Skip to content

Posts from the ‘Web Design’ Category


  • What I Learned About Web Design and SEO in Madison, WI on May 1st, 2010


    I was recently in the Madison, Wisconsin area (which is not too far from my home in Milwaukee) for business.  When I was about to attend a business meeting I saw a young lady using a laptop.  I happened to glance over her shoulder to see what she was doing.  It looked like she was laying out a website.  I asked her about it and she told me that she was a web designer and that she also provided search engine optimization in Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago for various clients.  I found out a lot of information on SEO in particular from her and now I’m considering tapping in to the Milwaukee SEO market on my own.  You see, I already have several Milwaukee web design clients, but I never have helped them with optimizing their websites for the search engines.  It seemed like a very interesting new field for me and I was excited to learn more.

    First of all, she told me that a four-year degree in online marketing is helpful in landing a job in SEO, but not absolutely necessary.  Some web designers and SEO’s have a two-year degree and others no degree at all.  Those that have no degree have taught themselves, and have gained the skills and expertise to be a successful designer and SEO.  She also told me that there is some good money to be made.  The average person can make almost $60K a year, and on the higher range up to $80K.  I asked her if it had a good outlook for the future.  She told me that it has very strong job security since more and more businesses are putting up a websites and those websites all need to be optimized for the best search engine results.

    I noticed that the design she was working on was very eye-catching.  I asked her if she had any tips she could share with me in regard to design and SEO.  She said that she had learned that by keeping her background soft, she could make some icons and other features “pop” off the page.  She also said that by using white space or negative space correctly, you create balance for a good webpage.  Some designers feel that they have to use up every bit of white space on a page, and that just makes it too busy.  By keeping it simple and having a few bold headings and images, the design turns out much better and is much crisper.  She also said that she personally liked to center-align the text, and thought it made it much easier to read.  She did also say that the design often has very little to do with search engine ranking because the search engines rank websites more on content than graphics.

    I then asked her about freelance SEO job opportunities.  She said that it was very possible, but that I had to be a self-starter and be willing to advertise.  “Making an online SEO portfolio and talking to local businesses about your work will put you in the running,” she told me.  Some things to keep in mind when creating an SEO portfolio are to show the results that your clients have had by using your SEO services.  For example, make sure to quantify the results of your SEO campaign, such as company X’s sales increased by 50% over the past 6 months since signing up for your SEO service.

    I was so glad I ran into this young web designer.  I have a much better understanding of the role that SEO plays in today’s ever-changing business environment.  Sure, I already had the ability to create great websites, but by providing SEO, I knew that I could get my foot even further in the door with most of my clients, and that is what I call job security!  When it comes to website building Milwaukee can be a tough market.  That is why I am so excited to expand my capabilities so that I can provide even more bang for the buck for my clients.