If you’ve decided to outsource your SEO to
improve your company’s online presence then it’s vital you hire the right
person. If you don’t take your time choosing them then you could well end up
with someone who doesn’t have enough expertise or just isn’t right for your
business. If this happens you are essentially throwing away the money you spend
on them.
On the other hand, if you get it right then a good SEO consultant can
greatly enhance your visibility and increase your customer base.
With that in mind, here are just some of
the questions you could ask a potential consultant to find out whether or not they’re
what you’re looking for:
How Long Have You Been In Business?: SEO
started in a rudimentary form in the 1990s when it was more of a niche specialisation.
Nowadays you are likely to be able to choose from hundreds of firms. To whittle
them down, therefore, it’s a good idea to find one with a good few years of
experience behind them.
How Would You Improve My Company’s Online
Presence?: This is a vital question to ask and the way that the SEO consultant
answers it should go some way to telling you whether they are worth hiring or
not. When you ask this question, rather than going into an incomprehensible spiel
about their own methods and how they work, they should pay attention to what
makes your company unique. They should be asking you what you want to achieve
and then discussing ways they might help you achieve this which are appropriate
to your own business sector and customer base. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’
with SEO, and a good consultant should know this.
What Previous Results Have You Had?: Any
consultant you talk to should be more than happy to provide you with details of
previous satisfied clients so you can contact them if you wish to ask about the
service they received. Conversely, it can also be a good sign if they are
willing to talk about projects that did not go so well, and what they learned
from this.
What Guarantees Can You Give?: This is
something of a trick question, but it’s worth asking if you’re unsure. Remember
that there can be no guarantees with SEO, so anyone who claims that they can
get your website No.1 Google rankings or something equally unrealistic is lying
to you to get your money. What they should be doing is suggesting and
implementing ways to help you get the best from the Internet and showing you
how to proceed in the future.
How Do You Charge?: You need to be sure
about this before you sign up to anything. Some SEOs will charge a flat fee for
their services and others will charge per hour or per individual project. As
long as you have agreed in writing exactly what you are paying and compared
this with what other SEOs are offering you should be ok. Never go into this kind
of business relationship without signing a fixed contract or you may find
yourself being charged extra for ‘additional’ services.
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