I run into many business owners who are either in the process of, or just completed a web site design or redesign.  When I ask about what their SEO strategy was I often get a response like “what is SEO?”.  Almost every business, organization, and even person has a website because they know it is a great place for prospects to learn more about them and what they have to offer.  The web site is the cornerstone of your web presence and having a great web site is and has always been part of a great marketing strategy.  However web sites do not market themselves. Sure Google or Yahoo may come across your site and index it and you may receive some traffic but without a complete internet marketing strategy your site will fall far short of its potential.

Web Design and development agencies are great and designing web sites, however they often lack some of the needed marketing skills that can make a well designed site a money maker.  What I recommend to anyone looking at developing a new site or touching up their existing site is to consult with an Internet marketing firm, specifically one with SEO experience.  Here in the Minneapolis area you have plenty of options.  Why should you consult with an SEO Company before jumping into design and development? An experienced SEO Company can give you, your team, and any outside vendors a roadmap of how to go about designing and creating the website.  I am not going to get into everything they should tell you but some things to have an ear out for would include, Information Architecture, Keyword research, Usability, Internal Linking, and what technologies will be at the core of the site.  While you may spend a few hundred dollars to have the SEO Company come in and brainstorm with you, any worthwhile SEO Company should be able to easily make you that much money plus some.  Having the site optimized from the start will be cheaper than having to hire a professional SEO a year down the road and having them fix everything.

Another option that some internet marketing firms offer and which Konnected Interactive does is to act as the Project Manager for the site or take the entire site design in house.  These two options will ensure that the site is not only being designed but is being integrated into your entire marketing strategy.  This type of project may cost more than just getting your site designed but the entire point of having the site is to generate more of something, which is in many businesses leads or sales.  The traffic a good SEO Company will bring to you will pay off quicker than you think.

Another thing to look out for is web design firms who say they do SEO.  Almost every design and development firm say they do SEO.  This is usually because they are looking to add another source of revenue or think that SEO can’t be that hard.  If you get this story from a potential firm please vet their “SEO” work.  I have seen the work of some of these firms and lets just say it wasn’t quite optimized.

So talk to some of your networks find a good SEO Company and hire them for two hours, it will open your eyes to some of the opportunity that is available to you in the online world.