How Important Is It for Web Designers to Learn SEO? Will It Help Me Attract More Clients?

The digital marketing landscape – particularly web development – is becoming ever increasingly competitive. As such, it’s critical for professionals to not only be masters of their field but also have a fairly good grasp of the other relevant specializations that apply.

For example, as a web designer, how important is it to learn SEO? Is having that additional knowledge and expertise something that could help you attract more business?

Is SEO important for web designers to learn?

Source: searchenginejournal.com

Let’s put it this way: learning SEO is not an essentiality for web developers, however, it’s a massive advantage. After all, it’s no secret that websites without SEO are largely useless.

Given how competitive the digital marketplace is – and what with AI rapidly improving and helping people build websites of their own with very little in the way of effort – having a few aces up your sleeve can never hurt.

Rest assured, you don’t need to go back to school and get a formal degree in tech and web design. In fact, as a qualified web developer, learning SEO will be far easier than you might imagine. You’re kinda already halfway there!

Will learning SEO help me attract more business?

For any new business owner looking to get started with establishing an online presence, they won’t have to look very far to come across a “how-to guide” that highlights the immense value and importance of search engine optimization from the get-go.

As such, more so than ever, new business owners are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of SEO before they’ve even thought about having a website built.

Yes, there are still going to be plenty of ‘green’ business owners who simply want an attractive website built for as little as possible. However, if you want to attract more business and be able to charge a higher premium, then advertising your services with ‘SEO web design’ as an option is well worth considering.

The fact is, with how widely accessible so many gorgeous website templates are, the modern web developer needs a little more than “attractive design” in their value proposition if they wish to outshine their competitors.

Seo-optimized websites perform better

Source: usabilitygeek.com

There’s a reason why every SEO agency in Sydney invariably goes into the back end of their client websites to carry out a multitude of changes; SEO-optimised websites perform better.

So, rather than churn out basic (yet beautiful) websites that will ultimately need renovating as soon as your client realizes they need to start working on their SEO to actually sell anything online, why not charge a higher premium and produce the finished product instead?

This gives you an opportunity to:

  • Better understand your client’s long-term goals.
  • Paint a picture of their target demographic and factor that into your design process.
  • Charge extra for keyword research and SEO-optimized content.

When you build your client’s websites that perform better, it’s only going to benefit you and your reputation in the long run.

You see, one of the most common complaints that small business owners have when they hire an SEO agency is: “Wait a minute…I just paid $2,000 for this website and now you are telling me that we need to spend even more money on fixing it?”

That kind of feedback will only ever reflect poorly on you. As such, having an in-depth knowledge of SEO and giving your clients the option to have an SEO-optimized website designed and built from the very beginning is, quite simply, good business.