Does it matter if you are...

[Amazin]

using the same company for web design and SEO or not? I find it quite difficult to find a company that does both well.

Part of me really want to stick to one company so they handle all my online needs.

 

[zigojacko]

Makes sense to be honest. The amount of times we've had to clear up after another provider's mess for new clients.

We develop sites that are optimised and structurally tick all the boxes and then we can run online marketing campaigns working well with the website that we know inside out already. Makes perfect sense.

There's too many cowboys, idiots and wannabe's in the industry that a lot of businesses fall victim and we often end up fixing issues before we can even get stuck into what we need to do.

There are a number of full service agencies that offer a great design/dev and marketing service. But I must admit, I haven't come across many at all. It's often one channel or the other.

 

[Faevilangel]

I would look at getting a specialist in for both e.g.

website developer for the website
seo specialist for the seo

imho very few can do both to a high standard and I would rather pay 2 different specialists than pay someone to be a specialist at one and only good at the other.

Another thing, if you get your website done and seo by the same company, I have seen and heard of times where someone cancelled the seo stuff and the company took their website offline. They then removed all the work they had done on the seo.

Best way to find out is to look at the portfolio, talk to their clients and research.

 

[a1exn1987]

Well if a web agency that offers both SEO and design isn't meeting your design needs then it's probably worth finding another company.

Having said that, if you're going for a new build site having SEO 'built in' is really useful for a strong launch so you might want to consider sticking with one company that does both and approaching a different company down the line for redesign should you need it at a later date.

 

[Lou P]

Well if a web agency that offers both SEO and design isn't meeting your design needs then it's probably worth finding another company.

Having said that, if you're going for a new build site having SEO 'built in' is really useful for a strong launch so you might want to consider sticking with one company that does both and approaching a different company down the line for redesign should you need it at a later date.

I agree. A good SEO will look at the structure of your website, and if need be re-structure it to achieve sound on-site SEO.

There have been many times when I have gone in the back end of a site and just thought to myself "It would be so much easier if I could just start over and rebuild this myself!".

At the end of the day, a Web Designer who knew sound SEO wouldn't be called a Web Designer. They would be called an SEO. So, I would start by approaching SEO's and asking if they design as well. Efficiency and Ability always over Aesthetics!

 

[Faevilangel]

I agree. A good SEO will look at the structure of your website, and if need be re-structure it to achieve sound on-site SEO.

There have been many times when I have gone in the back end of a site and just thought to myself "It would be so much easier if I could just start over and rebuild this myself!".

At the end of the day, a Web Designer who knew sound SEO wouldn't be called a Web Designer. They would be called an SEO. So, I would start by approaching SEO's and asking if they design as well. Efficiency and Ability always over Aesthetics!

Why would an seo be better at building a website developer? An seo specialises in seo because they can't build websites (imho).

They can tinker with code and make edits to it but building a website from scratch is beyond their scope.

A web developer should know the basics of seo so to build the website to a good foundation. The seo can then come in and make the necessary changes as they see fit.

All of my websites are built to be seo friendly but the thing with anything like this it's down to opinion, what I think is good, someone else will say it's crap.

A project (realistically) should go like....

developer - wireframe the layout / structure
designer - make the wireframe look pretty etc
developer - build the initial framework
seo - make adjustments to the framework
developer - build design into site
seo - add content

 

[CPSMedia Carl]

I tend to advice that people look at it from what the companies main service is, if its webdesign they generally know very little about marketing and just have it as an addon sevice.

You will generally find that marketers are better alrounders because they know how to do the two most important things online:

• Drive traffic
• Convert traffic

For this reason if you are looking for someone to do all your design and marketing I would always advice going with a marketing company over webdesign companies.

 

[Lou P]

Why would an seo be better at building a website developer? An seo specialises in seo because they can't build websites (imho).

They can tinker with code and make edits to it but building a website from scratch is beyond their scope.

Hi. Sorry, I think you mis-read. I was drawing comparisons between SEO and Web Designers. Not Developers.

I am an SEO, and lo and behold, not too shabby at building websites either. I actually know many SEO's these days who build better websites than Designers; which don't just look good but shoot through the rankings too!

So, bearing this in mind along with the OP's question; is it not a no-brainer to have just one look after all rather than pay two separately, whereby one will essentially be cleaning up after the other?

At the end of the day, all businesses want are leads which come via traffic. They don't want the sexiest site on Earth hidden deep in Google and Bing!

A web developer should know the basics of seo so to build the website to a good foundation. The seo can then come in and make the necessary changes as they see fit.

All of my websites are built to be seo friendly but the thing with anything like this it's down to opinion, what I think is good, someone else will say it's crap.

A project (realistically) should go like....

developer - wireframe the layout / structure
designer - make the wireframe look pretty etc
developer - build the initial framework
seo - make adjustments to the framework
developer - build design into site
seo - add content

I agree a Developer should know the basics, but what about the more advanced stuff which needs to be laid in the foundations of the site?

And then if you just hired a Developer to build your site, would you not be compromising both Search and Looks?

You are right though, it is about opinions, and we can only base our opinions on what we know; which is why personally, I know I could do a better job than your regular Web Designer, hence my opinion in the last post!

 

[fisicx]

I agree a Developer should know the basics, but what about the more advanced stuff which needs to be laid in the foundations of the site?

Errrr...

That's what a developer does, all the advanced stuff. I don't know many SEO experts that can put together an ecommerce site from scratch

 

[Mystro]

I think it depends on how big the company is as it may have a few different departments, one design , one marketing etc

 

[WhizzPeople]

Its hard to find a company is good in both web design and SEO within a small budget. Large companies can afford to employ good designers and SEO consultants.

In that case, I would go for personal recommendations.

If you HAVE to go for separate companies; find a SEO consultant / company first, plan your website first, then find the design and work all three together.

Otherwise if you design the site first, and then ask the SEO consultant to work on that, he may face different challenges due to design faults.

 

[Lou P]

Errrr...

That's what a developer does, all the advanced stuff. I don't know many SEO experts that can put together an ecommerce site from scratch

You have misread again. I was referring to advanced SEO. A properly structured SEO website has SEO implemented from the very core. I doubt many Developers implement this as it is tied in with the design. In fact, I doubt all SEO's do.

And re e-commerce; I'm not sure that was the OQ but I will concur anyway. If I was asked to build an e-commerce site from scratch, sure I would bring in a developer to help, but I would want to ensure I worked alongside them to implement the proper SEO from the beginning, rather than having to go back after and redo bits here and there after.

Working together works. But having one do their thing and another clean up after is a waste of time when one person could do the whole job if your on a budget, which is what the OP was asking.

 

I do SEO.I build websites they ain't pretty but they earn money any tricky stuff and we have a good web developer who works for us.

 

[Elliottc26]

Why would an seo be better at building a website developer? An seo specialises in seo because they can't build websites (imho).

They can tinker with code and make edits to it but building a website from scratch is beyond their scope.

A web developer should know the basics of seo so to build the website to a good foundation. The seo can then come in and make the necessary changes as they see fit.

All of my websites are built to be seo friendly but the thing with anything like this it's down to opinion, what I think is good, someone else will say it's crap.

A project (realistically) should go like....

developer - wireframe the layout / structure
designer - make the wireframe look pretty etc
developer - build the initial framework
seo - make adjustments to the framework
developer - build design into site
seo - add content

Don't you actually mean..?

A project (realistically) should go like....

developer - wireframe the layout / structure
designer - make the wireframe look pretty etc
developer - build the initial framework
seo - make adjustments to the framework
developer - build design into site
copywriter - writes the content to convert visitors
designer - makes copy and pages look pretty etc
seo - tweaks site for google rankings

Just saying

 

[Core List]

I tend to put a higher priority on SEO than on design.
You don't need an intricate design or a fantastic visual impact to convert sales online. You need a respectable design and a functional website and TRAFFIC.
You can have a brilliant website and no traffic and you won't get sales.
But you can have an average site that is functional and good traffic and will get good sales.

I have found that Designers put more emphasis on design than SEO, which is fine because there are some great designers out there. But when you are on a budget, I would use a standard template first that does the job and put more money into advertising, SEO and Adwords. Then you can always re-design later when you have the income.
Just pick a site that has decent templates BigCommerce, Shopify, WooCommerce as most designers can work with these later and put your money into getting traffic.

John

 

[pickaweb]

It would not hurt if you knew the basics of SEO yourself.
Why not check Matt Cutts from Google
http://www.youtube.com/user/GoogleWebmasterHelp/videos?view=0&sort=dd&flow=grid
All the best.

 

[a1exn1987]

I think it depends on how big the company is as it may have a few different departments, one design , one marketing etc

I'll go with that. A relatively small business, say a restaurant, that wants a site with simple functionality, for example a booking system, could probably get that with a marketing agency that offers design along with their marketing services.

Most agencies will have an in house developer and design team if they offer design along with marketing and SEO - so, I'd say it really just depends on their abilities and your needs.

If the in house developer's abilities are unable to meet your needs then find a specialised developer elsewhere and stick to the agency just for marketing. If there's a need to seperate design and SEO then that's reason enough to find two seperate services.

 

[zigojacko]

I think , It depends on the company ,They are interested in webdesign or not .

That doesn't make any sense.

 

[Ian J]

That doesn't make any sense.

At least it's better than his other post which was a cut and paste job of a post earlier in the same thread

 

[zigojacko]

At least it's better than his other post which was a cut and paste job of a post earlier in the same thread

Haha. Honestly, where do they come from.

 

[Michael Nguyen]

Unless you know SEO yourself, how will you know that the company is actually competent in SEO. The design could be great but the SEO implementation might be bad. If your SEO person has experience with technical SEO then you "might" be talking to someone that knows about SEO but you still can't be sure.

Pick a company that is aware of technical issues that may hinder indexation. If you're building a basic website then probably wordpress will do but if you're building an eCommerce website then you really need to know the SEO is upto the job.

Eg, eCommerce website are capable of building duplicates listings without you even knowing it but does your guy know how to fix it?

If you need help understanding technical issues the the below can help you understand what issues may arise:

I can't post URL's yet but Google " moz how to do a site audit"

Michael.

 

[amitaharij]

Better choose a single company based on your needs. It is comparatively better than searching for different one.

 

[webgeek]

There are advantages to dealing with a single organisation, of course.

There's also advantages to having a 2nd set of eyes who can look over what's going on with their counterparts and make sure the train hasn't gone off the rails. If you're enough of an expert to spot these things and don't need a sanity check / audit assist, then there's little to be gained by having 2 teams... IF you can find one team that has the expertise in each of the areas.

I used to believe that budget was a determining factor. Silly me thought that if someone had a big enough budget, they'd get experts from each department in a big digital agency to take care of each of the functions, so that effectively they were being served by an army of experts. In some instances this is true, and in others it's the case that your work gets thrown to the juniors and only a cursory review by the ubergeeks before being sent your way. It's a bit like getting a haircut at a barber college - depends on whether the instructor or the first day pupils are the ones tending to your affairs as to what you look like when things are finished!

By the same token, I've had the pleasure of working with some one man/woman companies who are great all arounders, having artistic vision, marketing skills and are the total package. For a £10k project, or less, some of these people can truly deliver incredible value.

If I were looking to buy a site and know that I needed marketing assist too, I'd be less worried about whether it was 1, 2 or more teams working on the account and instead be worried that I was choosing a team that delivered results. Hard to believe, but there's some unscrupulous people out there.

Spend twice as much as you planned on the due diligence and choosing the vendor(s) and you'll save that time and money later, when you don't find a bunch of hidden gotchas.

Check the reviews on UKBF, ask for feedback from others, pay a few quid to an independent 3rd party and have them do the bird dogging for you. There's no one better at uncovering the weaknesses in an SEO agency than another SEO agency who would like to win your contract work!