As you know, SEO is an incredibly important part of your business’ online success – and that makes hiring the right SEO & online marketing firm an incredibly important part of your business’s online success.

Tips for Hiring an SEO & Online Marketing Firm

Here’s what you need to know about the process of finding the right SEO company for you and your business:

• Know Your Stuff – You don’t need to know everything there is to know about SEO in order to figure out which company is the right one for you, but you should know your own stuff inside and out when you start shopping for an SEO firm. Know the current state of your website – how much traffic do you get? What are your conversion rates? What kind of advertising have you tried, and what were the results? Being able to lay out what you’ve done and where you’ve been in terms of your site will help you and your SEO firm determine what needs to be done in future, based in part on what did or didn’t work in the past.
• Know Your Goals – What do you want to see happen with your website? Having clearly defined goals (like success metrics) in mind will help you see whether or not the prospective firm’s ideas are in line with yours.
• Know the SEO Company – There are a few things you can look at to determine whether or not the company you’re talking with is a reputable one that will actually be able to do what they tell you they can do. Look for things like good communication with a clearly defined contact structure, so you know who you’ll be dealing with primarily, as well as case studies and testimonials from current and previous clients, a good reputation online and off, and whether or not their plan for your business sounds like one designed to achieve success.

You should also know the danger signs when you are looking for an SEO firm to help you. There are a ton of companies out there that claim they can work major SEO wonders, but the truth is that they don’t all do what it says on the tin. Fortunately, you can avoid getting caught up with a company like that by keeping an eye out for some of the more common danger signs, like:

• Poorly designed websites – If their own company website looks shoddy, unprofessional, or out of date, how can you expect them to work those promised wonders for you?

• Virtual offices, P.O. Boxes, etc – There are reputable companies out there that exist entirely in the virtual realm or use a post office box for snail mail correspondences, but these are also some of the hallmarks of scammers, so it is important to approach a company like this with a little caution. They might be great, or they might take you for a ride – check them out thoroughly before making a commitment.

• No clearly defined methods – If you are meeting with a company, but they can’t provide you with some examples of what they’d do to help your site that AREN’T generic, basic answers, you should probably turn around and head the other way. For example, if they say “redesign the site” and that’s it, then they’re bad news. A site redesign may or may not actually help, depending on your situation, but it certainly is not the ONLY thing a reputable SEO company would implement.

Choosing an SEO firm is a big step, and it’s an important one. Up your chances of success by choosing a firm with a proven track record, knowledgeable, approachable, accessible staff, and clear ideas on how to proceed with your business.

Your Next Step

To get started with us here at JSA Interactive, simply request a quote, tell us what you need, and a JSA Interactive representative will be in touch soon to discuss your options and how we can help. And for more information on what we’ve done for our clients so you can get an even better idea of what we can do for you, we invite you to please check out one (or all!) of our free case studies, available for download instantly.