Did you hire a search engine optimization (SEO) firm that failed to produce any noticeable results for your website rankings, traffic, conversion and sales? If so, you are not alone. There are many self-claimed SEO “experts” out there who can’t get their own websites any decent rankings. Have you noticed that some SEO firms use Google AdWords for SEO related keyword searches? Does the fact that these SEO consulting companies have to resort to paid ads say a lot about the quality of their service?

In today’s ultra-competitive world of online marketing, SEO is the lifeline of a company’s bottomline. SEO improves the visibility of a website at search engines, such as Google or Yahoo!, thus attracts more visitors and sales. Studies show that over 75 percent of web users find products, services and relevant information through search engines. If a search engine can’t find your web site, neither can your potential customers.

How can business owners know if they are getting their money’s worth for true SEO? Here are a must-do list while interviewing the SEO firm.

• Ask the SEO company if the service includes a real human consultant. It may sound very obvious that every SEO company should designate a true SEO expert to your project. Unfortunately, the reality is that many so-called “search engine optimization packages” are nothing but some automated search engine submissions and ranking reports. These packages can do more harm than good.
• Ask for real client ranking samples. Please be aware that top Yahoo and MSN rankings are not worth as much as top Google rankings. High Google rankings are much more difficult to achieve, plus top Google rankings can bring as much as 10x the traffic over top Yahoo or top MSN rankings. See our top rankings at Minneapolis SEO
• Google the SEO firm’s rankings yourself. If an SEO company can’t get their own website ranked at the top, do you believe they can optimize your website? When you Google your local SEO companies, stay away from those that use paid ads like Google AdWords, unless they have top natural rankings.
• Ask for references. Search engine optimization isn’t just about increasing rankings or traffic. The ultimate goal is to generate leads and sales. The number of leads and sales isn’t included in the web traffic analysis. Only the client company can testify the effectiveness of the search engine marketing. If a client is very satisfied with their SEO firm, they would love to provide references.

SEO service fees vary dramatically and stay away from those “fixed fee packages”. Any reputable search engine company would quote a reasonable fee based on factors like the size of the website, the competitiveness of the keywords and the aggressiveness of the SEO campaign. A 100-page website takes a lot more time for keyword research and optimization tune-up. Some industries, like real estate, are much more competitive than others, therefore, more aggressive SEO effort is needed. The competitiveness of keywords also depends on if the keywords are location specific. Getting top rankings for “real estate agent” is much more difficult than getting top rankings for “real estate agent Chicago”.

Don’t choose the lowest bidder! Working with the wrong search engine optimization company can be worse than throwing money down the drain. We have met several business owners who had made such a mistake. Their websites were poorly handled by SEO “experts” who either had no clue about what their doing or had used questionable or even unethical tactics. Your web rankings can be much worse off if the optimization is not done correctly.

A good SEO firm is hard to come by. Sometimes it may seem like their fee is quite high. However, based on our experience, SEO pays for itself in the long term. All of our clients get their investment back within 3-6 months.

• Full Story

Comments