SEO and Web design. Two birds of a feather...

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and web design go hand in hand. One cannot function without the other. Sure, you could have a well designed website on the internet and pay for traffic and advertising. However, no one will find you while doing a search. The benefits of being found on search engines will cut the cost of paid advertising. Yet everyday there are people who spend a great deal of money to have a site designed but wouldn't think of having it optimized. Why, you ask? Is it the cost of SEO? Would they rather have a site created and avoid optimization to save a few bucks? If that's the case…what do they plan to do with this site when it is completed? Advertise? SEO is advertising. It is actually one of the cheapest forms of advertising.

Were they planning on a PPC campaign? Buying banners? Page impressions on some click network? You've got to be kidding me. Why would anyone waste their money on those subpar options before optimizing their site?

In the long run, you’ll spend more on those "other" methods and receive fewer results than if you optimized and maintained the optimization of your site. Eventually, you’ll wind up needing SEO anyway. Trust me. If you ever wanted to know anything about something, chances are you’ve searched for it first. You didn't click on a banner or surf into it from some click through network. Now don’t get me wrong, PPC is great if you know what you’re doing. SEO paired off with PPC is a great combination. You may even do some PPC while your SEO is taking place. Any method is better than none at all.
Unfortunately, there are those who do business on the web who think that spending money on web design alone will help attract business. You can have the most interesting storefront the world has ever seen, but if you open up for business in the middle of the desert, it won't make any difference.

So, what do you do? Hire a designer and then an SEO guru? That would be costly. Hire a web designer that has some knowledge of SEO to optimize your site? Not a good idea. That may hurt more then help. Search engines today are smarter then they were just a few years ago. You don't want to be penalized for bad SEO methods or worse yet have no real SEO results from contracting a web designer with only marginal experience in optimization.

You need to find a web design company that has an SEO expert on board. SEO is a full time job. You want to make sure the SEO guru is knowledgeable and is up to speed with the latest algorithms. Check their portfolio and ask to see their SEO achievements. You should be able to contact their present or former clients to see if they are happy with their results. Remember, anybody can spot a great looking website, but SEO experience should be researched before you hire anyone. Ask for a proven track record. If you can find the right combination of an SEO guru and experienced web designers in one package, you can save a lot of time and money while taking care of the first two things every business should: getting customers to your site and giving them a reason to stay.

For Affordable SEO, SEM, website design and more visit Joe's site. To read the latest SEO News visit his blog.Or, read articles on SEO.