Starting a New Website: Keep SEO in Mind
Oftentimes, I am approached by new companies that are just starting to build a presence on the internet. Many times business owners view a website as a business card - a requirement. These individuals are entirely correct in that a website is needed for a business to establish and maintain a professional appearance. However, just as a business card has little value if it is never handed out, a website has little value if nobody knows that it exists.
Understandably, prospects do not always have the budget to spend five digits to build a website and market it with the assistance of a search engine optimization company. Not surprisingly SEO and SEM take a backseat and are noted as advertising that is needed, but not required at the moment. SEO is then put off until later or added to a wish list of tasks to be completed. I suggest taking a different mentality.
While a business can certainly accomplish more with a $10,000 budget than a $500 one, there are many instances where a basic website can be built and marketed without an enormous initial investment. I find myself reminding prospects that it is much less expensive and better for their business to build a website with the search engines in mind than to go back and revise a website that is built without considering search positions. On many occasions, initially building a website that is search engine friendly, costs the same as creating one that does not take the search engines into account.
As the owner of Agilis Marketing we, I constantly encourage our clients to never overpay for any service. This holds true regardless of a company’s size. It does not matter if your company is large or small, nor whether it services an international market or a local one. Overpaying for services will quickly eat away at a company’s bottom line. This is one reason we suggest Lunar Pages when selecting a hosting company. They offer a reliable, robust, and competitively priced hosting package. It is also the reason most of our clients use Google Analytics. The program is free to use, contains valuable information, and is simple to add onto a new or existing website. However, there are services that are worth the premium charged. One key to a successful internet marketing campaign is to spend money smartly. The same maxim holds true throughout business and life in general.
With all this said, what is a new business owner to do? Research. Find the best company that charges a reasonable price. Stick with that company so long as the firm delivers as promised, but be willingly to leave if they do not. When hiring a company to build a website, make certain they have your business’ best interests in mind. Any website company, which fails to incorporate SEO considerations into the development of a new website, either does not have its clients’ best interests at heart or is not insightful enough to fully understand the importance of search engine marketing.
