For many business owners, “SEO” is a bad word. Perhaps you have been stung in the past by some con-artist looking to manipulate you out of your money. Or maybe you have worked with an SEO agency with good intentions, but they simply weren’t competent enough to deliver the results. Whatever the case, one thing is for certain: SEO does work.
Search engine optimisation is a tried and tested digital marketing method that has gone through many changes over the years; and when practised by reputable agencies who are constantly striving to remain ahead of the curve and deliver white-hat methods with tangible results, it can be life-changing for business owners.
The question is, how do you go about cutting through the crap and securing a partnership with the perfect SEO agency who really can deliver? Here’s everything you need to know…
1 – Begin by asking for SEO case studies and examples
Any SEO agency worth their salt should be able to back up their bold claims with real-life case studies.
When presented with evidence of their success, you’ll be able to feel far more confident spending (or rather, investing) your money with them.
2 – Look beyond SEO
You need to look beyond SEO and think about the bigger picture. Any SEO agency can get more traffic to your website, but only the very best can suggest and implement the necessary changes that will help you convert those clicks into customers.
3 – If they’re so cheap ‘it almost feels too good to be true,’ it is!
Take the time to research SEO – specifically just how much work is involved. When you pay an SEO agency to build your digital marketing strategy, you are paying all the people involved:
- Writers
- Strategists
- Web designers
- Graphic designers
- Social media markers
- The list goes on (and it is long)
Simply put: if want talented individuals working on your SEO, then you must recognise how much manpower is required. If your prospective SEO agency is considerably cheaper than the rest, there’s a good reason for it (or rather, a bad reason for it).
4 – Avoid guarantees like the plague
No established and reputable SEO agency will guarantee specific results. Certainly, they may be able to offer ambiguous guarantees of x-amount of traffic, but as for specific rankings, it’s simply not possible.
Certainly, the larger and more established SEO agencies may offer a satisfaction guarantee based on their performance, but in that case it they will likely be very choosy with who they work with.
5 – Visit them if you can
If possible, visit your prospective SEO agency in person. Either that, or make sure that you have a few video conference calls and really familiarise yourself with them.
You should also check their social proof. It’s all very well looking at previous case studies, but you should also look at how well their previous and existing customers rate them across the board.
Final thoughts
Another important thing is to research average prices for SEO campaigns. $5,000 a month might sound like an awful lot, however, if one new client a month can double that then it really is nothing at all.
Be realistic about how much work is involved and how much money a successful digital marketing campaign can bring you – and then pay the experts accordingly.