Choosing an SEO Company

So you think you need a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) company to help your business.  You’ve done your research on the subject and think this is the best course of action.  Perhaps it is and then again perhaps not.  Before engaging in any sort of conversation with an SEO services company make sure you know why you think you need their services.  Also, remember that this is not an exact science.  You could very well end up hiring the wrong company and not achieving your goals.  As an aside, briefly, I had a handyman referred to me from who I thought was a reliable source.  I hired him and at the end found that, although he could produce a result that generally met the requirement, his quality and work ethic sucked!  That was too bad for him and my source as far as their respective reputations were concerned.

Why Does Anyone Need an SEO Company?

Not everyone may need SEO or Search Engine Marketing (SEM) services.  Some companies have a website for the sole purpose of showing clients that they have a website.  The site is not used to attract or convert traffic; a sad waste.  If you have site for that reason and you’re only looking to rank for ego reasons, then save your money.  Why bother attracting visitors and taking the opportunity to convert them?

I would however, recommend that, if you have such a site, you take advantage of the free traffic and grab as many customers from the web as you can.  Just saying.

At any rate, if you don’t fall into the aforementioned category, here are a few reasons why you may want SEO:

1. You wish to establish, or perhaps make more effective, your online presence.  This encompasses web design along with the other facets of SEO;
   
   
2. You wish to increase the amount of targeted traffic that find and visit your site;
   
   
3. You wish to list or have multiple listings on Page 1 of the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for traffic or ego reasons.  Here’s a quick fact.  Google processes 100+ billion searches per month.  Of those, 38% of the searchers will visit the website ranked no.1 in the SERPs.  The no.2 site gets about 18% while the tenth site will get around 2%.
   
   

Keep this in mind.  If you go ahead and implement SEO strategies and have a substantial increase in traffic you need to ensure that you have, prior to that happening, the ability to convert the traffic to customers and the ability to handle the increase in customer volume.

Do you know what SEO is?

Prior to engaging in business with anyone you should arm yourself with some knowledge.  You need not be an expert in SEO but you should check out some SEO basics here. 

You to know some of this information so help gauge competency.  Your SEO consultant should know about On-page and Off-page SEO, Popularity, mobile marketing and research and development.  Enough said.

Assessing Company Competence and Ethics

You want to do business with a company that will achieve results in an ethical manner.  This is hard enough to assess.  However, these guidelines should help narrow the field.  You want to deal with a company that:

1. Is in business to help its clients succeed.  The company should be in business to provide their services with the highest quality and results practical;
   
   
2. Has and demonstrates an ethical structure.  Too many people throw ethics to the wayside and do whatever is necessary to ensure their survival at the cost of their clients;
   
   
3. Provide personal attention to its clients;
   
   
4. Openly and regularly communicates with it clients;
   
   
5. Has a good industry support structure in place;
   
   
6. Has demonstrated results;
   
   
7. Demonstrates professionalism through the use of contracts and Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDAs).
   
   

Bottom line?  You need to have a conversation with them.  Assess:

1. How they conduct themselves;
   
   
2. If they provide a clear and detailed proposal with pricing?
   
   
3. If the proposal is professional?  Typically, if care and effort is put in the proposal that gives an idea of their work ethic.
   
   
4. If they make use of a contractual agreement?
   
   
5. If they make an effort to understand your business, your goals and expectations?
   
   

And once you enter into business with them, continually assess to verify your decision until you are comfortable and would easily recommend or turf them.  Note that this applies to any business in any city, whether it be SEO in Ottawa, Detroit, Toronto, or wherever.