Search Engine Optimization

If you’ve decided to outsource your SEO to a consultant or firm, your new SEO company is going to need three things from you in order to create, launch and maintain a successful SEO campaign. Without these three things, your SEO will never get up to full-throttle and won’t reach its full potential by any of the great SEO companies out there:

1. Trust
Remember that SEO companies are on your side! They are pulling for your website to succeed as much as you are and are going to do everything in their power to help your site and brand reach their full potential online. However, in order to maximize their efforts you as the SEO client have to be willing to trust your SEO company to do the work you hired them to do!

Case in point, I was working with a client that didn’t feel comfortable letting us handle their blog commenting (part of their link building campaign). So we just researched the blogs they should be commenting on every month and passed it back to them; they were supposed to leave the comments. Guess what happened? They never left the comments! The hardest part of blog commenting is finding good, relevant blogs to comment on. Leaving the actual comment takes hardly any time compared to the amount of time spent researching. If the client had just trusted us a little bit more to leave well-written, quality comments on their behalf, their link building would have been much more effective and well-rounded.

2. Content
In my opinion, the worst thing a company can do is launch a blog and then NOT routinely write in it. I will spend all day arguing the benefits of a business blog, but I would rather a client not even launch one than create it and not write for it. Just about every component of SEO and inbound marketing relies on the consistent creation of content. Social networks consume billions upon billions of pieces of content every day, the search engines weigh content to determine a site’s importance, great content helps you connect with your target audience, builds your online reputation and so much more. Without content, your SEO is essentially flat lined. Content is what propels you forward and takes your site to the next level.

Not every business or website owner is a great writer and that’s ok! If you don’t feel comfortable writing content for your blog, than let your SEO partner handle it. They know how to create good content that is both search engine AND user friendly, that works to build your brand and encourages your target audience to share it with their social networks. Again, it comes back to trust. If you don’t trust your SEO company to write content (say you work in a highly specialized field and your SEO company just doesn’t have the knowledge) than it becomes your responsibility to supply your SEO company with the content. You write it up and they will leverage it for your website.

3. Involvement
Handing your SEO campaign off to a consultant or agency does not mean you get to wash your hands of SEO completely! Your SEO company is going to do everything they can to help your site succeed, but they need direction from you to know what “success” means. What are your online goals? Who is your target audience? Have you done any serious link building before? What are your assets and weaknesses? No one knows your brand better than you and your SEO company needs access to the information you have if you want them to do their job properly! You provide the direction and your SEO company will provide the experience.

Since the Internet is “everywhere” you don’t have to hire the SEO firm down the street if you don’t want too. As long as they are US-based, feel free to work with the best SEO firm for you, even if they are in a different time zone. However, if you want to have that face-to-face interaction that comes with working with a local SEO firm, here are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Respect someone’s time
If you’re just shopping around, stick to the phone. You’ll be able to get all the information you want in an hour long (maybe even less) phone call. Most small, local SEO firms don’t have the manpower to spend all day chasing down leads that aren’t seriously looking to hire an SEO firm.

2. Focus on small/midsize companies
While larger SEO companies may look incredibly impressive, working with a smaller SEO firm means you’re more likely to work directly with an experienced SEO strategist that customizes your SEO campaign around your needs and goals.

3. Beware the sales rep!
A sales representative that works for an SEO firm, but doesn’t actually do SEO, will do and say just about anything to get your business. That is their job—to bring in new clients.

4. Go with your instinct
If the first local SEO company you meet with seems to be the perfect fit, don’t second guess yourself. You don’t have to drag three or four more companies through the pitch process just because you feel like you’re “supposed” to shop around.

5. Don’t trust “magic” solutions
Every SEO firm has their own process, but you should be hearing similar things from different companies. If an SEO company comes out of left field with the “magic pill” to all your online marketing problems, don’t drink the Kool-Aid.

6. Don’t expect upfront work before you’re a client
You don’t work for free, and neither do local SEO companies. While you have the right to ask questions about their process, don’t expect a full SEO campaign to be created before you hire them.

7. Respect the SEO company and its employees
The key to a successful relationship with your local SEO company is respect. If you want them to do good work for you, treat them like you would an employee or partner.

8. Be willing to change
Let your local SEO firm do their job! If you aren’t willing to take their SEO recommendations, why bother hiring someone in the first place?

9. SEO is not a commodity, it’s a service
There are plenty of “yes man” companies out there that will say whatever it takes to get your money and then run off with it (even if it is just the low, low price of $49.95 a month!).

SEO is an undeniably important part of any site’s online marketing efforts. But not every site owner or webmaster feels comfortable enough to handle SEO by themselves. If they don’t have anyone in-house they can turn to, many will look to bring in an SEO firm or SEO consultant to handle to job. If you are such a site owner, don’t be afraid to do the same. A reputable, white hat SEO firm or consultant is going to do everything in their power (and within the guidelines of the search engines) to help your site succeed online.

However, you do not need to hire an SEO consultant that specializes in your industry!

If, while you’re researching SEO services providers, you find a company that you feel would be a great partner to work with, don’t be discouraged if you can’t find a previous client that came from your industry. This doesn’t mean A- that they have never worked with a similar client and B- that they can’t do a fantastic job with you!

In my opinion, SEO companies that specialize in specific industries and only work with those clients (orthodontists, for instance) are stifling their creativity. They develop the same plan and approach for each client. While these plans may be well researched and properly implemented, if everyone is doing the same SEO, then no one gains a real lead. Only one company can rank #1 for a specific keyword, for instance. That’s why each company needs its own set of competitive and long-tail keywords. Otherwise, you will get lost in the clutter.

After an SEO company has been working in the same industry day in and day out, they start to get lazy. Maybe they don’t take the time to research the target audience for key insights anymore. Maybe they don’t bother finding new bloggers to establish relationships with. They get into a routine and don’t produce great SEO. Formulas rarely allow for creativity to flourish.

I’m not saying that SEO firms shouldn’t have some kind of basic approach they employ for their clients. But that approach has to serve as a guideline that can be tailored and tweaked to meet the needs of each individual site. Every site, regardless of industry, has a unique set of challenges and goals. If the goal of one site is to rank for certain highly competitive keywords, different tactics have to be used than for a site that wants to ramp up their content marketing.

The only exceptions I would make are if your site operates in a medical or legal field. Unless someone from your company is willing to do all the writing (which is highly specific and oftentimes requires a degree to do well), finding an SEO expert that understands your field exceptionally well makes sense. Other than that, it really doesn’t matter. A good SEO consultant is going to learn your business and your industry. It is the only way they can help you succeed.

There are many search engine marketing and optimization companies that exist in our search engine space. Some are good, some are bad, and some are downright disrespectful so it is up to you as a customer to understand how to choose the right company that works for you. This company or person will be in charge of helping you grow your business so it is important that they understand your company culture and mesh well with your business philosophy. There are some things that you should look out for when speaking with a company that is going to help you with your SEO efforts.

Here are several ideas and reasons to hire an SEO company (please note, these are not the only reasons, but are some of the top ones that I could think of!):

They Explain Their SEO Approach with Great Details
If you are speaking with a person or firm and they tell you that their approach is a “secret sauce”, hang up the phone. SEO is a tough purchase for many as it is; let’s not make it more complicated. You should completely understand what a third party vendor is doing to market your business because one wrong move could cause you a search engine penalty or even a reputation management issue.

Your SEO Company is Easy To Reach!
Calling your search engine marketing company with a question should not be like calling your cable company, which is a complete nightmare. It should be relatively easy to get someone on the phone or respond to an email if you have a question or concern. It shouldn’t require spending 15 minutes going through phone prompts to get some human interaction.

SEO Outsourced Or Not Outsourced?
Depending on partnership details some work is perfectly fine to be outsourced, but where is it going? If you are a company looking to hire a firm to conduct SEO for you and your writing is being outsourced overseas to someone who barely speaks English it will reflect tremendously in your writing. If your core audience is in the U.S you need to have compelling writing for things to really move around in the search space.

Are They Friendly?
Not everyone is friendly in the SEO community. Some are really nice, some have chip on their shoulder, and others are just impossible to work with. Make sure that you pick a company that is courteous and friendly. Go with your gut when interviewing potential candidates because your gut is usually right.

Plenty of REAL Testimonials
It is important for a good SEO company to have happy client testimonials clearly visible on their website. If there are none it could be that they just don’t have them visible, which leads to another question; do you want to work with someone who doesn’t grasp the concept of how to properly market themselves? Testimonials are Marketing 101, especially for a service based company. If they can’t get that right, how will they market your business?

Are They Within Your SEO Budget?
Make sure that they align with what you want to spend. Don’t just go with them because they are very inexpensive because you do get what you pay for in this industry. Going with the cheapest isn’t necessarily the best approach. Take the time and negotiate with a company if they are right for you but a bit out of your price range. It doesn’t hurt to try.

Happy References
Most SEO companies will have no problem with you calling on a reference where similar services where provided so that you can pin point the caliber of their services. Don’t be shy to ask for a few so that you can speak about how well the company worked with them.

Clearly Defined SEO Proposal
Make sure that you get a clearly defined proposal regarding all of the services that you will be receiving, either on a monthly basis or a onetime optimize effort. A search engine optimization company that is serious about having you as a client will outline everything that you need to know in the proposal.

Take a Look at Their Own Website
They should practice what they preach very heavily. Take a look at the structure of their website and see how it is optimized. Take a look at the content and the meta tags along with page URL structures to see how they go about structuring their own company website.

It is important to find a company that works well with you and your organization, otherwise you could be wasting your money and resources. Take the time to interview each SEO company prior to pulling the trigger.

If you are somewhat new to the SEO world and you have been given the task of finding an SEO services company to hire to help your business might leave you with some investigative work to do. There are many, many SEO companies out there claiming they are the best and if you are trying to isolate the right SEO services company to partner with there are some things you should know before you make your final decision.

Don’t Base Your Entire Decision On Price

This theory can go in both directions. With many things in life if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Do you really think you are going to effectively market your business and beat out your competition on $49.95 per/month? Chances are no. This doesn’t mean that you have to go and spend $2,000 per/month either. Be realistic on what it takes to market a business online. There are distribution costs associated with some efforts, time to write articles and press releases along with the time and energy to constantly put together an ongoing SEO strategy that is going to help you grow
your business online the right way.

Research The SEO Services Company

Do a little bit of research on the companies you are thinking about working with. Find out everything about them. Search their company names online and see what you come up with. Take a look and see if other companies have done any write ups on them or what type of information is lurking in the search results for their company name. If there is nothing in the search results scratch them off your list.

Don’t Make Your Decision on Whether the SEO Website Ranks

If you search for “SEO” and you don’t see them on page 1 don’t rule them out as a company just yet. There are only ten parking spaces on the first page of Google and they can’t fit thousands of companies into this space. You have some SEO companies that have had their websites for ten plus years so it will be difficult to move them out of the way in the search results. Plus keep in mind that in our industry “most” SEO companies know exactly what they are doing so we have to compete against an industry that practices what they preach.

How Many Employees Does the SEO Services Company Have?

Think about it for a minute, if they have 40 or 50 employees chances are they have many business processes in place along with policies and protocols that are iron clad. Chances are you will hear “Sorry that is just policy” at some point during your SEO campaign. If you go with a firm that has 10 or 15 people you might have a bit more flexibility with pricing and special requests that the large firms won’t even budge on. I’m not saying every large company that offers SEO is bad to work with but you have to watch out for everything out there.

Not Every Hosting Company and Web Designer Knows SEO

Just because your hosting company or web designer claims they know how to do SEO, that doesn’t mean that they actually do. A hosting company’s primary focus was to host websites and along the way they realized that if they open an SEO division they can become slightly more profitable. Same goes with web designers and developers. Just because the recession came along and they slapped up an SEO page on their website does not mean they are trained to execute it properly.

Make Sure the SEO Services Company Speaks English

Would you really want someone who barley speaks English working on the marketing for your company? Since search engine optimization is an effort that really encompasses the art of language you need someone that completely 100% understand the language and also things like industry slang that could be a very important keyword in your vertical or niche. Someone doing search engine optimization on the other side of the world that barley speaks English is not going to get that part of the task right and you will not be running at full steam when the job is done – that is not an opinion that is reality.

Take the time to really analyze the SEO company you are going to work with before you do so you can avoid any shotty work or getting burned along the way.