What should I look for when selecting an SEO (search engine optimization) company for my website development?
Want to use part of my advertising budget to improve traffic and ranking of my website to grow my business, but there are a lot of makeshift companies out there and no standardization. I don’t want to waste my money!! Looking for recommendations….
4 Responses
Search Circus
16 Feb 2010
StellarSweetie
16 Feb 2010
I’m a client of http://www.stepforth.com (SEO services) and http://www.domaindrivers.com (reciprocal linking). http://www.pureignition.com designed my website.
memetrader
16 Feb 2010
You are right! For every good SEO company there are ten thousand bad ones.
Start by talking with a few companies that are members of the Organization of Search Engine Optimization Professionals http://www.seopros.org/
When you have narrowed down to a short list ask each for five references from clients they took on a year ago. Make sure you telephone them all and have an in depth chat about their experiences with the company.
Never take a recommendation for a particular company off a board like this one.
If you find that they are too expensive (and the good ones are not cheap) consider doing it in house. It’s not rocket science, for example here is an experts tutorial http://www.seo-blog.com/tutorial.php
Paul S
16 Feb 2010
To give you as clear answer as possible, these areas are important:
- Make your site content strong i.e. content driven. Quality keywords on the page
- make sure you put your keywords in the meta title, description and keywords.
- incoming links (but avoid link farms). Submit some articles on sites such as article-dynamite.com
- Use H1, 2 and 3 types towards the top of your pages
- Make sure you name your images correctly with your keywords.
By doing the things above properly, you will already be ahead of many people. – <p
Ok, first of all, you need to check our the SEO firm’s experience and ask for client testimonials (as well sample keyword ranking reports) proofing their work and results.
Is the SEO firm’s Web site already ranked for various keyword terms in the major search engines? What competitive search terms is their site ranking for?
Ask them whether they will perform natural or paid-per-click services, or a combination of both for your Web site.
Ask them what their exact procedure and process is for every SEO customer. Do they believe in only performing ethical and fair search engine practices, or will they cloak your site, insert hidden text or other practices considered illegal or unethical in the eyes of search engines. You wouldn’t want your Web site banned in the search engines.
Get pricing information about the SEO program they will be performing for you…do they bill hourly, monthly, annually? Get competitors pricing as well, to determine if the SEO firm you are considering is priced too high or too low below its competitors.
Ask how many Web pages they will handle for you, how many keyword terms they will target for you, how much (if any) link popularity they will do, as well what other SEO services come with your SEO program.
How will you know what keywords you are currently ranking for? What kind of analytics will they be using on your site? How will they track Web site visitors?
What professional business and/or SEO organizations do they belong to? Does anybody on their staff have an SEO certification? What types of college degrees do the staff have at the SEO firm? How long has the SEO firm been in business? how many clients do they have? These questions and others will help you determine which SEO firm to hire to optimize your company’s site.