How to Choose the right Website Design Company for your SEO and Website Marketing Needs

Web Design Articles | January 19, 2010

Using a Website Design Company that can set up your web site with SEO in mind is going to save you time and money when it comes to search engine marketing.

Many people look at website development as a two part process separating website design and website optimization. Because website architecture, coding, and content are critical elements in successful website rankings and search engine placement your dollars would be better spent in locating one company to handle both your website design and website SEO needs.

A Website Design Company that knows how to set up your web site with SEO in mind is going to save you time and money on revisions that would need to be made when it comes to SEO. Having your website streamlined for search engine optimization on the front side is also going to start producing results much sooner than a site that needs to undergo revisions.

When choosing a website design company you will want to look at their online portfolio to see real world solutions that they have come up with for their clients. There are many website designers out there who can create visually appealing web solutions. I recommend looking at website design and development companies because they have a team of dedicated experts to ensure that your needs are met. They will also be more likely to have in-house SEO expertise which will ensure that your website development is done in an SEO friendly manner.

What should you expect to see from a professional website design/SEO Company? In terms of an initial proposal you should expect to see a very clearly specified project management proposal. The initial proposal should clearly state what services will be included in their estimate and what may be cause for additional fees. If a company is unwilling to disclose the exact services they intend on providing you with, this should be considered a "red flag" for you to move on to a different company. An example proposal is included below to give you an idea of what services to look for and a rough idea of the cost involved.

Please Note that obviously website design prices vary from company to company and also may be influenced by location. SEO and search engine marketing services will vary in price due to many factors including niche density of your target market, local versus national ranking factors, how new your site and domain name are, etc. Professional SEO services could range anywhere between $450 for local results and $2,500 per month nationally.

Example Proposal:

1) E-commerce Website Base Price = $4,800(
* Design of e-commerce website
* Logo / Branding Corporate Identity
* Miva Shopping Cart Installation & Setup
* Ability to Import/Update Products & Categories from excel spreadsheet
* Initial Set up Includes set up for 10 Total Products * Product Search((

Additional Costs
* Hosting $38.00 month - hostasaurus.com
* SSL Certificate $30 annually - godaddy.com
* Gateway account - $20 month - Authorize.net includes virtual terminal
* Merchant account- $$ month - bank of your choice(

Optional Modules - Additional Cost
* Basket Price, Mini Cart, Item Added to cart - $50(
* Bread Crumbs & Category Bread Crumbs - $30
* Dynamic Category Menus - $40
* WYSIWYG For Editing Pages- $99
* UPS Real Time Rates Integration with your account $169.95
* Product Reviews & Ratings - $45.00
* Promo Codes/Coupons - $99.95(
* Constant Contact Mailing List Integration $25.00(
* Suggested Products - Included
* Order Tracking & Status (wombat beta) - Included
* Product Search - Included

2) SEO/SEM Services Base Price = $$$$ per month (minimum 6 month contract)

Search engine optimization is a long term website marketing program building your websites credibility, back links and traffic in a natural search engine friendly manner that ensures your site is found in organic search results and includes the following services.(
* Monthly Manual Search Engine & Directory Inclusion of the site
* Press Release and Article Marketing
* Company Facebook & Twitter accounts
* Building Quality Back Links(
* Google Anylitics(

Stage 1: Research and Development
The company will analyze your website and compare your website's structure and components with that of your direct competitors. The company will then do in-depth research into your market's keywords and determine what your primary key phrases should be and focus on promoting your site around those keywords and phrases. The SEO company should eliminate weaknesses in your website's meta tags, descriptions, and structure as part of their services.

Stage 2: Implementation and Maintenance
This stage is the monthly work it takes to build your site's credibility on the world wide web and includes the following services:

Press Release and Article Marketing - The company will distribute industry related articles and press releases building High Quality inbound links and credibility to your site. This is one of the most important things a professional SEO company can do for your site. Google rates your site on the quality of content as well as the quality and credibility of the sites linking to your web site.

Any reputable website design/SEO company should be able to answer any questions you may have before beginning your project. They should also be able to provide examples of their work in both web site design and effective website ranking on search engines such as Google.

Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I am the art director for a highly rated Website Design Company, graphic design and SEO Company. I believe that one of the greatest assets a company can have today is a well designed website with the right amount of search engine optimization.