Connecting The Dots To Understand Your SEO Service Provider
As time passes and the years roll by I have come to believe that there truly are two groups of people in the world: people who connect the dots and people who do not.
You need to be in the first group — connecting the dots — when it comes to understanding your SEO service provider. Here’s why.
1.) Do your research. In this world of digital information at your fingertips it is easier than ever to “shop” for an SEO provider that will fit your needs. In addition to doing online research make sure to reach out to people you know in your business “social network”.
2.) Ask questions. There are no “bad” or “stupid” questions. Don’t be intimidated. Be thoughtful and thorough ahead of time. Here of the few questions from entrepreneur.com you should be asking.
- May I have a list of current and past clients?
- How will you improve my search engine rankings?
- Do you adhere to search engines’ webmaster guidelines?
- Can you guarantee my website will achieve a number-one ranking on Google, Bing and Yahoo?
- Are you experienced at improving local search results?
- Will you share with me all changes you make to my site?
- How do you measure the success of your SEO campaigns?
- How will we communicate and how often?
- What are your fees and payment terms?
- What happens when we part ways?
3.) The big picture. THE most important issue with your new SEO provider is to have a complete understanding as to how what they are doing fits into the overall plan of what you and your company are doing. The SEO portion of an overall campaign is the engine that drives everything. Yes, it’s done on the backend, which in itself can intimidate many people, but it is imperative to co-ordinate efforts with your SEO provider in order to maximize your efforts on the “front end”.
4.) Have succinct business measures in place. Work with your new SEO provider to put strong, realistic measures in place to ensure the success of your efforts. Look at the plan with a 10,000 foot view perspective. Will your efforts and the efforts of your SEO provider work get you to your goals?
5.) Monitor your work efforts on a weekly basis. Again, don’t be afraid to continuously ask questions. It’s your money and your business. Make sure you are getting what you are paying for-otherwise you’re wasting everybody’s time.