Search Engine Optimization for Template Sites.
Time and again I see people getting burned by un-ethical web companies. These companies are not just SEO companies that do not know what they are doing but also web development companies and web design companies. The most prominent thing I have been seeing lately is the use of a template site, especially in the real estate industry.
Having spoken to a lot of real estate agents in my area I have had the pleasure of dealing with certain companies that offer SEO packages to their clients but do not actually do anything with their sites after they have paid a large sum of money. Now you may think that that is bad news already, but it gets worse. Since template sites are usually mass produced very quickly they usually reside on 1 server or use the same body of code to run all web sites, it does not allow access for legitimate Search Engine Optimization companies to optimize the site correctly.
Things to look for and ask when choosing a template site provider are that first off, the company should allow other companies to do search engine optimization to their web sites. There are plenty of ways to update a web site without having the SEO company even touch the back end of the code, so there shouldn't be an excuse as to why another optimization company could do the work for you. Next you will want to take a look at some of their pre-made web sites and see if they are optimized properly. Make sure there are <h1>, <h2> and <h3> tags available, meta tags, table summary tags, alt tags and title tags. If a template company does not have these built into their system, you could be missing out on valuable traffic from the Search Engines. Also make sure that you can add links to your website on any of the pages you have.
Template sites are great for getting started on the web. The only problem is if you are not found on the internet then there is very little use for a website. The best way to get noticed is through an optimization company that knows exactly what to do to get you to the top.
On our travels we have found some great template providers as well as some very unrespectable companies. Here is a quick reference to some good template providers that allow optimization companies to work with your template web site.
Real Estate (Examples): The Good: Myrealpage.com offers Real Estate Hosting and Design solutions. They are always improving their backend software and have great customer service. Best of all, Myrealpage.com allows you to have a professional online marketing company optimize your site. They know that if their client's web sites are coming up in the search engines they will have happier clients.
The Bad: Ubertor.com claims to be the leader in real estate web software. They have great designs and a simple back end product, but that is as far as it goes. As for optimization, you are out of luck. I have dealt with them personally and they are very optimization unfriendly. This is because they offer an optimization plan through them. I have spoken to some of the real estate agents that have used them for optimization and have heard what they do. For $998 they say they will get you organically indexed in Google. This means that somewhere on Google for an unknown keyword you will show up. Real SEO companies will target keywords and get you not just indexed by Google, but coming up on the first page for the terms that you have selected in Google, MSN and Yahoo.
General Template Sites:
Sometimes a company comes along that is just amazing. RogueRepublik.com is one of those companies. RogueRepublik.com is a definite leader in template technology. They offer a product that has gone above and beyond what people have come to expect from template web site creators. Best yet, they are 100% SEO friendly. They have great knowledge on SEO and are very friendly and helping when it comes to optimizing sites. They offer great web development products and custom web development and focus on your needs and wants, not theirs.
If you plan on working with a company that provides you with a template site solution, I recommend that you do some research into if they will allow a 3rd party optimization company to optimize your site for them. As you have probably heard any times from numerous SEO companies, "What is the point of having a website if no one can find it?", This rings true when dealing with a template provider, they must be optimizable or you could be wasting your money on their quick and easy solution.
About the Author
About The Author: Daniel Cedar is a Web Strategist for Elite">www.elitebeat.net">Elite Beat Enterprises (http://www.elitebeat.net). He believes in ethical practices when it comes to both web design and search engine optimization and is not afraid to stand up for what he thinks is right! To read more articles by Daniel, please