Finding the perfect balance between web design and SEO

When going online, people are hungry for information. But exactly what they want to learn depends on what they are looking for. Hence, if you want your company to be recognizable by your target audience, your web presence has to be strong. The main reason is that web users today tend to research products or services before making purchases. So, in the event your company doesn’t have a website yet, it’s crucial you get an effective website redesign project plan and optimize the website so it shows up on the first page of search results. 

Of course, if your company doesn’t deal with building websites, this might seem difficult to wrap your head around. Thankfully, we are living in an age overflowing with quickly advancing information technology. San Francisco web design companies exist that would gladly build you the website of your dreams. Furthermore, many design agencies do a lot more than just design websites. They provide services to their clients that make their websites have particular advantages in their industries. Search engine optimization (SEO) is an example of one such service, and it is one your company should take care of before its website launches.

In the meantime, with the market evolving quickly, new contenders pop up like mushrooms after heavy rainfall. Brand awareness becomes a priority to keep businesses afloat. This relies heavily on how prospective clients perceive your brand. This is where many CEOs start to allocate funds on web design and SEO, hoping to boost their company’s exposure. Nevertheless, many companies are left wondering if they should take care of both or just one. Further, it’s unclear which of the solutions is the most urgent for their service or product. We will try to thwart these delusions and convince you that the ideal balance in taking care of both SEO and web design is not just possible but is vital to client conversion and boosting sales.

Exploring your competitors 

Studying your competition is a good way to know what you have done wrong or right, and what exactly you need to improve on. But this should go beyond just visiting websites on your own. Pick the most prolific contenders within your niche, as well as those who aren’t doing so well. If you have both SEO and design professionals on your team, go through the websites with them together. On the websites, you’re reviewing, sign up for their newsletters, read their user reviews, see where they rank in Google Analytics, and study their SEO strategy. 

The benefits come not from trying to beat the competition, but in learning from what the competition does. More often than not, seeing how they solved design layout or content-related problems will help you with your dilemmas. This is a learning process which undoubtedly helps make you a better contender in the market. 

Getting a focus group to check new designs and layouts 

Along with the previous point, you’ll also do much better if you make a focus group, depending on the demographic you chose. Experts advise making it a little more challenging, by expanding the demographics of the focus group, to see how your brand exposure appeals to other users, regardless of their (dis)interest in it. Try out several different layouts: heavy SEO, blog posts, descriptions, and user reviews. Then try a more visually oriented approach. Utilize questionnaires and track the feedback. 

Trial and error is perhaps the best way to find the perfect balance between flawless SEO and impressive web design features. However, there’s no universal formula that can be applied to any product or business. It all needs to be custom made by your team for your website. However, there are certain points with which you can’t go wrong: clear call-to-action buttons, displaying the most relevant content on the landing page, and incorporating clear navigational tools within your design. When it comes to SEO, employing catchy, personalized descriptions or phrases will make the user feel welcome. In contrast, a customer review page will make them more adamant about purchasing a product. 

Integrating a Content Management System (CMS) 

Lastly, it’s important to choose the right content management system. Quality web design is pricey. This means you won’t always be able to afford to refurbish your website when a newer brand appears. Content management systems are different types of software that help you easily update content to stay on top of search engines. They make it less pricey and more layman-friendly to update the site with fresh new content, give access to HTML, and use text editors for quick updates on website changes. 

WordPress is a no-brainer for most. But the young up-and-comers of the branch include Wix, with dozens of different layouts depending on the business – Squarespace, Concrete5, and Joomla are some to name a few. 

Closing Thoughts 

Nowadays, web design specialists and agencies can access more solutions and technologies than ever before. Even just several years ago, the possibilities were much more limited than they are today. Modern web design is so advanced that some websites will keep you looking at them with their architecture, functional solutions, and the overall experience they provide to users. However, when your website is only just being built, you should make certain that you center your target audience in your focus throughout the entire design process. This is vital for ensuring your site’s SEO rankings after it is launched. By keeping your audience’s requirements in mind, your website’s content will need to contain particular keywords that attract web users who are looking for your products or services on the Internet. 

High-quality web design is beneficial not just for enterprises, but for search engines and consumers as well. Whereas you get a chance to provide your brand with proper presentation, your potential customers get a chance to know your company better. Further, search engines have relevant content to consider and process. These dimensions create probably the best business development climate available to companies today, with SEO being one of if not its most critical feature.