short-Term Project SEO is a long-term effort. It requires months if not years of ongoing work. Most web development projects, however, are structured to last only through site launch and perhaps a short support period. Most SEO contracts have a term of 3-12 months, and if you’re really confident about your SEO skill set, you’ll want to push for an ongoing contract, too. Remember that the added value of your SEO services can’t possibly be known until the website has been up for several months.????

Challenge: A Change of Perspective You’re a web designer, which means you probably know a little something about graphic design, information architecture, usability, “look and feel,” and techie back-end development. This is great news because file-naming conventions, choice of site architecture, and scripting and page structure choices all play a part in the search engine friendliness of a site. However, your skill set may or may not include writing and marketing strategy, and your relationship with your client may not go there on a regular basis. If you’re not a natural wordsmith or strategist, you’ll need to update your tool belt or find a partner who can complement your skills.?????