In the expansive world that is the Internet, the ultimate goal is to get noticed and look good when you do. Getting noticed, of course, is of the upmost importance and SEO is a key factor in this, but at what point should we allow a site’s SEO to start to limit its presentation and design? Well, if approached properly, you should be able to fulfill the vision for your site’s look while still getting plenty of attention and results.
The key here is to understand the buyer. Understanding your buyer will greatly benefit you in reaching them. Who are they? How do they use the Internet? What sites do they visit for information? And most importantly, how do they find you?
If you are an established brand, or users have seen you in other sources, the look and refinement of your site is of the greatest importance to further strengthen your brand. If you are already known, chances are there can be a little less focus on filling the pages up with “search terms” in the copy, and more room for further selling your vision through design and images.
If in a more competitive market where you are not as well known (yet), it would seem that you would want to drop the pretty images and go with a more text heavy, “search results” driven site for better SEO. Well, even in this instance, you should not abandon reinforcing your brand and sticking with luxury design to bring people to your doorstep. With proper planning, the SEO on your “boutique luxury” site can be just as effective as a text heavy simple site. Also, in this case, you should be concentrating on generating leads from more than just search results anyway.
Going back to understanding the buyer, in addition to search results, you should be trying to reach the buyer where they already are. By directly targeting online sites that your buyer already frequents, you have found another way to transmit your message to them. So say the buyer clicks on your Realtor.com banner and they are brought to your beautiful home page, you got your cake and ate it too. SEO was not even a factor.
So in conclusion, Design and Content can be great friends. With the proper planning and execution, you can have a beautifully designed luxury site that not only is easy for a user to find, but also makes a great first impression as well.
