| Top Web Hosting Provider of The Month: |
 |
| Visit Bluehost.com | Read Bluehost Review |
|
|
| >> Web Hosting Geeks // Web Hosting Articles // SEO - Search Engine Optimization |
|
|
 |
Finding the Right SEO Company
I often talk to people who have lost faith in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) firms because of bad experiences. Either they saw no results, felt that they were tricked into subscribing to a service that could not work, or that they wasted money on a firm that did them no good. Although I agree that there are bad SEO firms out there, I know that there are also many good ones. It's your job to make sure you find an SEO firm that will work for you. Search engines are the basis of Internet existence and survival. Recent studies have concluded that over 90 percent of all web surfers use search engines to find what they are looking for. Thus, in order to be successful on the Internet, your website must be search engine friendly. If people who search the Internet for your products or services are not finding your Web site, you need search engine optimization (SEO). Now some of you may take on the task of optimizing your own sites. For those people, there are plenty of "how to" articles on the Internet that can help you. If you need more help, drop me an email and I'll give you some ideas. However, many webmasters decide instead to let an SEO company handle their marketing. Search Engine Optimization is a full time job, and many companies need to hire someone to do it for them. If this is your intent, you should know what to look for, and what to watch for, when selecting the right SEO company. 1. Make Sure They, and Their Clients, are Successful and Well Optimized If your SEO company does not rank high on most major search engines under their specific services, then they probably won't have the ability to get you high ranking on yours. For example, if you're located in Boston, your SEO company should at least rank on the first page in Google, Yahoo, and MSN under such search terms as "Boston SEO," "Boston Internet Marketing," "Boston Web Marketing," or even "Boston Web Design." If you found them through pay-per-click or sponsored listings, this only means that they do not have the ability to optimize their own websites and are forced to pay for their clientele. In addition, it is a good idea to check the success of their clients. All SEO companies have a client listing, if for no other reason than to offer front page links to their big spenders. Take a good look at these clients' sites. Check for quality of content and keywords. View the source and see how well the meta tags are structured and how well they apply to the content given. And most importantly, go to the major search engines and find where these clients land on the search terms they are targeting. If the SEO company has created a successful marketing campaign for each of its clients, chances are you're looking at a good SEO firm. However, if neither the SEO company or its listed clients have high rankings, I would recommend you find a firm that does. 2. Make Sure Someone Answers the Phone or Responds to Email Although this may sound funny, I can't stress how important it is to find a SEO company that will be there when you need them. Before choosing an SEO company, call them. If they pick up, you're in good shape. If they don't pick up, but call back within 2 hours, you're still looking pretty good. If it takes you a handful of phone calls and emails, or a number of days to get a response, you might be in bad shape. Say you've just received a new product that you would like to market. Say that product is seasonal, only for the holiday season, and your ability to sell it relies on the timeliness with which you can get it seen on the search engines. You need a company that you can contact to put immediate marketing efforts to your new pages and products. If it takes 3 to 4 weeks for your SEO firm to make changes and improvements, you might want to look for a company that can keep up with your fast-paced business and demanding customers. 3. Make Sure They Understand How Search Engines Work Keeping a website at the top of the search engines has become a science. The best search engines frequently modify the way their databases list Web sites, and constantly change the search criteria used to find and present web pages. To understand the quality of a company's search engine optimization services, you must first understand how search engines work. Search engines list websites in two distinct manners: pay per click listings and organically optimized listings. Pay per click listings are the listings that appear on the top or right side of most search engines under the heading "Sponsored Links", or some related term. This type of listing is paid for. Web sites that wish to get top search engine placement without optimization can pay a certain cost that is charged to their search engine accounts every time their sponsored link is clicked on by a prospective client. Cost per click rates range anywhere between $0.10 and $10.00 per search. Some bigger-budget eCommerce businesses can spend up to $50,000 a month on pay per click marketing. Organically optimized listings are the listings that appear at the top of search engine pages without having to pay for these listings. This type of listing is free. However, your website must be properly optimized to appear at the top of all search engines using organic optimization. Search engines use unique programs which send agents referred to as "spiders" and "robots" to your Web site to collect data. Your website must be structured properly to aid these robots in their search for information. A quality SEO firm will know how to properly structure your website for top organic optimization and, ultimately, top search engine placement. Watch out for SEO firms that take your money and invest in pay-per-click marketing. Although this will get you immediate results, it does nothing to optimize your site in the long run, will not be as profitable as an organic marketing campaign, and will keep you dependent on SEO companies for your success. And pay-per-click marketing is something you can easily do yourself; if that's the route you wish to take. 4. Make Sure They Follow-Up with Internet Research In addition to knowing how to optimize correctly, an SEO firm should be constantly investigating the Internet's most popular search engines in order to stay aware of the latest techniques for promoting a Web site on the Internet. If they are not giving you monthly reports on the status of your listings, the increasing quantity of your links, and the number of unique visitors to your site, you might not be working with the right SEO company. These reports should not only show where your site is ranked on each of the major search engines for each of the major terms you target, but also show you how you have improved from the previous month and where your competitors stand. 5. Make Sure You Constantly Know What They're Doing The major problem most people have with internet marketing guys is that they don't see them everyday. It's not like these guys come into the office everyday, or even sit down with the boss for a daily conference call. Most of them work out of their homes, spending 12 hours a day on the computer. Now I'm not saying that they will take your money and do nothing for you, but it's good to keep your eyes on them like you would any employee. On the days that they work for you, have them send you day-end reports detailing the pages they optimized, the content they added, the keywords they marketed, and the links they added. This will allow you a better understanding of what they do on your clock, and allow you to keep your eye on their progress and effectiveness. Overall, you can find a good SEO company. There are hundreds out there. But it is your responsibility to make sure you find the right one. Don't just pick the first firm you find, then complain when you see no results. Find your results before you hire any SEO company, and you will put your business on the right track for Internet success. Nathaniel Long is an Internet marketing specialist for Allied Internet Productions, a Denver-based web design and marketing company specializing in graphic and flash design, internet marketing and search engine optimization. Visit their site at http://www.alliedinternetproductions.com, or call them toll free at 800-935-1820.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Basics to Search Engine Optimization Search Engine Optimization popularly known as SEO.SEO is the process of optimizing or modifying a website to increase its popularity and ranking in listings of search engines. How You Can Easily Compile A Gigantic Keyword List It doesn't matter what kind of marketing you are involved in.Having the most keywords for your market or niche is a surefire way to win over your competition, and that's a fact!The most important place to have thousands of keywords is in your pay-per-click campaigns, as you want to hit as broad an audience as possible, within your market or niche. What Constitutes a Complete and Effective SEO Campaign? Unfortunately, not many Search Engine Optimization companies know what this involves. You may see a "one size fits all" package, link popularity development in the form of submitting to link farms, or even the dreaded "Submit Your Site to 1000's of Search Engines" scam. Link Popularity - Basic Overview There are many techniques that SEM/SEO experts use to optimize Web sites. One of the more important techniques is "Link Popularity. How Important is PageRank, Really? Webmasters can spend most of their waking hours doing everything they can to raise their Google PageRank. It is common knowledge that PageRank, which is largely based upon the number and quality of backlinks a webpage has, is an important factor in how well a particular webpage ranks within the Google search results. High Search Engine Rankings - A Long Term Strategy The last 1.5 years have shown major changes in search engine behavior across the board. What is the Google Dance? As with any good web developer, the ability to time the changes Google will update your website and refresh the content for better SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is in your favor. Welcome to the world of "Google Dance". 1 Simple SEO Strategy To Get More Visitors To Your Site From Google Did you know that you can dramatically increase the number of visitors that come to your site on a daily basis from Google? And it's not constantly improving your position in Google search engine result pages(SERPs) for your competitive keywords which can take some time after working on your search engine marketing campaigns.I take this example from Google because I've experienced it some time back now. Beat Google's Dampening Link Filter with SEO Articles Most Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts agree that links back to your site have a great impact on your ranking in the major search engines. Think of it like an election; your site is a candidate and every link to your site is a vote. STOP Writing for Search Engines Back when I was starting out with my first internet venture, I did a crazy thing. I subscribed to a Search Engine Optimization newsletter. Advertise Locally Using Search Engines While search engine advertising has been a great advertising medium for businesses capable of or interested in marketing their products and services to a national or international audience, the effectiveness of this type of advertising was limited for businesses interested in advertising to a local market until very recently.For example, a realtor with a web site in Minneapolis is likely interested in advertising on search terms such as "homes for sale" and "sell my home. Whats the Big Hurry? Quite often I get asked what the magic solution is for getting better Google ranking. Sometimes the questions sound fairly naive, something like this:"I have recently established a site called wazooski. How to Manage SEO Whether you launch a search engine optimization program in-house or outsource the program, you should keep the following training opportunities and skill sets in mind:? Advanced SEO techniques, including page titles, META descriptions, META keyword sets, internal page cross-linking, search engine submissions, robots.txt files and domain name management;? Comprehends keyword weighting, proximity, density and related factors;? Search term ranking analysis;? Link popularity building research, management and strategy;? Online forum and industry newsletter monitoring;? National SEO conferences;? HTML and advanced programming languages;? Web site content writing;? Essential Web site usability practices;? Keyword research, including a firm understanding of language and the way people search;? Web analytics, including understanding common and complex metrics associated with visitors, unique visitors, page views, online sales, profitability and more;? Ability to see the big picture and not go so overboard with SEO practices that the web site gets banned from major search engines;? Appreciation for ethical standards (i. Google Has No Content On Page One of the post from My SEO world Meet Up Group?.!One of my Friend posted"Best example is google and yahoo and other good Search engines, they are not using Meta tags, keyword and description. SEO Made Easy! Search engine optimization remains a minefield of old advice, outdated ideas and outright dangerous techniques that can get you banned. Here's the main points to great search engine optimization. Keywords are the "KEY" to a Popular and Profitable Web Site Keyword Research will reveal answers to 3 critical questions:1. Is there a demand for what your site offers? If not, you need to keep moving down your list until you find something that people are already looking for. The Myth of Guaranteed #1 Ranking in Search Engine Marketing You've seen the ads: Guaranteed #1 Ranking! There are no guarantees in search engine marketing and website promotion. If anyone tells you different, you should check quickly to make sure they don't have their hand in your wallet. If You Could Submit Just One Page To The Search Engines Which Should It Be? Listen. Some make submitting pages to search engines sound like the fast track to search engine ranking nirvana. Going To Market: Keywords and Backlinks, Part 1 As I waded into the 'Make Money Online' waters on the Internet, I felt I needed to do some research on what keywords might help me generate traffic for my websites. I am very, very new to this whole Internet marketing arena but at the simplest level it seems that the keys to generating income are:Blog >>> Choose Target Keywords >>> Write Articles Incorporating Keywords >>> Create New Pages For Articles >>> Link Article Pages To Blog >>> Link Article Pages To Each Other >>> Populate All Pages with PPC Links >>> Submit Articles To Outlets >>> Submit All Pages To Search EnginesDid I say it was simple? As I said, I am new to this area so there may be a step or two (or 5, or 10, etc. Google Loosing Fan Base? "Nothing last forever but the Earth and sky." - from Dust in the Wind by Kansas.
|
|
|
|
|
| © 2004 - 2008 "Web Hosting Geeks" | Web Hosting Reviews | Customer Reviews | RealMetrics Reviews | Hosting Articles | Directory | Partners | Contacts Over 7000 articles: web hosting, web development, domain names, ecommerce, web design, site promotion, ppc advertising, seo, site promotion and many others. Web hosting reviews, ratings and awards are not based on any incentives or commissions. Names and trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. A direct link to Web Hosting Geeks (http://webhostinggeeks.com) must be provided in order to use any of the above information. Contact us for more info. Partners: Hosts by speed, Cheap Website Hosting, Free Website Hosting, Cheap Web Hosting, Top 10 Web Hosts, Top 10 Web Hosting Deals, Best Website Hosting, Free Web Hosting, Free Web Hosting, Dedicated Server Hosting, Adult Web Hosting, Web Hosting Discussions, Dedicated Server Reviews, Best Web Hosting, Web Hosting Discounts, HostProfessor.com, rsuog, halyava, PHP Website Hosting Services, Web Hosting Reviews, Hosting Uptime, Best Web Hosting Reviews, Cheap Webhosting, Web Hosting, Flash Templates, CMS Templates, Web Hosting Reviews, Website Hosting Reviews, Web Hosting Providers, Best Web Hosting, Top Web Hosting, RSUOG Web Hosting |
