Define holistic – relating to or concerned with wholes or with complete systems rather than with the analysis of, treatment of, or dissection into parts.

Often when I speak to web designers about SEO, most web designers tend to have a negative view of search engine optimization. Web designers approach SEO as much of an after thought after the project has been completed, or worst yet ignore SEO all together. This is a phenomenon I witness time and time again, when talking to web designers and also clients who approach me for SEO work.

The problem seems that most web designers have blinkers on when it comes to the topic of SEO, they see search engine optimization as voodoo magic – something undesirable, scammy or like popup ads.

I’m here to tell you that, SEO is an essential part of web design in this day and age where Search Engines such as Google and Bing play a very important role in the performance of a website. Especially on a business website where the main objective is to generate sales and leads.

Lets not forget, most web sites are for business purposes, a virtual showroom on the internet to put it simply. Your showroom not only needs to look fantastic but also customers should be able to find your showroom. Think about the millions of showrooms on the internet, how do you get customers to visit yours? The simplest way is through search engine optimization.

SEO like search engines / internet is a fairly new industry, which I am happy to say I have grown up with – watched the highs and lows, the boom and busts.  SEO has just grown past its teenage years, where it was all about the quick bang for your buck solutions and now it has reached its maturity, the SEO industry is energetic, well established and researched. People have now finally caught on SEO can be highly beneficial for their website and business survival.

Unfortunately, most web designers have not grown up to accept this. The reason? Well I believe there are still tensions and misunderstandings between SEOs and web designers and I am here to tell you I have experience sitting on both side of the fence.

As a web designer, I use to cringe everytime a client would tell me that their SEO wanted to make changes to their website – such as replacing images with text or adding more text.

As an SEO, I used to cringe everytime a client would come to me with their uber designed website that isn’t generating sales for them because their designer was more concerned with the design rather than the basics of search engine optimization or worst yet designers who think that stuffing the meta tags with keywords is SEO.

The solution, is a holistic approach to web design and SEO – Where search engine optimization is factored into the design process and real business objectives are identified prior to any HTML coding is done. A holistic approach will save you money in the long run, because you are building a solid foundation for your website to grow and perform.

Think about building a showroom with no signage, it would cost a lot more later to ask a new builder to install signage, rather than having it done at the same time your showroom was been built. Most business owners wouldn’t dare build a showroom without signage, the same could be said about a website with no SEO!

When you speak to me about holistic web design and SEO, I will help evaluate your business goals and help you understand and identify opportunities for your website on the internet. This may involve a combination of an attractive website design along with a keyword and search engine optimization report, to give you a clear understanding and expectation of how your dollars will be spent and how you will benefit as a result.