So you know that you need a higher quantity & quality of targeted search engine traffic, and you’re thinking about hiring a search engine optimization / optimisation company. Which company, or which kind of company should you choose?
First of all, this depends on budget. If you have a budget of a few thousand pounds per month or more, then you’ll more than likely want to look towards one of the SEO agencies.
SEO agencies employ teams which handle search engine optimization for their clients, many offer a range of services including ppc management, web design & development, and other marketing solutions.
Larger concerns would usually hire an SEO agency, in the UK the main agencies include brands such as Amaze, Latitude , MediaVest, Code, Clickthrough Marketing, Guava, Big Mouth & Just Search.
If you’re a small to medium size business with a smaller marketing budget, it’s unlikely this budget is going to stretch to the minimum investment levels that most of the larger agencies have, so you’re going to be looking at working with a smaller SEO company, or with a freelance SEO consultant such as myself. request an SEO quotation
Unfortunately, it’s at this level that you have the biggest chance of being ripped off, as there are a number of unscrupulous individuals & companies targeting small to medium businesses, offering SEO services, that do not do what they’re expected to do.
So if you’re a small to medium business & you’re thinking of working with a search engine optimisation company, you need to be sure that you’re working with a REAL search engine optimisation consultant or company, not one of the companies or invidvuals who’re posing as SEO firms or SEO consultants in order to allow them to get their hands on your marketing budget & give little or nothing in return.
These are the things small to medium businesses to consider when choosing an SEO company / consultant.
Contracts: Does the SEO firm / consultant require you to sign a contract, stating that you will pay them a monthly figure for a set period?
Many companies & freelance consultants to ask for a contract to be signed (I don’t) so this in & of itself doesn’t mean that they’re trying to scam you, but if the company does work with contracts, then you do need to be on your guard – because you may be tied into paying a monthly fee even if you discover that the company are not doing the work that you thought you were paying for, and it can be difficult to prove.
Telesales calls: Has the company cold called you? If so – raise your guard that bit higher, if an SEO company do what they say they can do, why are they resorting to telesales to market their services?
References & testimonials: Does the SEO company give you references or testimonials from recent clients, and do they include company name & contact name so that you can actually telephone these clients?
Guaranteed Google Positions: Real SEO consultants & companies will rarely guarantee Google positions, if the company offers guarantee’s, raise your guard even higher – it’s very difficult to guarantee anything with SEO, so if guarantee’s are being offered – it’s possible you’re being told whatever you need to hear to get you on-board.
Ask Questions: Usually the fake SEO firms or individuals, are great at marketing their services & getting people tied into contracts, but know little about SEO – so do a little bit of reading up on SEO, and ask some questions, if you get a lot of umming & arring, then be skeptical!
Do your own initial keyword research: Brainstorm to find your most obvious keywords, and then use the google adwords keywords tool to get other keyword idea’s, and to see the approx search levels – so you can build a picture of which keywords you need to be aiming for. One of the tricks some of the less scrupulous organisations will use, is to try to get you to sign a contract to commit to a monthly spend, for very easy, non competitive key phrases that you would be likely to achieve page 1 ranking for without any effort just due to the fact that there is very little competition.
