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We stole a line from software developers, "software is never done". We use the same phrase for SEO, "SEO is never done". One of the most difficult aspects of proposing a website statement of work is the "bolt on" cost of high quality, professional SEO implentation and the on-going expense. For many clients, they simply can't justify the cost in financial terms, although in reality, this is backwards. Our proposals should pitch the cost of good SEO implemenation first, and then if you can afford it we will build out some content. Because the fact is, you can have the most gorgeous, hip, trendy, award winning site design and content but if no one visits it, who cares?
We always include a baseline of SEO implementation in every site proposal. It is included in our cost structure. But this is just the foundation for a great SEO strategy. The actual hard work is an ongoing plan of core SEO disciplines around keyword research, quality linking execution, social media network building and ongoing site optimization. (and much more) There is simply no quick and dirty way to do it right. And this takes time which = $cost.
One of our services, Third Party Blogs, is all about this. By their very nature, Third Party Blogs are not corporate sites or ecommerce stores, but blog sites that are designed to do SEO properly around a particular marketplace. They are intended to build indexing and traffic quickly, thus providing options for linking to other sites such as a corporate site or store. Every bit of energy in building the blog goes into SEO success.
The majority of our projects are open source CMS sites using Joomla or other apps. Functional corporate and ecommerce sites are still our bread winners. And we are very keen on optimizing those for great SEO. But I put this challenge out to anyone who is looking to build a new business/corporate website and is speaking with developers or building an RFQ. Establish your SEO goals and expectations. Then put that first on your list or in your RFQ. Think about the actual site content second. It will pay off in the long run.
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