Let’s keep this brief: You are looking for an SEO professional to manage your account, drive sales / enquiries and traffic to your website as a long term plan, to ensure you are seeing a good return of investment online… But you don’t know the right questions to ask.
There are lots of companies out there, so who do you choose? What factors are most important? Will you actually cover the costs of their management fee? Here are some pro-tips for the kind of questions you need to be asking them.
Question’s To Ask Every SEO Company:
Monthly Progress Reports?
You need to see that progress is being made month-by-month. Without reports, how would you know if things are moving forward?
Strategy?
Strategy will vary wildly from site to site based on what needs adressing. Ask your SEO manager what he plans to do.
On-Page Work?
Ask what their on-page work will be based on and what they will tackle. Look for Meta Titles, the on page text… Check to see that they know meta descriptions are not a ranking factor but they may improve conversions for example.
Why They Charge The Fees Do?
Usually you’ll find the fees seem extraordinarily high or shocking low. Ask why! There better be a good answer.
Outsourcing?
Generally, if they are outsourcing, run a mile. Use judgement here though; using dedicated copywriters is very good… But outsourcing to save cost is potentially very bad.
Blogging?
Will they be blogging for you? How often? What does this involve? Is there a strategy? Do they blog themselves? Don’t trust a company who cannot be bothered to blog on their own website!
Conversion Rate Optimisation.
How will they improve the number of conversions on the website? What do they propose?
Tools They’ll Be Using?
Any SEO professional who is doing a decent job will be paying for industry-standard, cutting edge software. Ask which they use!
Checking Links?
A healthy and long term strategy should involve regular link checks & detoxes where needed. Harmful links should be removed and positive links encouraged.
Link Building?
Paying for Links? Expect a penalty. Ensure that any link strategy is natural and likely Social Media-based.
Social Media Strategy?
Not all agencies will handle your social media, it may require a specialist but they will need an idea of a strategy and should be monitoring overall progress in the monthly report.
Who Will Be Working On you Account?
It’s a fair and simple question: Are you talking to the account manager or a salesman? Ask to speak with the person you’ll be working with.
What Access They Should Be Asking For:
CMS / Google Analytics / Google Webmaster Tools – Potentially depending on the package, Social Media access. These are the bare minimum.
Promises, Promises.
Guaranteed positions? Set timescales for results? Impossible. It is important to understand why this is and promises are usually just a way of winning the job. But they cannot be given.
Trust Your Instincts
Sound too good to be true? It will be. Save your money and find a company that is the right fit for you.
The Long Term Fate of Your Business Hangs in the Balance
Don’t underestimate this decision, picking the right SEO professional to work with will be the difference between succeeding and failing online. If the fees are too high for now they you’re better off waiting and paying to have the job done properly.
Let’s make this simple; if you want a job done properly, you engage the services of someone who knows what they are doing. Get in touch with DPOM today and let us send you a quote over once we know a bit about your business… It may be the best decision you’ve ever made.
