For many people, SEO means “everything about a website except the colours and pictures”.
They know what web design is: that’s the colours and pictures. So everything else is called SEO. Sometimes it’s even shorthand for “getting the damn thing to work at all”.
They usually have a new website and they are puzzled why their results are so bad. They come to me asking about SEO.
I explain that all websites have 2 stages:
| Stage 1: Getting more visitors → | Stage 2: Getting more action |
|---|---|
| SEO | Credibility |
| Paid search (AdWords) | Visual design |
| emails | Value |
| Banner adverts | Good offer |
| Social media | Brand |
| Offline | Usability |
| Other |
I explain that yes I can do SEO but maybe we need to look at the whole picture first. SEO is one way to get more people to visit a website. One of several ways.
But it’s very often the second stage that needs fixing: they do get some visitors but they don’t get any action.
