The original article was written by Stoney deGeyter, with Pole Position Search Engine Marketing. The particular part that caught my attention was this...
"Most web design and development companies don't know the first thing about SEO or creating SE friendly websites. And most who claim to be are liars. Sorry, but that's just the way it is.That is so true, and particularly in the Myrtle Beach area...where the competition is getting tougher every day, and the so-called SEO companies have been popping up like weeds.
Hint: If your web developer says they will SEO your website for you as part of the one-time design fee, they are a liar. If they tell you they'll develop a search engine friendly or SEO ready site then there is a better chance they know what they are talking about."
To my knowledge, there is one other person in our area who knows SEO...and he is GOOD.
I won't mention a name, but he works full time for a competitor, as I work full time for David O'Connell and The Myrtle Beach Condo Store. He gives me a run for the money, and is about as good as I've seen. But then again, we do perhaps have somewhat of an unfair advantage in that we work for ONE company, and don't have to spend our time worrying about getting customers and doing alot of design work.
On the other hand, one of the area's biggest web design firms has been claiming to provide SEO services for over a year...and is about as unable to do this as any I've seen. I hate to see local realtors paying these people for something they don't get. But I guess it's really none of my business.
Back to the article. As he stated above, and further into his article, a website can be DESIGNED as "SE Friendly". SEO itself really has nothing to do with designing or programming a site, although several companies have an extra service of making the IDX results into static html pages that help with content.
True real estate search engine optimization includes the traditional ONPAGE optimization, which a regular web designer can certainly contribute to...or damage irreparably.
I don't think they are teaching the basics of SE Friendly design even at this late date. I suspect any designer that knows it has learned by reading, or by working with an SEO company. But this is such a small part of SEO, that it is almost neglible. The most important part of what you have to be sure of is that they don't design a site that CAN'T be optimized...such as flash, or some database driven sites that have page URL's a block long.
I have been doing this for nearly 5 years now, and it's like second nature to me. But even I forget small things occasionally, and often second guess myself when doing a website from scratch.
Also, SEO is NOT link building. That is the most sure sign that your SEO company is worthless. Yes, a big part of what you have to do is to get incoming links, but the days of the reciprocal link directories are GONE. Yahoo has been penalizing heavy reciprocal linking for over a year, and Google pulled the plug on it the first of May of this year, banning several hundred Advanced Access Realtor sites for the massive state link directories that they have promoted for several years.
True SEO is not just a few things you can do to a site and be done with it now. It's truly an ongoing and time consuming job...especially when the real estate marketing is in a competitive or resort area. I'm not sure that the future of SEO will be able to include this. It takes a constant and everyday round of blogs, writing articles, creating classifieds and more than anything... CONTENT, to rank well in our area. For a new website, it now takes close to a year before Google really likes a website. It would cost a lot of money to really optimize a new site in some place like Charlotte or Miami. Las Vegas would be a nightmare.
Mr deGeyter says it best in one of his closing paragraphs...
"The process of SEO requires hours of additional research and a skill set that usually is not included as a part of the site development contract. There are a few development firms that also specialize in SEO and Marketing and these firms can develop and engage in long-term optimization services. But be aware that any short-term website development contract that claims to include SEO simply will not provide adequate or successful SEO marketing results."If you are a realtor looking for search engine marketing for your website, do your due diligence. Don't assume a local web design firm claiming they can provide search engine help really CAN. Check the websites that are in the top for your area and search terms, and try to find the company that provided their service.
Be forewarned, though, that an ETHICAL SEO firm will not service competing customers in the same area. So ask around...read the forums such as Webmaster World or Site Pro News, and hopefully you'll soon have a website that brings in leads and is one of your most important career tools.
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Real Estate Marketing and Myrtle Beach Real Estate Web Design
by Myrtle Beach Web Design
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