Many web development firms claim they can produce search engine friendly websites and there is nothing wrong with this claim. The CMS technology has come a long way and most of the content management systems are built to output search engine friendly URL structures and at the same time they minimize the other negative SEO signals like duplicate content and URL canonicalization too.

However, when a web development company misconstrues their offering as “search engine optimized”, there is a case for the client to look deeper into it. As a premier web marketing firm, our project estimates typically start with an overall understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the client website. We get daily requests to redesign and revamp websites and this is when our creative team works with the search marketing team to identify issues with search visibility and conversion optimization on the websites. Our solutions are as much about visitor conversion and interaction as they are about design and programming.

If you’re running a business that sells through the web either directly or indirectly, you would definitely look at search engine optimization as a crucial technique to build your website traffic base and for lead generation. Correctly implemented search engine optimization can bring new visitors to your website and if your site is well designed and is conversion oriented, you can convert these visitors into paying customers.

However, as the marketing manager of such a firm, you need to take the decision on whether to hire someone to manage the SEO in-house or to hire an SEO firm to work on all the intricacies of search engine optimization. Here are some of the pros and cons of hiring vs. outsourcing your web marketing requirements.

Pros of In-house SEO

The biggest advantage of keeping an important activity like search engine optimization in-house is the focus which it can get. Not to say that an agency would not focus, it may perhaps more than you can. However, if you get to hire a competent in-house SEO manager, she would only be focusing on your company, a handful of online properties (yours) and your own industry with a bunch of competitors. She will understand the online set up of your industry and would know in and out the main blogs, forums, listservs, news sites and influence makers in your industry.

This article helps you and your website designer in avoiding situations where 3 days prior to launch, you call upon the SEO expert to check the implementations of the newly redesigned site from an SEO perspective or worst yet, after the launch has been done.

This article throws light on some of the important points to be followed from the start itself so that your website redesign doesn’t equates to loss of traffic with the slick design that your website designer did for you:

Google Analytics is an indispensible tool for anyone running a website. It doesn’t matter if you’re a non-profit or an enterprise or a blogger, the information that Google Analytics shares with you is highly useful and actionable. Even a quick peek at the dashboard of your website’s Google analytics will tell you the number of visits to your website, the sources, the main keywords, regions, your top content and how the people interact with your website. Armed with this information, you can take corrective action to improve the quality and quantity of traffic to your website and to fix navigation and page issues on it.

The keyword report in Google Analytics shows which keywords were typed on search engines when the visitors landed on your website. The higher the ranking, the more is the traffic. Using advanced analysis techniques, you can determine the relative value of keywords to your business too.

However, Google has recently stopped sharing keyword data if the searcher is logged in to her Google Analytics account. Google made this announcement a week back on their blog.  This means that if the searcher who landed on your website typing a keyword on Google.com is using any of the Google services (like Gmail, Adwords, blogger, Google+, Adsense or any other service) and is logged into her Google account, all you see as the keyword referral is “Not Provided”.

The classic art v/s science debater extends to the discipline of website design very well. As many experts have duly noted, artful web design should be complemented by scientific information architecture principles. Information architecture is the science behind “findability” and it touches all aspects of your website layout like global navigation, search bars, tags, pagination, in-content linkage and footer links so that people can find information and take decisions of completing a sale or providing information for you to contact them. You can see that information architecture is the backbone of your online goals and a website that offers solutions and answers through proper information architecture, finds customers too.

To put it in a clear manner, if you have good information architecture, people can easily find your products and services, analyze its technical details and get answers to any questions that they have about them. However, it is easier said than done. A good information architecture is a challenge and if you overcome this challenge, you can convert visitors to your website into satisfied long term customers.

When you work with a web design company or a standalone website designer, there are many things that you expect them to know. Your list of requirements may range from professional design experience to robust communication and reporting systems. Clients also look for local web design service providers to that they can touch base with them on a regular basis and can hold them accountable for any drift which happens from the expected project movement.

While all the above criteria are important and form the basis of selecting a web design company, there is a vital ingredient to the success of your website – how well do you communicate with the designer and how well they understand your business. As an external firm, do not expect your website design company to know all what you know about your business. Some design firms are exploratory and research intensive in nature while others may only superficially ask questions or raise any concerns. While a web design company that asks penetrating questions or meets with you to have great planning guides for design are a boon, the onus of clarity in terms of what is required, lies solely with you, the client.

Despite a failing world economy, the online sales have increased per a Mastercard report. With the impending holiday (and shopping season), these sales are set to increase even further. As the web continues to swell and grow, more and more businesses are identifying and embracing the power of eCommerce to reach a wider global audience. This looks promising and is all set to improve sales for organizations that are front-runners in adopting eCommerce web solutions. However, it has to be remembered that there are traits common to successful eCommerce websites.

Ranking is one of the most highly used, overused and abused SEO metrics. While most of the SEO experts are responsible for over-hyping this SEO performance measurement technique, the role of clients seeking higher results for every possible keyword, cannot be undermined. Clients or SEOs, everyone seems to be obsessed with higher rankings and we are yet to find a performance evaluation where rankings are not the first metrics to be reported.

Some result-oriented type SEO firms combine this with tools that predict SERP CTR rates. A SERP is a search engine results page and CTR refers to Click-Thru rate. While it is true that higher rankings bring more traffic, trying to predict accurate percentage traffic which corresponds to SERP position, usually leads to failure. Due to their relative positions on a SERP, rankings 1 to 5 get much more visibility as compared to the 6-10th ranking. Eye-tracking studies and leaked papers from AOL click-thru reports were used to predict ranking to traffic measurement numbers. Moreover, X or Y% increase was further translated and projected as future expected inquiries and sales for clients.

While everyone was looking happy with this so called perfect trajectory, a lighting of realization struck companies when the traffic figures didn’t match the predicted numbers. The reality to prediction numbers were so wild that there was nothing that businesses and their SEO’s could do apart from scratching their heads and tossing their prediction files into secret bins, so that they never have to see them again.

It was recently reported by BBC that website sales can drop to an extent of 50% if it has even a single spelling error. Most of the online sales depend on the written communication and faltering here means your website users see you as sloppy, lazy and erroneous business units who are just interested in taking their money.

Savvy business owners understand the need of well-trained and professional copywriters who can bring forth great content to the website, however most people overlook the importance of letting the content pass through multiple eyes or re-reading and proofreading the content that has been produced. A solid content strategy yields a dismal performance if content is plagued with errors and typos.

Most of the small and mid-size businesses in US still think of website as a peripheral entity to the day-to-day operations of their business. Most of them still do not realize the potential of their own website and the kind of pivotal role it is capable of playing when it comes to Integrated Marketing.

Your business website not just acts as your 24 hour active brand evangelist, but also has the potential of acting as a salesperson ready with all the arms and ammunition to fight a sales battle and convert visitors into prospects. You can even improve your customer relations and answer their questions, queries and handle their objections on your website, in a manner that increases your brand’s reputation online.