Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
OK, so here's a painful truth I learned after 7 years of building websites: I was essentially training world-class sales reps to do door-to-door sales in empty neighborhoods.
Every website I created was pixel-perfect, brand-aligned, and conversion-optimized. Clients loved the modern design and seamless user experience. But here's what I discovered after tracking results across dozens of projects - these beautiful websites had become expensive digital brochures that nobody was finding.
The harsh reality? Without traffic, even the world's best-converting website converts zero visitors. I was building what I now call "digital ghost towns" - impressive when someone stumbled upon them, but nobody was stumbling upon them.
This realization forced me to completely restructure my approach. Instead of treating websites like digital brochures, I learned to treat them as marketing laboratories designed for discovery first, conversion second.
In this playbook, you'll learn:
Why the design-first approach creates beautiful websites that nobody finds
The fundamental mindset shift from homepage-centric to SEO-first architecture
My exact framework for building websites that rank AND convert
Real metrics from the transformation of client websites
Common pitfalls that keep beginners stuck in the "ghost town" trap
This isn't about choosing between beautiful design and SEO performance - it's about building websites that excel at both.
Industry Reality
What the design world teaches (and why it backfires)
Most web design education follows a predictable pattern. Design schools, bootcamps, and agencies teach you to start with the homepage and work outward. You learn about user journeys, conversion funnels, and brand consistency - all valuable skills.
The typical design process looks like this:
Homepage as the front door - Design the perfect first impression
User flow mapping - Plan how visitors move through your site
Conversion optimization - Polish every element for maximum impact
Visual hierarchy - Guide attention to key messages
Brand consistency - Ensure every pixel reflects the company identity
This approach creates websites that perform beautifully in usability tests and win design awards. Clients love them because they look professional and feel sophisticated.
But here's the fundamental flaw: this process assumes people are already coming to your website. It's like designing the perfect storefront for a location where no foot traffic exists.
The design-first mindset treats websites like physical stores with a single front door. You optimize that entrance experience, assuming customers will find their way to you through other marketing channels - paid ads, referrals, or brand recognition.
For established brands with existing traffic, this works fine. But for startups, small businesses, and anyone trying to grow organically, it's a recipe for beautiful failure. You end up with a website that converts the few visitors you get, but struggles to attract new ones.
Now, I'm not saying design doesn't matter - it absolutely does. But when you start with design and add SEO as an afterthought, you're building on a foundation that wasn't meant to be discovered.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
For the first few years of my freelance career, I was the architect of what I now call "digital ghost towns." I poured my energy into crafting pixel-perfect websites - brand-aligned, modern, conversion-optimized. Every client left our initial meetings thrilled about their upcoming digital transformation.
I treated each website like a premium sales representative for the company. The messaging was sharp, the user journey was seamless, and the design made competitors look outdated. But here's what I discovered after tracking results across dozens of projects: I was essentially training world-class sales reps to do door-to-door sales in an empty neighborhood.
The pattern became painfully clear after analyzing my client portfolio:
Beautiful websites? Check.
Professional brand presence? Check.
Actual visitors coming to see it? Crickets.
These websites had become expensive digital brochures - impressive when someone stumbled upon them, but nobody was stumbling upon them. The harsh reality: without traffic, even the world's best-converting website converts zero.
One client project particularly stood out. I'd built a stunning website for a B2B SaaS startup - clean design, compelling copy, perfect user flow. Three months after launch, they were getting maybe 200 monthly organic visitors. Meanwhile, their competitor with a basic WordPress template was pulling 5,000+ monthly visitors because they'd built their site around search intent from day one.
That's when it hit me: I was optimizing for the wrong metric. Instead of "How beautiful is this website?" I should have been asking "How discoverable is this website?"
The fundamental problem wasn't my design skills - it was my approach. I was starting with aesthetics and trying to bolt on discoverability afterward. But SEO-friendly architecture needs to be baked into the foundation, not sprinkled on top like seasoning.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
This realization forced me to completely restructure my approach. Instead of starting with the homepage and working outward, I learned to start with search intent and build everything around discoverability.
Here's the exact framework I developed for building websites that rank AND convert:
Step 1: Search-First Architecture
Before touching any design software, I now spend time understanding how people actually search for my client's solutions. This means:
Identifying primary and secondary keywords for each service/product
Mapping search intent to specific page types (informational, commercial, transactional)
Planning URL structure around keyword hierarchy
Designing navigation that matches how people think about the problem
Step 2: Content-Driven Page Structure
Instead of thinking "What pages do we need?" I ask "What questions are our ideal customers asking?" Each page becomes an answer to a specific search query:
Service pages targeting "how to" and "what is" queries
Comparison pages for "X vs Y" searches
Use case pages for "best [solution] for [industry]" queries
Resource pages targeting long-tail informational searches
Step 3: Technical Foundation
The technical setup becomes much simpler when you plan for SEO from the start:
Clean URL structure that reflects keyword hierarchy
Page titles and meta descriptions written for search results, not just visitors
Header tags (H1, H2, H3) that match search intent
Internal linking strategy that distributes authority to key pages
Image alt text that supports target keywords naturally
Step 4: Design Within SEO Constraints
Now comes the design work - but within the framework we've established. This means:
Visual hierarchy that emphasizes target keywords
Content layouts optimized for readability and engagement
Call-to-action placement that doesn't interfere with content flow
Mobile-first design that prioritizes core content
Step 5: Content Integration
The final step is integrating valuable content that serves both search engines and users:
Blog content that targets informational queries and funnels to service pages
Case studies and testimonials that target "[company] review" searches
FAQ sections that capture long-tail queries
Resource libraries that establish topical authority
The key insight: every page should be designed as a potential entry point, not just a step in a predetermined user journey. When someone lands on your pricing page from Google, that page needs to work as both a pricing calculator AND an introduction to your company.
Keyword Research
Start with search intent mapping before wireframing. Understanding how customers search shapes everything from URL structure to navigation hierarchy.
Technical Setup
Implement clean URLs, proper header tags, and internal linking from day one. It's 10x harder to retrofit SEO into an existing design.
Content Strategy
Every page should target specific search queries while serving business goals. Think of pages as answers to customer questions, not just company information.
Design Integration
Create visual hierarchy that emphasizes target keywords naturally. Good SEO design doesn't sacrifice aesthetics - it enhances them with purpose.
The transformation was dramatic. Instead of building beautiful websites that sat empty, I started creating websites that attracted their ideal customers organically.
One of my first SEO-first redesigns was for a B2B SaaS client. Their original site was getting 300 monthly organic visitors despite having a great product. After implementing this approach:
Month 1-2: Traffic stayed flat while Google indexed new content
Month 3-4: Organic traffic grew to 800 monthly visitors
Month 6: Reached 2,100 monthly organic visitors
Month 12: Sustained 3,500+ monthly organic visitors
But the numbers only tell part of the story. The quality of traffic improved dramatically because visitors were finding exactly what they searched for. Bounce rates dropped, time on site increased, and most importantly - qualified leads increased by 340%.
What surprised me most was how this approach actually improved the design process. When you start with search intent, you have clear content requirements for each page. This eliminates the guesswork about what to include and creates stronger, more purposeful designs.
The SEO-first approach also future-proofed these websites. Instead of depending on paid advertising or referrals, they built sustainable organic growth engines that compound over time.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
After implementing this approach across dozens of client projects, here are the key lessons that transformed my web design practice:
1. Start with "How do people search?" not "What do we want to say?"
The most successful websites answer questions that real people are actually asking Google. Your content strategy should map to search behavior, not internal company priorities.
2. Every page is a potential front door
Stop designing for a single user journey. In the SEO-first world, someone might land on your pricing page, about page, or blog post first. Each page needs to work independently while connecting to the whole.
3. Technical SEO is easier when planned from the start
Clean URLs, proper header hierarchy, and logical site structure are simple to implement during initial development but complex to retrofit later.
4. Content requirements clarify design decisions
When you know each page needs to target specific keywords and answer specific questions, design choices become clearer. You're designing with purpose, not just aesthetics.
5. SEO-first doesn't mean ugly
Some of my most visually stunning websites came from the SEO-first approach because every design element had a clear purpose and content foundation.
6. Organic traffic compounds while paid traffic doesn't
Websites built for SEO create sustainable growth engines. Instead of paying for every visitor, you invest once in content and reap benefits for years.
7. Mobile-first thinking improves SEO thinking
Designing for mobile forces you to prioritize core content and eliminate fluff - exactly what search engines and users want.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
SaaS Implementation Strategy:
Build separate landing pages for each use case your software serves
Create comparison pages targeting "[competitor] alternative" searches
Develop integration pages for popular tools in your ecosystem
Structure pricing pages around search terms like "[solution] pricing"
For your Ecommerce store
Ecommerce Implementation Strategy:
Optimize category pages for broad product searches
Create buying guides targeting "best [product] for [use case]"
Build comparison pages for competitive product searches
Develop collection pages around seasonal and trending keywords