Recently I've been working with a local not for profit organization.  Early on in my meetings with them it was discussed that they needed a new website.  I offered my services and suggestions through numerous emails and lunch meetings.  At then end of that initial run I had suggested a new website using one of a number of Content Management Systems (CMS) available on the market.  The organization members at that last meeting thanked me and stated that they had someone volunteer to design, code, and host a solution for them.  "Great," I thought, "less work for me to do."

It was in my next coorespondance with this group that made me a little nervous about their choice.  It turned out that the volunteer was actually selling his services as a design group and host provider.  We discussed his proposed solution and I pointed out some of the limitations that I thought would hurt this particular venture.  The designer assured me that he had a custom designed, home grown application that would be perfect for them, and promptly pushed me aside.

The following is a guest post from good friend and SEO expert, Amberly Stitzel. She was kind enough to share some interesting thoughts on Search Engine Optimization.

When performing optimization on your website for search engine rankings it is important to keep in mind the blend between optimizing for the "bots" and for users. If you gravitate more towards one than the other then your efforts may only win over one of the aforementioned and could have a lesser affect than both combined.