SEO Sticker Shock

One of the human challenges developers run into when designing budget web sites… and Lord knows I’ve tried to avoid this… is what I call ‘SEO Sticker Shock’. The client typically approaches me to do a new web site with the primary goal being to update the look. But as a secondary goal they also want the site to rank better with search engines.

This second goal is not an unreasonable request. But where it gets tricky is when the client asks me to predict how much it will cost to improve the SEO as part of that quote. And when they do this, I know I’ve got some educating to do. Because it’s totally the wrong question. I can’t tell you how much it will cost to improve your SEO ranking before I get to work on a site. No one can.

Why? Well, to do this one has to do an analysis of where your site is now in relation to the keywords you want to reach, your competitors and so on. And that is work. So I (and every other web developer) try to do some cursory work while we’re designing your site. We’re writing copy, you’re giving us info about your competitors and we’re getting the big picture of where your site fits in the web eco-system. In effect, we’re trying to kill two birds with one stone and save you some money.

But it isn’t until the site is really shaping up that we start to get the ‘real picture’ of where you’re at–and what it’s going to take to improve your situation. And sometimes? It’s bad news.

Anyhoo, at the beginning, I try to do my ‘educating’ but sometimes the part where I say things like, “I’ll do my best!” and “We can probably do better than where you’re at now!” sound more like absolute promises than what they are–me trying to not be a ‘Debbie Downer’.

So when we get to the end of the project and I hand the client the keys to the site, I give them a quote on the SEO work I now can truly recommend? And the sticker shock hits. “I just gave you a bunch of money for a new site and now you want me to pay -again? What kind of scam are you running here?”

No scam. As the saying goes, you don’t know what you don’t know until you go into battle.

So here’s my advice:

1. Listen to your web developer at the outset. When he or she tells you that SEO is a separate discipline? Listen to that. It’s not just a boiler-plate disclaimer.
2. And if you really don’t want to avoid the sticker shock? Pay for the analysis before the web re-design begins! If that doesn’t seem like something you want to do, then ask yourself: how much do I really care about SEO? In other words, if you don’t think SEO analysis is worth the dough up front, that’s likely a good indicator that you may not be thrilled to pay for it after the site is done. As they say, you can tell what people truly value by what they are willing to pay for. Maybe all your really cared about was the site design. Which is fair enough. After all, a well-designed web site is great end result, regardless!

If you’ve read anything I’ve written, you’ll know that I say the same thing over and over: SEO is advertising. SEO is advertising. SEO is advertising. It’s work on its own–apart from the web site itself. So in one sentence, SEO cannot be folded into your web design because they are separate (though related) disciplines. And anyone who tells you different is selling swamp land.