In the world of the internet where publicity matters, the word “SEO” gets more and more attention from everyone. Basically, if your site is not SEO optimized, you don’t exist on Google. And we don’t exaggerate when we say this. Therefore, it’s important to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and if you don’t know how to do this on your own then the best idea is to contact a specialized company for SEO optimization. And today we’ll talk about a few steps that need to be followed to make sure that we collaborate with a quality company.
But let’s clarify first of all what SEO really is, before getting down to business. SEO, or Search Engine Optimization represents the totality of processes and adjustments that help growing visibility of a site within the search engines. If, for instance, you were on the fifth page in Google (think that nobody gets as far as the second page so there’s no point in talking about who gets to the fifth), through SEO optimization you can get to the third page or even on the first one and this, implicitly means more visitors.
And now that we’ve covered what SEO basically means, let’s get to work and analyze a few steps that should be followed when choosing the right SEO Company for yourself.
1. Why should I use an external company instead of having my own SEO specialized employee?
The logical answer would be “in order to let a specialist deal with SEO”. Then again, it depends on the size of your website and on the number of products/ services that you sell. Fact is that optimization represents a constant process, that’s continually changing. That’s why, in case you have a large site that requires a lot of work, you can use an external company (for a significant price) or you can hire your own specialist. And when it comes to a small amount of work, it’s obviously more profitable to externalize. You’re the only one that knows whether there’s enough work to make hiring a SEO specialist worthwhile or not.
2. The company’s portfolio
A selection criterion would be that any competing company should have a good enough portfolio to convince you to collaborate with them. Just like with any other CV, you’re going to have to analyze it thoroughly and it would also help if you visited the websites that are mentioned in the portfolio. Then you’ll be able to make a comparison between your site and an already optimized site, being able to create a clearer image about the final product. Pay a lot of attention to the portfolio because this is the piece of resistance from the interview. As about us, we also have a portfolio within our website that’s available for everyone. Hence, we’ll let the portfolio speak for us.
What do I do in case they don’t have a portfolio?
If it’s a known company, “with experience”, then don’t worry. And in case it’s a new business that would have you as a first client, then it’s basically your choice. The disadvantage is the lack of experience and the advantage is that, being a startup, they will do their best in order to have a first successful project.
3. See what promises that company makes
If a SEO company boasts that they will bring you the first place within the Google search engines, you can simply refuse. Yes, there are exceptional situations when this can be done, but in most cases it’s considered a huge success to get on the first page of the search engines. The same way you have to enquire about the necessary time for the optimizations to be made. If the answer is “really fast” or even “instantly”, it’s another warning sign to start looking elsewhere. Quality work requires time and when it comes to SEO, there’s no difference.
What’s that exceptional situation that you mentioned above?
There are quite a few exceptional situations that we will not talk about today. I’ll give you an example, instead: let’s assume the purpose was the promotion of a specific niche product. The surprise came when it was discovered that the competition wasn’t as present as it had been expected and the version for mobile devices of the website was basically inexistent. Hence, with a simple optimization and promotion for the mobile version getting on the first page of Google searches was possible and implicitly the monopolizing of the market since most of the people get on the internet from their phones.
4. Ask for an audit.
A very efficient method when you don’t put too much accent on the portfolio or promises. You can ask for an audit at any time and the company can either accept or not. In case they don’t accept, you can always look elsewhere.
What’s an audit?
It’s basically a free sample from the SEO Company where they will analyze your site and come with a couple of ideas and suggestions for its optimization. This way you can test the competencies of the company and you can create a clearer image about the final product: about your new possible website. If you want an audit from us, you can simply find the form here.
These would be the main methods through which you can ensure a successful collaboration with a SEO company. Because everything begins with publicity. You can be the best at what you’re doing but unless you promote yourself, you’ll remain an anonymous, without anyone knowing of your talent and your services/ products. Therefore, publicity is the key because people do have money, you just have to know how to reach them.
Hence, which one of the above mentioned pieces of advice seemed the most useful to you? We are awaiting your feedback in the comments’ section.