Question

Topic: SEO/SEM

First Priority... Seo Or Web Design?

Posted by Anonymous on 9/6/2011 at 10:11 AM ET 30 Points
My company has an average looking website with poor SEO.

We want to increase our web traffic for enquiry generation BUT where should we start first... website design or page optimisation.

Should we focus on optimising an average looking website first and then give it a –design revamp later OR should we get the re-design done now and then fully optimise a website that better represents our brand and marketing message later.

The board are after enquiry generation results fast so my business hat says SEO first. Meanwhile my marketing hat says surely enquiry conversion rates will be better if we direct traffic to a more professionally looking site.

Are there any SEO or web design technicalities that may help influence our decision?

What would you do? Any ideas would be much appreciated
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by excellira on 9/6/2011 at 11:52 AM Member
    SEO should start at the planning stage, before any other aspects of development are initiated. Your SEO team should work with you, your developers and your design team to help establish and ensure that the marketing objectives of the project are met.

    Occam probably could help in resolving your question of what to do now. The solution is probably simple. If you have a substantial amount of traffic now, then perhaps conversion optimization might be a better approach.

    If your conversion rate is defined as reasonable, and traffic is lean, then SEO might be the better approach because even though your conversion rate might be on the low side you will increase traffic and thereby conversions. With the increase in revenue you can afford to then conversion optimize the page, generating further revenues. However, I still stand by my previous statement that SEO should be involved at the start, even on a limited basis.

    Several years back Marketing Experiments did a test and showed that "ugly" sites out performed beautiful sites. There is a great deal of subjectivity involved in this type of test but it was interesting nonetheless.

    Further, Steve Krug, author of "Don't Make Me Think" has stated that redesigns are typically bad from a revenue perspective. Unless your brand identity or business model has changed and the site is reasonably attractive and you want to pursue the redesign approach, you might want to consider optimizing key money pages rather than a complete redesign. If nothing else, you should define the reasons for changing the design.

  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 9/6/2011 at 12:12 PM Accepted
    If the page design is good enough to provide prospective customers the information they need in a format they are Ok with, I would go with the SEO.

    But if getting more people on a page that won't help close that business is your case, then I would do the design first.

    You should look at how many of the leads come in right now are closed (or moved to a later stage of your sale process, whatever would be appropriate for your business) and determine if your are getting appropriate results. if the results are low, then maybe the design first.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 9/6/2011 at 8:17 PM Member
    SEO first. Then design. Content, links, more content, more links. Get the back end solid first, then get creative.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 9/6/2011 at 9:53 PM Moderator
    Why not just pay for clicks with search advertising? Then you can create simple landing pages instead of a carefully crafted SEO site.

    Top listing for competitive search terms can take months or years to achieve. There's nothing fast about SEO. If you're under pressure to deliver quickly, go with simple landing pages and advertise using pay-per-click opportunities. (You only pay when someone clicks.)

    Spend your time learning how to optimize the PPC campaign. It pays off very quickly.
  • Posted on 9/7/2011 at 12:45 PM Member
    SEO and lead capture first, then style.
  • Posted by Krista on 9/8/2011 at 11:37 PM Member
    I would look at the content and layout of the website first.

    Are you telling people what to do when they arrive?

    Are you pointing them helpfully to pages they could look at?

    What is your call to action? (Is it compelling?)

    Is your distinctiveness evident when visitors land on your website or are you touting the same things as your competitors?

    What core benefits are you offering to visitors who visit your website?

    Once you have investigated these areas, you can look at the layout. Does the layout help visitors find information easily on your website? If it is not helpful, yes, a revamp maybe necessary. But revamps are also based on content structure.

    Anyway, a good website should be planned with SEO in mind from the very beginning. If it isn't, you should have a serious discussion with your web designer.



  • Posted by mleon on 9/9/2011 at 11:48 AM Member
    Here's a view from a contributor on MarketingProfs: https://www.marketingprofs.com/short-articles/2356/what-to-do-before-seo
  • Posted on 9/23/2011 at 2:17 AM Member
    Dear Friend,

    I think you need to know the

    Seo Guide for Lazy Web Designers

    https://www.aarisindia.com/blog/seo-guide-lazy-web-designers/

    It answers the query "First Priority... Seo Or Web Design?"


    I highly recommend that you read NOW!


    Thank you for… listening.


    Be Well
  • Posted by dinarinc2011 on 10/25/2011 at 7:31 AM Member
    Good Webdesigns are also important but flash designs are not good for SEO so you have to create site as much as user friendly and Search Engine friendly.
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