Intuit has launched television commercials promoting a free web site development tool for small businesses. The advertisement caught my attention for a few reasons: The basic web site development market is now dead. But there's still room for managed service providers to add considerable value in the market. Here's how.

Joe Panettieri, Former Editorial Director

November 17, 2009

2 Min Read
Nice Web Site, But Where's Your SEO?

ssearch-engine-optimization

ssearch-engine-optimization

Intuit has launched television commercials promoting a free web site development tool for small businesses. The advertisement caught my attention for a few reasons: The basic web site development market is now dead. But there’s still room for managed service providers to add considerable value in the market. Here’s how.

First, a little about Intuit’s effort. The company’s free online tool allows you to develop a five-page web site that’s free for 30 days, and $4.99 per month thereafter. It sounds like a tempting offer but Intuit’s marketing materials don’t mention search engine optimization (SEO) at all.

That’s too bad. Your site (or your customer’s site) is worthless if Google doesn’t automatically find and index it. And that indexing only happens with proper SEO tools.

Free, basic site development systems like Drupal and WordPress have built-in SEO capabilities. And solutions designed especially for the MSP market — such as Kutenda — meld site design, SEO and paid search capabilities into a single user interface.

I can’t endorse one tool over another. (Full disclosure: I live in the WordPress blog engine so that’s what I know best.) But here’s the heart of the matter: If you’re an MSP dabbling in customer site design, you need to push beyond the “look and feel” of a Web site. Instead, choose tools that get your customers’ sites noticed by Google. Otherwise, you’re not earning your keep.

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About the Author(s)

Joe Panettieri

Former Editorial Director, Nine Lives Media, a division of Penton Media

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