SEO (Search engine optimization) is a huge part of the internet world we live in today. Without companies like Google, Yahoo or MSN online businesses would not thrive the way they do nor would they have the chance to compete with millions of companies across the globe.  SEO has become the “MUST DO” things on the web.

In some cases, web sites need more attention on SEO than design/branding. The most important aspect of online success is measured by traffic and stickiness. What is the sites purpose? By knowing the purpose and understanding your demographic, you will be able to put the emphasis on the items that count most.

That brings us to the beginning!  Sounds strange right?  But this is accurate … we must always go back to the beginning, as well thought out plans and strategies that have a clear and concise plan of action will succeed. Part of this beginning plan has to deal with a website being brand new, never indexed, never cached and just flat out never seen to anyone. The biggest misconception is that we build a pretty, effective new site that does exactly what the client needs and will be in the #1 position within 3-4 weeks after launch. <Insert evil laugh as we designers have heard this a million times>

Time, (and I mean allot of it), needs to be factored into the planning of a new website. Search engines need to be notified that a new site exists and is ready for their crawlers to come dig through the code. This simple task of having a spider spend 1.4 seconds on your site takes 6-9 months longer than most clients expect or want to hear. There are some ways to lessen the time to have your new site seeded and cached, but overall a safe assumption is that it will take at least 8 weeks to even have your site crawled for the first time.  So in a nut shell, planning is essential and a well thought out strategic plan of action will prevail. Consider a holding page or pages to alert the engines that you exist. Building up to the day of launch will lighten the load of a fully engaged SEO plan.

Our job as designers/web developers is to make the client understand the SEO aspect of a website is a separate task at hand and normally has its own allocated budget and time constraints.

For more info on SEO and Web Design services visit:  Jtdesigns.com