Can I start SEO before finishing my website?

[doblstp]

Hi, I'm new to SEO and websites.

I'm slowly building a website at the moment.

I was wondering if I could set up a blog at the domain name I will use for my final website and begin doing SEO. Eg. I set up a blog using a CMS like Squarespace and begin blogging at domain.com/blog (with links to the domain.com/blog from the domain.com home page) and inbound links point to the domain.com 'front page'.

And then add the design of the 'front page' of the website using Squarespace at a later stage eg. domain.com.

Is this a good idea? Will it work?

I'm anxious to get started on SEO.

Thanks!

[kellymandingo]

As long as the pages are there it should not be a problem, especially if your just keeping the blog updated, i personally would not link to any page unless its finished.

But to keep a blog updated may not be a bad thing and just add the pages when your ready

It may be a good idea to start the site small with like a home page , contact page and you blog and then add the new directory as you go as not to confuse the search engines

[gcdtechnologies]

Hi, yes it's a good idea to think about SEO throughout the development stage. There are lots of things to think about during the build which may affect SEO, inlcuding:

• Has the website got more elements than it needs (multiple CSS files that can be reduced, lots of small images when one sprite would be better, redundant java files etc.)?
• Have you thought about the content of the site (one relevant H1tag per page, clean simple URL structure, all images have appropriate alt tags, appropriate navigation etc.)?
• How should search engines see the site (relevant use of rel="nofollow", relevant use of canonical links, 301 redirects on old links etc.)?

Adding quality, SEO optimised content on your blog is a good starting point. If you do link to the homepage before the site is complete, I would consider creating a holding page to explain what the site will be about and when full functionality will be launched.

[TheeDigital]

I have to agree with Heather SEO begins waaaay before the SEO phase.  Here's a link to a post that we wrote on our blog, that might help you out. http://www.theedesign.com/blog/2012/web-design-for-seo.

Basically like Heather said, you need to be thinking about SEO every step of the way.  I have no problem building a a blog before hand to help build your audience, but make sure that they are aware that you have a website and you are building towards it.  It sounds like that you're going to be using the blog of "Blog.com" as a blog until it turns into the ecommerce site you want it too, if so make sure you let your audience know what's going on.  Maybe create an email newsletter, so they can get updates every step of the way.

Remember if you get links to your website, to pages and articles that arn't going to be there in the final design you can 301 them to keep the link juice, BUT YOU WILL NEED TO 301 THEM.

Maybe for the time being also consider directing your fans to a Facebook page or a Twitter account to help build your community.

Hope these thoughts help.