Sunday 2 August 2009

Implementing SEO Strategy too late in the day

Think about Search Engine Optimisation early in the day

In my 10+ years of web development I have noticed many mistakes that customers make in terms of creating an application that meets their requirements as well as being cost effective and delivered on time. Most of the mistakes and problems can be traced back one way or another to not having a detailed specification document that is not only just signed off by both parties but also kept to 100% with any deviation treated as new work to be costed and developed.

Loose specs lead to misunderstanding's from both parties where the customer expects one thing and the developer is building another. Even with a signed off stringently kept spec there is also the problem of customers not understanding the technical limitations or boundaries of the system they are buying into. An example I want to give is in relation to SEO which is usually treated as an after thought by the customer rather than as a key component during the specification stage. I work for a recruitment software development company and have built a system that is now running 200+ jobboards. I have noticed that what usually happens is that the customer is under some illusion that the 7 or 10k they have spent on a site has bought them a custom built system that is flexible enough to allow any future development requirement that they may wish to have down the line. Now this maybe the fault of the sales person promising the earth for peanuts or it may not but in reality they have bought an off the shelf generic product that can be delivered quickly and comparatively cheaply exactly because it hasn't been custom built for their requirements.

One of the ways this problem manifests itself is in Search Engine Optimisation as the customer will usually wait a couple of months after the site going live before realising that they are not top of Google for the word jobs and ask why. They then discover numerous SEO specialists that offer to get them to the top of Google for certain terms and invest lots of money in audits and optimisation reports only to find out that we cannot implement everything they want because they are using a system with a shared codebase. Yes our system has numerous inbuilt features for SEO that can be turned on and off but asking for and expecting specific development that has been recommended by a 3rd party after development has completed can cause unneeded stress and tension especially when the customer is told no due to system limitations.

What the customer should do is think about and investigate the possibilities of SEO before the specification document has been signed off rather than months after the site has gone live. This way any limitations of the system can be discussed so the customer is made aware that spending money with a 3rd party who is also unaware of system limitations is probably a waste of £££. Also any good ideas they may have regarding SEO requirements can be planned out and possibly developed during the main development phase rather than thrown in later as an after thought. Even if its a generic system good ideas are good ideas and a benefit for one customer will be a benefit to others as the development house can make money by reselling the feature as an add-on to existing customers.

I am not saying 3rd party SEO consultants don't do a good job but potential customers of sites need to be aware of what they are buying and what is and not possible before they spend money with any 3rd party. There can be nothing worse than spending money with a consultant only to find out that their recommendations cannot be implemented or if they are implemented it will cost even more money for the extra development. So take my advice and think about SEO before not after development as not only will it save time and money but having good SEO from the off will mean your site gains better positioning in the search engines quicker rather than later.

Further Reading:

Please read this article of mine about techniques for good and bad search engine optimisation.

15 comments:

SEO Reseller said...

The old link building techniques such as directory submission, social bookmarking, and article submission are least effective now. Social media marketing using facebook and twitter is the most powerful technique we can use today.

Calgary web design company said...

"Social media marketing using facebook and twitter is the most powerful technique we can use today." - I agree. That's why a lot of SEO firms also offer Social Media Marketing to capitalize on the real-time visitors these popular sites generate.

seo reseller said...

That was very informative. If there was only a way to show this to every company they even consider any SEO procedure.

seo outsourcing said...

Good information comes from a good source. Social networking sites and bookmarking sites still works i guess. The question is what will be next.

Internet Marketing Solutions said...

this is the pointers to be consider by the seo provider however the old process of submitting link is still effective as off now. By the way, this is a great post to be focus on.

Unknown said...

great work.nicely witten.

Affordable Search Engine Optimization

Robert said...

I have also been using these wiki sites in my SEO campaigns and I'm so glad to say that it works for my website.how to check for plagiarism free

Unknown said...

Mmm.. good to be here in your article or post, whatever, I think I should also work hard for my own website like I see some good and updated working in your site.Link building

Asad Hanif said...

I will be always checking your blog. Its really very nice and i will only say thanks for sharing this great information with us. how to detect plagiarism

markson said...

Some of them are White SEO, Inorganic, Black SEO, and natural SEO and so on. All these ways are particularly very much acknowledged and to deal with these field qualified experts are required.
Whakki-Media

Aslay Sin said...

You have made an incredible showing. I will most likely burrow it and by and by propose to my companions. I am certain they will be profited from this site. SEO company

Aslay Sin said...

Fabulous post, felt free to bookmarked your site. I can hardly wait to peruse more from you. SEO services

Unknown said...

Search engine optimization and SEO content writing involve designing your text for the highest possible Google ranking. To achieve this, it is not only essential to carry out keyword research, but also to understand what your competition is doing and assess the international standing of your niche and your part in it. writing web content

Gary said...

Hi - I say don't quit yet. If you become a social media guru, its not the same as being able to produce a long-term ranking benefit.

Gary

SEO Reseller said...

Very good addition. This article has excellent points and I’m glad that I’ve read this.