Good SEO should be a normal part of web design. Let me say that again for those with a short attention span. If your web designer is not giving you a degree of optimisation with your web design, then it is time to find someone else. On page optimisation such as proper use of title tags, H1 tags and good content should be free. But what about more time consuming, costly, SEO practices such as off page promotion, competitor analysis etc? What alternatives are there to spending months trying to build a position in Google?

1. Being Memorable – keep people coming back for more because they remember who you are and your brand beats being number one because you will always have customers.
2. Publicity – Offline press is just as important as online marketing. Getting rave reviews from any form of traditional media has a double effect of cementing the brand and driving traffic.
3. WOM/Buzz – Buzz around something unique is more likely to drive unique traffic than just trying to place first for “original organic widget company”.
4. Unique products/services – Selling the same thing as everyone else means you are competing in the same space for the same fish. If you can create something unique, you are competing in a pond all to yourself.
5. PPC – In highly competitive markets, it might take months and thousands of dollars to get in front of customers. However you can buy keywords on Google at a much lower rate.