Often when companies go in search of SEO services on the web they are thinking of “SEO” as a service separate from website design.  I can understand that, for a couple of good reasons.

First Reason SEO Services are often Divorced from Website Services: Lack of Training

Let’s face it, it’s not hard to find someone who is willing to build a website.  I’ve been in Web development since 1995, professionally since 2000, and if I had the proverbial nickel for every time that I encountered a website built by someone’s nephew or brother-in-law I would be able to retire in Fiji (and that’s only a slight exaggeration).  The nephew or brother-in-law won’t be combining search engine optimization talent with web development talent, since in all likelihood they haven’t even got the web development side down yet.

On the other extreme are websites that are extremely sophisticated and polished.  But in order for a web tech to achieve that level of skill in this day and age they need to spend every spare moment honing their web development skills.  Real web development is a demanding profession as Google approaches its sweet sixteen birthday, and it does not favor part-timers.

Second Reason SEO Services are often Divorced from Website Services: Differing Mindsets and Skillsets

In my experience the types of techs who have an inclination toward web programming and design tend to have a disinclination to the fuzzier, more abstract world of selecting keywords, creating content, and cultivating the types of partnerships that lead to quality links.  So even though some web development professionals will engage in SEO, in most cases their heart, and their time and training, are not into it.

But Divorce can be Messy

Certainly there are SEO companies that work on just Search Engine Optimization, in a world totally divorced from website development technology.  Such companies rely on another company to deal with the website technical issues, but that creates a powerful disadvantage.   The disadvantage lies in the fact that search engine optimization, which is part of search engine marketing, has a technical site that relies on a keen understanding of what can and cannot be accomplished in website programming.  A failure to have a good grasp of that can lead the SEO services firm to expect the unrealistic, or to spend time and money making inappropriate demands of the web development people.

The other disadvantage arises when one of the two organizations isn’t up to standard.  If a highly skilled SEO firm has to rely on a lax and incompetent web developer to get things done, they end up looking just as bad as, if not worse than, the developer.

Best SEO and Website Services Solution: Different People, One Team

At Horizon we realized long ago that we would need a team approach to serve out customers in the best way possible.  For that reason we have assembled a multi-disciplinary team that can deal with your companies online marketing needs from development to search to social media.    Within our team we can address Website needs as well as the broad range SEO and SEM services necessary to succeed online.

So, if you’re tired of eating your peas and carrots separately, give us a call and we’ll discuss how we can put our Website and SEO services team to work for you.

Ross Barefoot

Ross Barefoot got his start in small business managing an importing company in the bicycle industry.  While there, he tried his hand at programming to find more effective ways to track, market and sell his company’s range of bicycle parts. He loved the web marketing side of things so much he became a professional web developer in 2001, starting a website design business in Western Colorado. He took his first SEO certification course from the Search Engine Academy in 2002, followed it up with another in 2004, and decided to jump full time into SEO training and consulting in 2011, becoming a Master Certified Instructor with the Search Engine Academy, where he continues to serve on the Board of Directors. Today, Ross is CTO, trainer and chief SEO strategist at Horizon Web Marketing (www.horizonwebmarketing.com), a full-service digital marketing agency based in Las Vegas.