Maybe you have had an experience with an SEO expert, and maybe you are looking at excellent results which can be proven not only in SEO terms, but also on your bank account.
But if you are a novice and haven't had an experience with an online marketing specialist, you might consider these criteria when shopping around for their services:
- Their own website. Is their own website optimised for humans (easy to understand, easy to contact them, clear value of their services), and for Google (you can see them on the first page with the most important keywords for their industry i.e. SEO consultant, seo, search engine optimisation, seo marketing, sem, online marketing, internet marketing etc.
- Guarantee. What is their guarantee? Be careful about SEO gurus who will guarantee first positions in Google organic ranking. Google has its own very well kept indexing rules, and since they can change any time (and they do change), how can somebody guarantee first page positions? However, fair play to those consultants, who will pay for your Google Adwords until you get back to the first page organically.
- Previous results. What successes have they had previously? Is it a long tail keyword being on the first page in Google, or would you prefer to see how much value they have delivered to the client in money terms? Have a look at their testimonials, and find out what they are talking about.
- Certification. Are they qualified certified? Each consultant should be at least Google Advertising Qualified individual.
- Pricing. What is their price based on? Is it the amount of hours? Is it number of keywords brought to the first position in Google? Is it a package with a list of 20 items you don't really understand? Or is it based on your goals in terms of visitors and online enquiries that will lead to a certain number of potential sales to you?
- Measurement. How do they measure their results? Will they provide you with a report with numbers of visitors to your website, or will they attach a full report with every single detail that you can know about your website and online marketing campaign? Do they interpret the results, saying whether they are positive or negative for you, and what actions they are going to take next month to make sure you get the best value from your website?
- Ethics. Can you trust them are they ethical in every manner, would they never spam, would they adhere to the best practices of online marketing and how can they prove this?
These are the top seven criteria, as we see them at the moment. Of course, you might add some more, such as industry experience and many more. But given the value for money, we believe the above ones are the most important for you to look at, if you are looking for an online marketing consultant who will help your business.
Whatever SEO company you decide to choose, we wish you great success with your website, because the Internet is a great source of new business, and yet is not fully used in many areas.
This article was written by Simona Rusnakova of 3R Sales and Marketing. If you want to start work on your website and start getting online sales straight away and you want someone to help you nail your online marketing, then contact us today or register for a Free Web Health Check - you can also call 01 201 7102 now.
