Search Engine Optimization and the Design Phase of Websites

Making it online has been tough for a number of years. It hasn't gotten any easier either. Ask your everyday online business person and chances are, they will agree. For those looking to get started in any online industry, having a clear outline of your goals and a seasoned marketing firm to help you make important decisions is key. As diverse as the opportunites that are afforded to anyone, we're going to use the development of a product intense e-commerce website as our example.

It seems that years ago, search engine optimization (SEO) agents handled their business, while web developers handled theirs. Some may or may not have collaborated to offer clients a comprehensive marketing package, but more often than not - as an SEO agent - I visited site after site with no meta data, incomplete title tags, and worse. Essentially in the eyes of search engines, the website had no value. Even the bots that crawl and index websites had little to nothing to go on.

The shift has changed over the past year or so where you find "all-inclusive" companies - ones that incorporate the two. As the explosion of social media hit, it seemed that the marketing and IT professionals were scrambling to not just be competitive in their respective industry, but to transform it entirely. Like most online business moves, this trend seemed to happen almost overnight. Seldom do you visit the site of a web design firm or online marketing firm without seeing this complete package. If it's not all in-house, there is visible collaboration and / or partnerships established.

Taking a step back. For those interested in an e-commerce business, don't be fooled into thinking you are going to log on or check emails, send packages and count your money. You are setting yourself up for failure. This type of venture is like any other business and maybe harder. Plan to pour your blood, sweat and tears into it.

So you visit your web developer to discuss your big plans. Are they making some beautiful graphics with even prettier buttons to play with? It looks great, is up-to-date, but what is it like on the inside? What describes the content, and just how well is it described? Now the work has just begun.

E-commerce sites by the shear nature of their overall internet presence typically have a harder time than other monetized sites that steadily produce relevant (and original) content for their site. You see many corporate sites now using the power of a blog. Another story, but keep this tool in mind.

Now, we've established the fact that you will basically have a "battle" right out of the gate. The trick is not to make it worse. Be more than certain that you have hired professional web developers with years of experience truly adding SEO value to your new e-commerce website. Otherwise, you will launch your new site and face the greatest uphill battle ever!