What are the questions that one should ask a seo expert when evaluating them for a job? Should you negotiate an upfront, flat fee or hourly? And just out of my own curiosity, if they promise to get you to the front page of Google and you're there for a day but then get knocked off have they actually done their job?
http://socialmediasystems.com/03/02...you-hire-an-analysis-of-seo-consulting-firms/ Google "hire the right SEO company" and you will find many more links like this one
Um thanks, but that's exactly not what I was looking for. I'd like to hear from people who have gone through the process of hiring them not a bunch of self-promotion sites that google or any other search engine throws in my face. Again thanks for replying, but search engine links or key words to search aren't what I had mind.
To start with, compile a list of SEO firms. You could take help from your friends who have used the services of SEO firms and are happy with them. This would be the most credible way of getting the names of a handful of firms, apart from typing keywords in search engines. Once this is then you could request quotes from these firms and ask them for reference and some kind of sample report to check what they have done in the past. Go through all of them and you would get a fair idea of who they are and what they are capable of doing for your business. With respect to the campaign fee, I would recommend that you decide upon the campaign deliverable, if possible a model similar to pay for performance. This would safeguard you against fraud. Also, don't pay the entire fees upfront and work on some kind of a monthly arrangement. Sign a service level agreement and pay via paypal. This way you would ensure that the SEO firm you hire keep their part of the deal. Happy hunting!
Hello, Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes. I am now on my third SEO company. Here is a quick checklist (feel free to call or PM me for more info: - check references (repeat check references) - don't pay big money upfront - ask how they plan on getting you on page 1 for Google (onsite optimization, link building, etc..) - What is their plan and cost to keep you on pg. 1 - Are they outsourcing the work or doing it themselves (both firms I hired outsourced the work and marked up the cost). You can hire an overseas firm yourself. - How competitive are the keywords you are optimizing for? The more competive the longer and more expensive it will be. - If you are in the US check with your local Better Business, local courts, Ripoff report.com. Most background checks can be done online. Hope this helps. Bryan
Hey all thanks for the feedback! I appreciate you taking the time to educate me. Another question. Is there a way to tell just by the domain who, if any SEO firm has worked on a particular website? Common sense tells me that's not something site owners would want to advertise, but figured it would be worth asking... Thanks again!
"Another question. Is there a way to tell just by the domain who, if any SEO firm has worked on a particular website?" Not that I know of. You could contact the site owner and ask for a reference, as long as they don't consider you a competitor, they would probably tell you.
Look for a web designer that knows what he is doing. SEO is not just someone coming in and adding some meta tags here and there, its starts from ground zero of your website being built. Starting from your domain name. If your selling "Penut butter Cookies" the domain name PBC.Com is not going to help you. A domain name like PenutButterCookies.Com will stomp the hell out of your online competitors. Directory Structure of your site is invaluble. Having directorys like /images will do nothing for you. Having Directory Structures like /PenutButter_Cookies_Img /Penut_Butter_Cookies_Pages will stomp the hell out of your online competitors. Lastly have Page names like Home.html will do nothing for you except get you to the 553220 Spot of google directory searches. Your pages should be named with Keywords. Penut_Butter_Cookie_Homepage.html Penut_Butter_Cookies_Contactus.html again you will stop the hell out of your compitition. Any images on your site should not be named image1.jpg image2.jpg they should all be Penutbutter_1.jpg Penut_Butter_2.jpg Cookie_1.jpg These are the things that will get you on the first page of google. It does not start with a SEO Company, all they are good for is fixing what a bad web designer created for you. Hope this helps, Dave Malton Web Designer
The jist of hiring a good SEO: Ask him his methodologies - What sort of tactics is he going to use? Will he be spamming, will he be using relevant comments, will he create markov-generated blog networks which interlink and form strong authority before passing it on to you? What tactics is he going to use and how might that affect your business if your competitors find out? How much volume will increased rankings bring you - Do you know your relative return per user? Check out Google Trends, Wordtracker, etc to get an idea of how much volume a given search ranking can give you. Factor this into your SEO's cost. Some SEOs can be cheap, some can be expensive. Honestly, some of the cheaper ones I've worked with have been the most intelligent. It really comes down to the person. Not everyone likes charging $200/hr for easy work. What sort of maintenance do you need? - Maintaining rankings can be a pain in the ass. In these cases it's good to go with a monthly retainer, or with SEO training. I offer both, but that's not why I wrote you this post. SEO training will cost you less in the long run, but make sure you have a good teacher who teaches you what you need to know to maintain your site. What are your goals? - If profit is the main concern, then you'll want an SEO who also has an Internet Marketing background and can help you figure out what will derive you the most profit. If just traffic or users is the big concern then anyone with a proven traffic track record will work. Whatever you end up doing, good luck with it.
You can't be serious! Giving him advice like that. I think you should read what you said... In summary, you are telling him directory structure will get him on the first page of google and "stomp on his competitors". A web designer primarily does web design and an SEO company primarily does SEO. Obviously quite a few do both. You can have a crappy looking site and be at #1 position for a competitive keyword. It doesn't mean you will have return users because of the poor site design or lack of interesting content. I come from a web design and programming background and in recent times have realised the importance SEO has over design. Sometimes you have to sacrifice parts of your design such as the use of JS to make the site more seo-friendly. It's hard to let go, but the SERP's speak for themselves. Oh and by the way...penut butter is spelt peanut butter
A Lot of the sites I build end up on Google’s front page. Allot of it has to do with Directory Structure. I have a site that I do Graphic Advertisements. I do them for Craig’s List and Back page. Go type into Google Graphic Advertisements and you will see two of my site coming up number one. I have several web design clients who sites come up under several of the key words they were looking for. It has to do with the domain names they chose, the names we named the images that made up the site and the directory structures as explained above. I believe the proof is in the position, and how long it stays there. Thanks for the spelling help that’s my biggest downfall... I have nothing agaist SEO work I just find it easer to rebuild a site on a good foundation to begin with. People should find designers who are knowledgeble in both fields, unless they plan on getting their traffic from other sources.
No, you can't be serious he is absolutely correct internal structure are very important. I mean sure you can rank well with crappy html but it's a hell of alot harder.