Here are some tips and tricks you can follow on your hunt to hire the best SEO Company…
- Beware of “Guarantees”-Search Engine Optimization is vital for website visibility. Like traditional forms of marketing, SEO is also very competitive in nature. You may all be familiar with the basic terminology such as Linked Building, Keyword Research, Directory Submission, Article Submission, etc. These are all very effective methods that increase website visibility to increase traffic. Some SEO companies will guarantee traffic. This may be plausible and important, but it is not convincing enough for me. Building traffic is simple with thousands of competing social media sites, blog websites, article submission sites, etc. If a company “Guarantees traffic” and does say anything about optimizing leads and conversion, you should then be wary. Also, if a company guarantees website traffic and also guarantees leads, then I recommend being a bit skeptical and demanding the evidence upfront. The only thing that should be guaranteed is the effort and steps they promise to take in order to push your company closer to achieve desired goals.
- Beware of Large Traffic and Low Conversion-Conversion is an action that you wish each website visitor to perform on your website – it is the main goal which you hope to accomplish. For online merchants selling retail products, conversion is the final checkout or final transaction (in other words, a Sale). Conversion may also be someone filling out a form, registering for an event, making an online donation, etc. The point of the matter is that SEO should help you and your business accomplish your conversion goals. Search Engine Optimization is simply about enhancing the content and elements of your site to become more relevant. SEO Company #1 may sell you with large amounts of traffic, and you may see 2 or 3 leads a month, whereas Company #2 does not produce as much traffic but gains you 10 to 20 leads that result in a sale or conversion. It is not always evident before the campaign, however, pay close attention to the promises of the company and understand the steps they will take to help improve your conversion rates as opposed to increasing irrelevant traffic with a high bounce rate.
- Does the Company Offer Limited Information?-The internet is wonderful pool of knowledge and resources shared and developed by people all over the world. Search Engine Optimization is continuously talked about, re-searched, and updated on top quality websites on a daily basis. In fact, according to Google’s Keyword tool, there are on average over 6 million searches per month for the word SEO. We all know that ignorance is not bliss, so do not be afraid to research and ask questions. SEO is not a big mystery, it is a complicated strategy that takes hours of effort, research and reading, but it is not a secret that some SEO companies are making it out to be. As a customer you are entitled to information. If the company does not want to tell you their “SEO Secrets”, they are most likely going to overcharge you, make the minimal effort, and produce very low conversion. A quality SEO company will have a thorough understanding of search engines, Global Web Standards, website development, website design, and more.
- What about Web Standards? -Long lasting results are products of white hat SEO. SEO is primarily to connect people searching for information to the most relevant results. Avoid companies that are all about deception when attempting to gain traffic or improve rankings in search engines. If an SEO company does not follow standards set by Search Engines this could result in you being unlisted from Google, or penalized for spam. Be sure to protect your reputation by fully understanding the methodology that your SEO Company is going to utilize to gain traffic for your business. Remember that quality and relevance is most important. Google ranks websites based on web standards that are user-friendly and relevant to the user who searches for your keywords.
- What Do Their Customers Have To Say?-Most experienced customers will have testimonials or case studies available. A good SEO company will have these readily available upon request. Ask the company not only to show the case studies, but to describe them and explain the results and testimonials. Ask the company to show you a scope of the project or an example of the weekly or monthly reports that they will be sending. Ask, ask and ask!
- What is their expertise? -SEO is not a small subject matter by any means. An SEO expert must be a great content writer or “blogger”, extremely analytical and have a well-rounded knowledge of the World Wide Web. They must be website designers and understand website usability and navigation. It is important that they understand website development and the ability to optimize code according to web standards (Google now places an importance on speed for website ranking as it is part of a “user-friendly” experience). Google’s algorithm has hundreds of factors that play a part in how search results are displayed. They must be up to date with the trends, tools, tips, and current events related to website marketing. Ideally, your website designer, developer, and online marketing company should be the same. This will make updates quicker and easier. It is important to find out whether or not the company is truly the “Expert” in SEO. This does not mean you have to be an expert yourself, it means you need to be educated and familiar enough to ask the right questions.
Search Engine Optimization is a great way to gain more traffic, increase brand recognition and an opportunity to give back valuable resources and information to your clients and potential clients. In the end, SEO will connect people to the most relevant results.
