10 Steps to Choose the Right SEO Company
Search engine optimization is an integral part of every website. Each and every blogger like me and you, try our level best to attain perfection in SEO but at one point or the other, we may decide to hire an SEO company or company to carry out the task for us. But, the question arises, How to choose the best SEO company for my website when there are tons of SEO agencies in the market?
The answer is simple but also bit complicated. There are certain factors that an SEO company should comply before we can call it ‘The best SEO Company’. Every SEO company or company cannot be suitable for your needs. Thus, it should be decided very judiciously, which company is the best for my needs. For instance, there are SEO firms that work best for technology related websites but won’t be a good option for a content marketing related blog. Thus, I had mentioned few of the very important factors that should be considered before choosing and SEO Company.
10 tips for hiring the Right SEO Company
Hiring any SEO company requires a lot of research and data collection. I am going to present you with a step by step procedure. By following this step by step guide you can appoint an efficient and goal-oriented SEO firm for your website.
1. Do you know the basics of SEO?
The first question arises, Do you have any knowledge about SEO?. If not, you will be definitely cheated by the SEO company you are selecting. Don’t tell me that I am harsh, but this is the reality. Everyone out there is trying to make money with the least effort. Thus, if you are interacting with any of the officials from the SEO company without knowing the basics of SEO, they will identify it quickly and may cheat you with their poor service.
There is a second condition. The executive from the SEO company interacting with you may be helpful but due to lack of knowledge about SEO you are failing to understand the scenario explained by the official. Thus, it becomes highly necessary to understand the basics of SEO.
2. What budget are you having for SEO?
The second important factor that should be considered is the budget that you are planning for SEO. Every website owner has different tasks and equally varying requirements. Depending upon the requirements and the quality of the service, the budget for SEO also varies. Stick to your budget while choosing any SEO company for your search engine optimization needs.
Contact with various SEO companies. Inquire about their services and the cost they are charging to provide them. Make a list and then take the final decision taking into account all the other factors that are mentioned here.
3. What is the reputation of the SEO company?
Reputation is an important parameter to select any SEO company. Any SEO company with poor reputation but low costing services cannot be selected blindly.This is same as buying a low-cost mobile phone without going through the reviews.
Don’t worry. You can get the right company for the same cost and with a good reputation. You just have to perform some research and that’s all.
To know more about the reputation of the SEO company that had caught your attention, just make a search on the internet to find the company’s reputation. You can also search for information regarding the SEO company on Facebook, twitter, Google +, and any other independent rating agencies. You can also search for reviews on business directories like Yelp.
Go through the reviews from all the sources. Pay attention to the fraud reviews as they are common these days and then decide for the reputation of the particular SEO company.
4. Know about success stories of SEO company’s earlier clients
After you had collected enough data about the company’s reputation, don’t decide for the fate of the company yet. There are few more factors that you should consider before choosing any SEO company. Get in touch with the SEO company you have selected and ask them for any of their success stories with their earlier clients.
This step is necessary in order to determine the base of any SEO company and how are they connected to their clients. Reading about the success stories of earlier client’s will also show you the clear picture of the merits and demerits of the company.
These case studies would help you to know their SEO strategies and plans that they apply in order to help any website or blog prosper. These success stories also will give you the clear idea of the class of officials they are having.
5. Get in touch with SEO company’s earlier clients
As we all know that paperwork can be cooked up and presented with exaggerated results. So now what?
You have to ask the company for the contact details for their earlier clients. They will hesitate at first but may present you with the details if you insist. It may also happen that they will fetch you with contact details of one of their officials. You have to be very alert in this regard.
Talk to the client thoroughly about the SEO company. Ask about the merits and demerits of the company. Ask about the difficulties faced in regard of company’s service. Also, inquire about the level of expertise they offer on their services. Don’t forget to ask about the time that took for SEO to start showing results.
If you are satisfied with the client’s answers, choose the company but you should check few more conditions before making the final decision.
6. Get in touch with the person assigned for your website
Before investing in the SEO company or company make it clear that you require experienced personnel to deal with your SEO needs. Sometimes the SEO company may appoint a novice for you which may lead to a big disaster. No matter how knowledgeable he may be, some problems are only solved by experience. The SEO company may try to convince you about the level of expertise of their inexperienced official but don’t fall into the trap.
Ask for an experienced professional to handle your SEO needs.
7. SEO company should be open to discussions
An SEO company should be open to discussions and ready to listen to you and your needs. Test them by inquiring about their services in depth and link your ideas and needs to the conversation. Note down the response given by them to your ideas and requirements.
This is the best way of judging any SEO company regarding their open-mindedness. If you think that they are ready for discussions, lay down your requirements and goals regarding your ROI ( return on investment), sales and conversions.
8. Choose an SEO company with goal not with numbers
You should choose an SEO company that is more goal-oriented rather than number oriented. An SEO company would guarantee you for high rankings on Google, Bing and Yahoo search engine results page but do they provide confirmation on goal conversions? If your website is getting a lot of traffic but not converting into sales or advertising revenue then the whole investment on SEO is a waste.
It is better to have 100 visitors per day with 10 monthly sales rather than having 10,000 visitors per day with zero sales and 100% bounce rate. I am focusing on this topic because targeted traffic is the need of the hour and thus, the SEO company should work on goal conversions, not just traffic numbers.
Present day SEO is not just about traffic but about targeted traffic that can be attained using long tail keywords.
9. SEO company’s transparency
You should know everything that an SEO company is planning for your website or blog and thus, they should provide you with an updated system showing everything going on with the SEO of your website. It will also help you to alter them if you feel that something is wrong with their strategy.
They should be ready to provide you with monthly reports and progress. They should also be ready to answer your queries regarding their techniques. This should be made clear with the earlier clients of the company which will be more trustworthy.
10. SEO company should be updated with new trends in SEO
You should go in detail of their strategy and should confirm that the company you have selected is up to date with the new trends in search engine optimization techniques. The present scenario of SEO has changed drastically over the last few years. SEO is not just link building and not just about keywords. It’s now a combination of on page SEO, off page SEO, content marketing, social media and various other factors.
Thus, you should confirm that the SEO company is using new techniques and is not sticking to the old-fashioned SEO methods.
The Last Thoughts
If the SEO company satisfies all the above-laid criteria, go for it without any second thought. Following these steps will save you from the disaster of choosing a wrong SEO partner, as choosing an appropriate SEO company for your website is very important for the success of your SEO campaign.
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