Being at the top of Google’s results doesn’t define a “good” website.

It is only part of a much bigger picture.

by: Tony Krol 3 months, 1 week, 6 days, 8 hours, 38 minutes ago in: design, featured, marketing, process, tampa, web

There are plenty of articles all over the internet about the global problem of shady SEO tactics - so I wanted to focus on the SEO industry right here in Tampa. If you are a business owner in Tampa, you should know the difference between a shady SEO company and one that will actually help you.

SEO consists of three things. Content, search engines, and hard work.

An attractive women that delivers statistical reports of your website won’t get your business more exposure. Paying someone who “only does SEO” will not get you the desired result. Sure there are SEO’s who will argue otherwise, but your money is better spent with a good web developer who also knows what it takes to get your website some visibility.

Google is free. Free. Free. Free.

You can teach yourself, or any one of your employees how to take advantage of many of the services that Google has to offer. Your website is automatically crawled by Google and other search engines, there’s no reason to “submit it”, but you can if you like. You can add your business to Google Places for free. Google Analytics is completely free and comes with pretty simple instructions on how to place it on a website (this takes about 10 minutes, and that is a stretch). Their rating service is also free, just convince your customers to use it once you’ve submitted your business. It is all free.

What to do when you are approached by SEO monkey’s.

Ignore them. Tell them you are not interested. Don’t take a sip of their Kool-Aid.

What to do if you have already hired them?

Fire them, and spend that money on a real web developer.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t pay someone to monitor your site’s statistics, or take the time needed to do work -  such adding the analytics code to your site. I’m saying you should be careful who you hire. Hire a good web developer rather than an SEO company, because on the web - quality is in the details. The difference is that a good web developer will know what adjustments to make to better engage your audience, based on their knowledge of the other parts that make up a website, rather than just one piece - SEO.

SEO companies explain nothing about code, semantics, design, validation, or accessibility - all things that make up a very successful website! I have even dealt with an SEO company who recoded an entire site, removed the content management system, and then told our client that his site was not moving up in rank because of a “virus” on his server. All of this was complete B.S. So we convinced our client to fire that company. If you are allowing anyone work on your site that doesn’t have a grip on actual web development, you can most definitely find someone better. “Get your site to the top of Google” is a pretty easy phrase to throw B.S. on top of, but I’d like to see them try to B.S. their way through the relevance of good design. Most SEO companies - (even many who come across this article) will say, “Oh that other stuff doesn’t matter, all that matters is number one.” They couldn’t be more wrong. The best web developers in the world don’t engage in “SEO only” practices, so that should tell you something.

The value of a good web developer.

A good developer can create a site that is well designed, easy to navigate, contains relevant content, and maintains a very good search ranking. I’ve never met any one “SEO” who had a grip on design. However, I have met people who call themselves “Web Designers,” or “Web Developers,” who have an understanding of SEO. So there is the difference, you only need to hire a good web developer, one who understands SEO as one part of what makes up a successful web strategy - and when paired with other parts, creates a site that actually works. Now how to find a good developer.

Just like hiring a good mechanic.

Have you ever been ripped off by a shady mechanic? When you take your car to someone who knows what they’re doing, they tell you “The last guy you hired was an idiot!” This is pretty much the whole web industry - a few good mechanics in an industry of idiots. So don’t hire an idiot the first time. Stay clear of the SEO only tactics - anyone who is extremely vague, and lastly, don’t hire just any individual or company who “has a done a lot of websites.” Simply because a company has a substantial web portfolio, does not mean they do a good job. In the business of web design, it’s very easy to slip bad work past the nose of an unsuspecting client, because there are about 400,000 different ways to build a website - but only one “best way,” and that is what works for your business.

A good website is made up of perfectly balanced ingredients. Your web developer should be able to thoroughly explain them.

Effective Design

• a clean user interface (UI)
• engaging aesthetics (images & type)

Clean Code (Markup)

• semantics
• validation
• accessibility

Well Written Content

• audience focused
• simplified & friendly writing

Then, there is the stuff that is considered SEO.

• Listing your businesses with Google (free)
• Submitting your url to Google (free and automatic)
• Encouraging your customers to write reviews on Google (free - just tell them)
• Include proper meta data in the code of the site, and RDFa
• Keyword research (this falls in line with relevant content)
• Proper code structure and hierarchy
• Advanced search engine API’s

An understanding of advanced search engine API’s require advanced coding, and most SEO companies don’t know code at all, let alone advanced code.

All about you.

A good developer will understand content, good writing, editing, aesthetics, and most importantly you. Good web developers will ask a lot of questions about your business, and get to know you personally. It is simply necessary for a successful website. All of the above “pieces” are important, but perhaps more focus needs to be directed in a particular area based on your budget and goals.

So how do you find a good web developer in the ever-growing cesspool of those that claim they can “make a website”?

A little luck and a good list. So here, (in my opinion) are some of the best web agencies, and individuals in the Tampa Bay area. Those who don’t scream about SEO - and just create beautiful and engaging websites.

If you think you are awesome and not listed below, sorry, I just forgot about you or I don’t know you. So remind me or introduce yourself, I enjoy promoting those who do good work.

Companies:

Garcia Interactive
Garcia Interactive is more of a global web company stationed in Tampa. They have done work for the Wall Street Journal, GolfWeek, Investment News, Crane’s Business Review, and many other high volume - high content websites.
Garcia Interactive’s twitter

Big Sea Design
Andi Graham, the owner of Big Sea Design works with some of the most talented designers in the area on small to large business websites. While Big Sea offers SEO as a service, Andi can tell you the difference between an SEO strategy that works, and one that is B.S.
Big Sea’s twitter

Sparkfire
David Alexander and Jessica Barnett recently launched Sparkfire. They create clean and useful dynamic websites.
Sparkfire’s twitter

Individuals:

Dave Rau
Dave has been hand-coding websites since 1999; his work has been recognized by some of the best designers and developers on the planet. He is also a eminent artist here in Tampa - so buy his art.
Dave’s twitter

Bradley Askew
Brad teams up with top-notch front end, and back-end developers on his client’s projects. His designs are bold, engaging, and highly usable.
Brad’s twitter

Jared Fager
Jared has been hand-coding websites for almost a decade. He writes code that is sustainable, and creates some of the most aesthetically pleasing designs on the web.
Jared’s twitter