As is the case with many products and service providers, there is a wide disparity between and amongst SEO companies.  Without essaying over the comparisons of “unnamed” companies or competitors, let’s review those qualities you should seek in selecting the right SEO company for your online strategy.

• White Hat or Ethical SEO - these terms are used to distinguish between those SEO's that use tricks and shortcuts towards achieving online visibility. The best way to determine if the SEO Company you are evaluating conforms to the recommendations in this writing.
• Well-Planned Execution - does the SEO Company provide you with an outline of their execution strategy in writing or on their website? For instance, does it include key elements such as extensive keyword and competitive RESEARCH?
• How do they define Internet Marketing? What is included in their services? What is not included?
• Seek ALL of these services as available and even included:
  • SEO
  • PPC
  • Copywriting Services - Emphasis on Content
  • Link Building
  • Social Media Optimization
  • Social Bookmarking Optimization
  • Submissions and Indexing
  • Conversion Strategies (more on this below)
• Seek companies that are compensated largely based on Performance. While no company can guarantee performance, they can still have some “skin in the game” by having their compensation tied to actual results.
• Get keywords for other clients' sites. Search for them on Google. Are they on the first page? Is it a competitive keyword? Do you see the name of the Internet Company as the one marketing the site in the footer of the web page?
• Speak to 2-3 references. It's not enough to just see the rankings. Is the company easy to work with? Are they responsive? Do they have your best interests in mind? Would you hire them again? Will you renew their services? What is the one area you wish to see more progress in?

Here is the best way you can determine the relative turnover ratio of an SEO Company? How do they define success? If the answer isn't about CONVERSION… you are talking to an SEO Company with relative high rates of turnover. The reason is that it is ultimately just not enough to get high rankings. While generating traffic is essential and represents one level of success, the client paying for the SEO will ultimately lose faith or give up on the SEO Company if the bottom line results are not there. Bottom line results can only be measured as sales and profits. This is what conversion is all about and ultimately what SEO is really all about. So, when you ask this key question of “what success of the project is” you must hear a lot about conversion. Rankings and traffic are 50% of the game but only combined with the targeted conversions do you win 100% of the game.

SEO companies come in all different shapes and sizes. However those with the qualities we suggest and frankly we possess are the key metrics to be used in making this key choice towards your online success.

Tags: Conversion, Copywriting, Indexing, Internet Marketing, Link Building, Online, Pay Per Click, PPC, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, SEO Company, Services, Social Bookmarking Optimization, Social Media Optimization, Submissions

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 2:29 pm and is filed under new articles content. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.