Okay, so I’ve been slacking on the blog writing department. That’s because business is booming! I can’t tell you how many clients I have that come to me AFTER trying another source of SEO (such as Yellow Pages, Super Pages or someone else) and are very disappointed with their results!
It’s not their fault they didn’t know what they were looking for when they were choosing an SEO company. So I am going to come up with some pointers to go by that you should think about when choosing an SEO Company like XTELWEB
The first thing you should look at is the company’s website. They should have somewhat of a plan drawn out on their site explaining what they do. I mean, anyone can “tell” you they are performing SEO, but what are they actually doing? A reputable company will have a timeline and go a bit into detail about what they do. For instance, XTELWEB starts out by analyzing your websites HTML code and making sure that all HTML elements, page titles, meta tags, alt tags, etc. are all set up. I tell my clients this all the time, SEO starts at the HTML Code.
The next thing a company should do, is check the PageRank of your website. This helps the Search Engine Optimization company really see what they have to work with. PageRank looks at the link structure of your website, among other things and determines a site’s value. A site with a higher PageRank will appear higher in the Search Engine Results Page (SERP)
After PageRank is determined and the website’s HTML code is analyzed, the SEO Company should then call or email the client with a detailed plan to determine what is best for the client. This plan can include things like keyword, or keyphrase analysis. Backlink and “Contextual Link” analysis, search engine listings, directory listings, terms already in the content of the website, and other things.
Google Analytics is a great tool for anyone wanting to analyze data on their website. I am not going to go into detail about Google Analytics on this post, but there will be another post. (Coming Soon)
No company and I mean no company can promise you #1 in any search engine. Even Google states that in their Webmaster Central, nobody can guarantee you #1 in Google! As soon as you hear someone tell you that, RUN!
Make sure the company you choose has references. And make sure that the company allows you to contact those references.
Check out webmaster forums, like BlackHat SEO, WebDevForums and DaniWeb are all great places to start. The people that participate in these forums can point you in the right direction in choosing the right SEO company.
Hey, why not start with Google? Just Google in the company name and try putting the words, “scam, fraud, rip-off report” after the company name and see what type of results you come up with. This does not accurately tell you if a company is a rip-off because these are only “written” accounts of 1 or more personal experience with that company. To me, even if there is 1 mention of a company being a rip-off, whether SEO Company or not, I will not deal with that company.
Ask for past examples or current examples of the SEO work that the company did for other clients.
Back to keywords, make sure a company gets you good keyphrases, and by good, I mean keyphrases relevant to your website. I could get you listed in the top ten for the search term, “<YourCompanyName.com>”. Umm wow, that should be automatic, right?! A paid SEO keyphrase should be 3-7 words long, IE – Clearwater Personal Injury Lawyer, or Clearwater Auto Accident Attorney, Tampa Bay Area Injury Attorney
Don’t fall for these, “Instant Traffic Rush”, or “10,000 Back Links” gimmicks. You want QUALITY, not quantity! 10 super-great backlinks are better than 10,000 backlinks any day! And anyone can take a network of computers, or a proxy jumper and load your site full of traffic. It is a scam!
Here are a few resources that are great for finding professionals; MerchantCircle, AngiesList, Thumbtack and of course DMOZ.
Last but not least, and certainly not all- Does the Company offer subscription services? Search Engine Optimization is NOT a one-time thing. It’s something that needs to be worked on constantly and usually takes at LEAST a month to see solid results. Don’t be fooled by the companies promising to get you onto Google in 1 Day, or We Can Get You #1 Spot on Google in One Day. It’s not true!
