Many of our clients receive emails from SEO companies stating that they can do full SEO for very little money. Often less than $100 per month. We have yet to see any effective SEO that has worked at the small amount of work they do for that. When the web was new, you could do very little to get clients placed on search engines and Yahoo (remember them?). Heck, we didn’t even charge for it. I could program just about anything, and did, that could manipulate the search engines. Today, all that has changed. There are just no short cuts available. SEO isn’t magic and there isn’t one single thing that gets you placed. Instead it is multiple jobs done on your site and outside sources that will make you not only rank high on search engines, but keep you there. So when you are visiting with an SEO company, be sure that they list ALL their services. You want a company that does far more than ONE thing to make your site rank. And make them show you proof. Sites they have done that are ranked on the home page of search engines. Here are just some of the many things we do, that they should be offering as well.
- A lot of web site work. Your site will need a lot of content and internal links. Anyone that says they can get you placed without changing your content is wrong. search engines wants to see text all over your site and in the right places. Sites with little or no text will not rank.
- External Links – search engines still wants sites linking to your site. This shows them that you are valuable to the internet as a whole.
- Articles on the web (not being hosted at the same company) – we have 7 article sites and building more out on the web. This helps with those external links. We will write articles for you that link to your site.
- Location Pages for each city that you service. If you are a service company, these pages are vital if you want to place under more than one city.
- Blogs – search engines loves blogs for 2 reasons. It shows that you are an expert willing to assist with knowledge in your field, and of course the keywords added to the blogs. Many times our clients write the blog, then send it to use for keyword placement before posting to their site.
- Social Media – Social media marketing is different than SEO, but make sure that your visit with your potential SEO company about how to tie it in with your SEO, or how much extra it is for them to do it.
- Other Misc. Things – Basically they should be willing to do about anything (whitehat techniques only though) to get you placed. So ask them if there are other services they do. Examples: competitor research, search engines Maps, etc. to make sure that you are covered everywhere. We even check our client’s search engines maps each week to make sure it’s still correct. Yes, it’s all part of a good SEO package.
- Weekly reports in your inbox (that you can understand), and a personal review of the site – minimum monthly and they should email you what they did to help with your ranking as well as how well you did compared to last year and the last review. It is important to constantly monitor your site, and make sure you stay abreast of everything your SEO company does for you. Your SEO company should keep you informed of each thing they do. SEO isn’t magic, its just a lot of work, watching, and communicating with clients.
- search engines Ads (optional) – If you want a quick turnaround as SEO takes weeks, or if you want to experiment with search engines ads, be sure and take advantage of any search engines ads service they offer. We include search engines Ads support with our SEO package and make sure that the client knows each and every step we do when assisting them and setting it all up. I am here to make sure our clients don’t spend one dime more than they have to get the results they need. Trust me, they can be effective if done properly, but it requires work and constant monitoring. So make sure they offer monitoring them as well as the set up. Do they give free consultations first? We do, and we research and let you know what to expect from the clicks and how much projected cost of the ads.
- Can they change their program on a dime? search engines will always be fluid when it comes to what they want for SEO. So you need a SEO company that will not only keep up with the latest trends, but let you know what they are and how they intent to implement them. As search engines changes what they want, our SEO system with change as well.
So if you are looking for a full, robust SEO program that tackles all the complexity of giving the search engines search engines what they need, as well as a company that can explain it all to you, consider reaching out to us. And any time you don’t understand something you only have to ask. online marketing is complicated and vast, so feel free to contact us any time with any questions you may have. Always happy to visit!
