Why is search engine optimisation expensive?

Many of our customers (http://www.internet-marketing-australia.com) find search engine optimisation (SEO) services quite expensive. From the client's point of view the results are intangible and the process is lengthy. Therefore, the clients are often reluctant to commit to the additional expense. Typically, a call for SEO comes after the website is already up and running. The quoted price depends on the client's needs, industry, positioning, etc. The price varies a lot, yet the cost of optimisation is comparable to the cost of Web design. Is it expensive? - You bet! During the negotiations with the Web designers the client gets an expectation of having a beautiful and functional site developed for an X amount of dollars. The client is also getting a free hosting, free search engines submissions and other freebies. That is why the price looks reasonable. Only at some later stage the client realises that there is not enough traffic (and potential buyers) coming through the website. Consultations with the Internet marketing gurus reveal that in addition to the extra cost there is a need to restructure the content - copy. Why was it not done during the Web design phase? The answer is simple. Skill sets of Web designers, graphic designers, programmers and Internet marketing people are different. Each of the specialists focuses on a different aspect of the Web site. Thus, when starting the search engine optimisation, we come across design obstacles that take time - the client's - money to overcome. Consider this: we discovered that the client's home page was overloaded with JScript and had only two sentences of actual readable text. To rectify the situation,we suggested and created new home page content (at least 250 words). We also asked the web designers to move the script out into a separate file. The client had to pay for all the above services plus testing! Wouldn't it be smarter (read: cheaper for the client) to consider SEO issues during the Web design phase, rather than after? Customers would be happier, the websites would perform better... Will the Web design firms have enough courage to approach SEO at the initial stage? We hope they will.... (From www.internet-marketing-australia.com)