Choosing an seo agency to assist your business with its online presence can prove to be a bit of a hit and miss, unless you are willing to take a few simple steps first to determine which seo agency is going to deliver the results you desire. While it would seem to make sense that the seo agencies that hold the top positions in the major search engines for relevant keyword phrases, would be the ones best suited to achieve similar results for your business. This is not necessarily the case, as such positions may have been achieved by unethical methods. This could mean that such positions may have just recently been achieved and may only be temporary. When searching for a reliable seo agency, it is better to look a little further into a few key areas of their business, rather than just rely upon how well placed they are in the search engines.
Key Areas of Consideration when Choosing an SEO Agency
When you start searching for an seo agency for your online business, create a small list of those you wish to research and then find out if they are:
- Well established
- Being recommended
- Achieving good results for clients
How Well Established Are They?
When you take a look at any seo agencies website from your list, you may well find that they state how many years they have been in business, most often such information can be found on their "About" page. You can check for yourself by taking a note of their domain name and then visiting a "who is" website, such as www.who.is. By entering the agency domain name on such a site, you will be given information about when that domain name was first registered, for how long it has been registered and when it is due for renewal. This will give you an idea of when this agency first created their website and how long they have been around, helping you to determine how well established they are. You can quickly eliminate them from consideration if they have just registered their domain name over the last few months and that domain name is due for renewal within less than one year. A single years registration on a domain name shows absence of basic seo knowledge and lack of confidence in themselves that they will still be around after their first year in business.
Are They Being Recommended by Others?
Check over each website on your list of seo agencies you are considering and look for customer testimonials. If the website has a decent sized portfolio of clients, then you can expect to see plenty of testimonials on view. If not, then you have to start wondering why. Have they perhaps not been asking their clients for feedback, or are many of their clients just unwilling to give positive comments about the service they have received?
What Sort of Results Are Being Achieved?
If their has been a lack of testimonials on any seo agency website to help you build up a picture of how good their service really is, you could always go direct to their clients and find out for yourself. All you have to do is check over the portfolio and get the website names and visit them. Look for contact information on each site and get an email off to the owner, asking them for their opinion on the services they have received from the seo agency. Most owners will have no hesitation in letting you know of any faults they have found and what's not working for them.
After you have eliminated a few of the agencies from your list, it is time to contact each one that you have left and make your final determinations based upon the answers you receive and the prices you are being quoted. Always remember that it is important to fully understand what any seo agency is going to do for your website and how they will go about achieving it. Not forgetting, how long you can expect to wait before you see some results. If they try to blind you with technical jargon, just cross them off your list.
Writing for the website www.make-a-web-site.com, James covers a variety of topics such as website creation, hosting and SEO.