Web design and search engine optimization (SEO) are shown here together because to do proper SEO one needs to design the web site with this in mind. To get 100% relevancy, for good search engine placement, all things should take into consideration what key phrases that that site is trying to win. The graphic names, page names and titles, link names, button names and all pieces that make up a site should be relevant. What good is a web site if no one can find you?

Many search engine optimizers tend to get involved in the latest scheme of how to get your web site into top search positions. This could be a never ending chore! The answer to this dilemma is to have an understanding of how to help the search engines to help their searchers to have a successful find. This is done with good, plentiful, honest content (Yes content is still king.) with proper meta tags to guide and instruct the robots to index what you are about. If this is remembered and applied, to keep up with the latest search engine algorithms is not difficult.

Okay so you have designed your web site with good content, relevant pieces, proper meta tags, appealing graphic design, and easy, user friendly navigation and have gotten good search engine position where people are finding your site. Now what? Popularity! Mac&Murray have developed what they call their "star strategy" to gain this needed popularity. This is all about inbound and outbound linking on your site. Not wanting to get links in or out from some link farm (you are penalized for linking on a farm) or giving your eye balls (visitors) over to your competitor's links, why not create multiple web sites, with different, good content that all link to each other? In the "old" days of the web this was similar to what was called a web ring.

Many companies are under the impression that they can "do it all" with just their corporate site. If you want to spend a few million dollars to get your name branded out there this may be true, otherwise it takes a strategy of understanding what you have and what would a searcher type into a search engine to find your product. If, for example, your corporate name is Joe Blow Industries and your web site is www.joeblowindustries.com, who would type joe blow industries into a search? No one. But suppose that Joe Blow produced and sold chewing gum? If they designed web sites called www.chewinggum.com, www.bubblegum.com, etc. and each site interlinked with each other (after all it's all about gum) gave all the information that a visitor could want about that particular product, when they are ready to buy, each site is interlinked with the corporate site where the purchase transaction can occur. It is all a well thought out strategy to help the searcher find what they are looking for.

Now you need to sell your service or product. It is an understood statistic that visitors will visit a site 7 times before buying or contacting the company. Give your visitors as much information about your product or service as is possible. After all this is the information age and information is what they are looking for, but it takes more than that. It takes pizzazz! And a comfortable, encouraging, secure place for the transaction to happen. To market on the Internet and have a site that sells takes more than just a web presence.

Here would be a likely place to interject an example. A Mac&Murray Multimedia client that had a factory that made sample packets for many type of industries had a company web site for 5 years that they had never even had an e-mail come from it. The star strategy was put into place with 9 web sites interlinked with the revamped corporate site. The new corporate site was designed to sell, and although the client complained that it did not look like all the other corporate sites out there, they agreed to "let it ride and see where it goes". Within 3 months they had 2 new huge accounts come through their web sites. These new contracts were both for the cosmetic industry and came to the corporate site via a cosmetic packets site that was designed to have the look and feel of a top notch cosmetic campaign. The cosmetic people were comfortable in that site and were impressed by the corporate understanding of their industry.The client was now convinced that to look like everyone else out there is not what sells and were thrilled with their ROI.

So web design and SEO really do go together and the above is proof that good strategy and good design will sell!