Search Engine Optimization Does and Don’ts Part 2 of 2
SEO Solicitations via unsolicited email are on the rise
Welcome to the final part of our two part series on learning how to pick an SEO/SEM company.
As a reminder we will share what brought this article to life
There are warning signs to look for when you receive an offer to have your web site placed in the top of the search term results for the best keywords your customers utilize to locate you. In Part 2 we will share the two most common myths of search engine optimization share our check list some simple but important questions to ask an SEO firm before you select one.
Before we get to the questions you need to ask yourself and the SEO/SEM firm before you get started, let us share the two largest myths about SEO/SEM that come to mind.
SEO/SEM Myth Number One
Hiring a search engine optimization firm is a onetime deal, simply optimize the site onetime pay a few thousand dollars and your site will gain a great placement on the Internet.
No way, for more reasons then we are going to get into here in our article today.
But you can always contact us through this blog
We are happy to answer questions on technology relating to SEO and SEM and relax we are not here to sell optimization services; we mostly do these only for our own sites.
Here are a few things that show us all that search engine optimization requires long term planning, patience and persistence over not just months but years.
The Internet, your competition, search bots or spiders are all advancing at alarming paces gaining better footing and understanding to bring the best information a person doing a search on the Internet asks for so your site must get in and stay in the game otherwise you are just another one of the billions of sites and pages on the Internet forever lost in cyberspace.
SEO/SEM Myth Number Two
When you or we receive an unsolicited email from a self proclaimed Search Engine Optimization Company or you contact an SEO company you will see or hear claims that they can get your site to the top of the search engines under any keywords or phrases in a few short weeks.
Both claims are an outright lie but to the unsuspecting site owner these claims seem to make sense and some might get you to the top of the search engines but it will be under a keyword or phrase combination that no one is searching for to find what you are offering.
The ability to get any site to the top of the search engines in a few weeks is not possible and if it were possible it would be so short lived you would not gain any ground in your business through this type of phenomena.
Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing requiring long term thinking, efforts, financial resources and a strong commitment from the site owner to share knowledge about their sites product or services on a month by month bases. Getting to the top of the search engines under the best keywords or word phrases is very possible and achievable and then once you have achieved a great (SERP) Search Engine Results Page placement, the efforts to maintain and service these this placement are ongoing, though not as intense usually as the efforts of getting your site placed in the first place.
Questions you should ask an SEO/SEM company before hiring them
“A” Where is the SEO located
Be sure the SEO is located in the country you are in, so they understand the culture and the ways of doing business in that country.
It is time to be realistic with ourselves, though the Internet is global it is most important to be focused on your home country and concur all that is before you before venturing in a slim and half hazard approach.
This way you will have the resources to venture into one country at a time utilizing the incomes gained from your home countries customer base, then taking on the next country along with your gained knowledge you’ve learned from your home country.
If you do not follow our home country rule, you are merely throwing darts and taking a hit and miss approach building no real presence or brand for your company all the while burning through your cash reserves.
“B” SEO/SEM knows what they are doing in search engine optimization
The world of being in the business of Search Engine Optimization has a few things to teach us all, it is easy for a person sitting at their home to start an SEO/SEM business for the cost of nothing more then a computer and a little knowledge.
Truthfully nothing can be farther from the truth.
To really know how to optimize a site for the Internet there is a lot to know and understand, there are tools available to assist an SEO in the performance of their job.
All of this said however, this profession is no different than any other profession, there are people who thrive to be the best and to be the most knowledgeable and apply that knowledge with what we preach a lot about PASSION, and there are persons that just do a job and the results are mediocre.
How you get past this as a company wanting to hire an SEO/SEM firm is to ask the SEO Company these few questions.
Do you have an SEO/SEM Certification? Request a copy.
Ask for a list of sites they have done along with the keywords they have optimized the sites for then do a search engine search and see where they are placed they do not need to be in the top 10 but that depends on the popularity of the category they have optimized for.
Ask for a list of some of the clients and contact person as references, call a few and question them about the performance and the working relationship qualities we are looking for how well the SEO Company works with their clients.
“C” Reputable SEO firms
These firms will have insurance and be bonded to some level in the event that a client relationship turns bad, the site gets destroyed for fault or through no fault of the client. So ask if the firm has insurance to cover your losses also ask if they have and request a copy of the SEO firm satisfaction guaranteed type of written claim.
Questions you should ask yourself before stepping into optimizing your site
“A” Do you have the time to devote into working with an SEO/SEM company?
You as the site owner are going to play a very important roll in your site success through providing information ion a regular bases so be prepared to devote a few hours of work each week for each month for years to come.
“B” Can you commit
Your commitment to the ongoing added expense of having a full time SEO/SEM service usually a few thousand dollars a month for the SEO form and a few thousand dollars a year in outside costs? This is not including some (PPC) Pay Per Click on search engines and advertising placements on other Internet sites.
“C” Building a Relationship in advance of hiring a firm
This whole search engine optimization system is going to be intense and it is going to be requiring a strong relationship between you, your site and the SEO firm.
So talk with the firm several times, meet a few other employees at the firm, have conversations with them over a few phone calls and emails to be sure you are feeling a level of trust building and have a good communications experience with these people before firing them.
Realize that you are going to turn over to this firm a lot of confidential information and you are giving them full run of your site by providing to them your FTP access the ability to work within your site, the firm might even be purchasing domain names to add other redirects or micro sites pointing to your main site so it is really important you are fully comfortable with the overall firm up front.
Miss Part 1 of 2
Here is a link to Part 1 incase you missed it Does and Don’ts of hiring a Search Engine Optimization firm.