It’s not all about SEO!
That’s right I said it. I am sure you won’t hear many people say it, but it is true. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is very important but it isn’t worth sacrificing the design of your website. A whole bunch of text on your webpage without pretty graphics, or a visual flow will make anyone click off your website in a heart beat. People have very short attention spans and if your site is loaded with tons of text it creates an overwhelming feeling of having to read it all. This is where design comes in. Breaking up the text, and add visual flow as well as visual aesthetics, does wonders to a website. I have seen plenty of “SEO companies” that offer web design and SEO as one package. Problem is they are just an SEO company, and their web design skills aren’t that great!
Not all SEO is created Equal
The other thing you have to keep in mind is not all SEO is created equal. There are many ways to get high ranking and not have a spam feeling to your site. Repeating the same words one after the other and creating pages that really don’t have much content just to rank for that particular word or city are a sure way to look spammy. But the most obvious is if you have a links page that links to other websites. Sure link exchange is one way to build back links, but it isn’t the only way!
How to spot bad SEO companies
As a business owner you need to watch out for SEO companies that put hidden or semi-hidden links at the bottom of your web site. Usually these links are random sites, but if you look closer you might find that all these site are websites that they have built, or did search engine optimization work on. Usually link exchange involves linking to a site with similar content or in the same industry as yours. Why else have a link to their website? You don’t want random websites that aren’t associated with your industry on your website! This is the kind of SEO company you don’t want, sooner or later those links are going to drop off and you will be left with no real backlinks. If this is the kind of SEO you are getting, I can tell you that you aren’t getting your money’s worth. And you are probably sacrificing your design for bad SEO tactics. Basically, you have found yourself a spammer marketing themselves as an SEO expert. I will not name names, but there are a few Dallas companies in particular that do this. So be aware of the links at the bottom their website. Anything that looks strange or out of place, always investigate by clicking on it and seeing what it is about. And make sure to look at a handful of sites they have created (sample sites) and check the bottom of those sites for a links, web resource, or just random numbers i.e. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. If you find these types of links that list random websites that aren’t related to that particular site or industry, mark it up as bad SEO.
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