I’ve also seen some websites, where I’d consider the design to be under-par, do extremely well for themselves through marketing.

There’ll always be a need for web developers, so those who are first through the door of the client have a great advantage, whether their own website is stunning or not.

Thanks for stopping by.

Not sure about adding SEO to the list, but I appreciate the sentiments.

Soon you will be able to add SEO to your list of tools

Good point about people not searching for me, but rather a logo designer. On the flip side, none of the other 1st page results for logo designer show an actual name, so it can help me stand out, and adds a little personality – hopefully. ;)

Maybe not though. Keep testing, and keep learning.

Again, sorry about your hard drive. Have you been able to recover anything from the nightmare?

I’ve not actually seen Google’s traffic estimator, but your description makes it seem like a useful tool (kind of like the keyword suggestion tool from Aaron’s SEObook).

I’m sure it’d be much better to be on the 1st page of Google results for logo design, rather than logo designer, and I’m currently languishing around page #5 for logo design. Still, I have patience.

Armen,

Kind of you to stumble this post. That’s very much appreciated. I’ve changed my site title to:

David Airey :: Graphic and Logo Designer

I’ll test that for a while and see if there’s any change. Your suggestion is a good one, although perhaps it’s better to keep my name at the forefront, as it ties in better with my personal logo?

Really interesting, and well thought out post (worthy of a Stumble me thinks).

I have to say, I think I might try out either, “Logo Designer : David Airey” or “Logo and Graphic Designer : David Airey”

Placing the key words first might add a little more focus.

I meant to comment on this, but you know how I’ve been spending my time lately (picking up the pieces of my destroyed hard drive. Sigh.)

Have you checked out Google’s traffic estimator (part of Ad Words, and still free) for suggestions for keywords with the most traffic? It’s pretty interesting. For example, Google has much more traffic going to logo design than to logo designer (like 5 times as much). It’s almost always antithetical to what I think the best search words are, but I realize that I’m searching as someone in the field, and the people who are (hopefully) looking for me (and you) aren’t using our terminology.

You’re very welcome.

Steven,

It was my pleasure linking to your article. It’s well pieced together, so thanks for that, and for the suggestion similar to Michaels. I think the post title structure (as you’re also implementing) helps greatly where searches are concerned.

Niyaz,

I do write every day, if only a little, but prefer to put more effort into each blog post than daily time allows. There’s also the factor that not everyone checks their feed reader every day, or is able to spend time visiting, so having one post at the forefront of my homepage for more than 24 hours gives it extra exposure, and can generate more discussion.

Johno,

No worries at all. There’s so much I don’t know about Google Analytics, but I’m taking it one step at a time.

Good question about pingbacks. I used to show them, but now, since my custom theme launch, they don’t appear. I guess I’ve missed out on something simple, although not simple enough for me to realise what. Ideally, I’d like to have trackbacks separated from comments, and also for trackbacks to appear. ;)

Nic,

Do you have a business plan for your blog? I think it’s important to have a plan of action before spending any money on advertising. I’ve not needed to include advertising in my plan, as thankfully my content has helped much more than a few banners could.