You have a great website and products, now you need people to see it. It has been proven that at least 93% of all internet experiences begin with a search engine search. Search engine optimization (SEO)is a very important part of any campaign. When you are looking to expand your online reach, you may want to look to a search engine optimization service to help. Here are some tips to make sure you hire the right one.
- Evaluate what your needs are. Are you looking for an initial audit and then nothing else or are you looking for a more long term relationship? That decision will make a big difference in the search engine optimization service that you end up hiring. It is nearly impossible to be truly happy with any SEO firm if you are not sure what you want and what you expect to achieve. Spend some time with your staff going over your goals, not just for your SEO campaign but for your company. The best search engine optimization strategies are there to help you achieve your business goals.
- Talk to business owners you know. The chances are pretty good that you know someone who has used a search engine optimization company to help with their marketing efforts. Ask how they found the company, what they thought and what suggestions they have for working with them. They may have some valuable insights into working with this kind of company that can help you a lot, especially if you are new to the world of search engine optimization.
- Talk to several search engine optimization services. You should keep your process for finding the right search engine optimization service to yourself. It is not helpful to tell one SEO company that you are looking at other companies or what they are telling you. After you have a firm grasp of what you need and what you want, bring in different search engine optimization services and talk to them about how they would approach your campaign. Give them some time to look at your business to come back with a proposal. You want a company that will take its time putting together a proposal for you, not one that gives you some boilerplate proposal. If you are talking to more than one company, you do yourself no favors by telling each that. Just keep that part to yourself.
- Ask for references. When you go to a search engine optimization service, you need to know that they have a track record of success. The best way to see that is if they give you some references you can talk to. Companies that balk at this may have something to hide. Ask to talk to their current and past clients. If they have testimonials on their website, you should check them out. It is easy to put up testimonials that are not real. Talking to clients of the search marketing firm will give you the best idea of what it is like to work with them.
- Ask them to tell the stories of their clients. Most people who work at search engine optimization services are creative people. This is important for a few reasons. Your website should tell your story and so should your social media posts. You need, not only good strategists but good story tellers. When you are meeting with the search engine company, listen to the way they tell their client stories. This can give you a great insight into how creative they are. While there are some aspects of this process that are all science, there are still a lot that are art and you need creative people to make the most of that. It can also give you good insights into what it is like to work with them.
- Look at local SEO efforts. If you are a local company, you need to tailor your efforts to your local community. More and more people are using mobile devices to find local goods and services. You need a company that understands this and can work to exploit that in your favor.
With some work, you will find SEO success.
