Douglas P asked:
I am currently evaluating services for professional SEO firms with a
focus on natural SEO for several niche websites.
I am currently evaluating services for professional SEO firms with a
focus on natural SEO for several niche websites.
I have been in contact with domestic and international companies/
individual specialists, mostly through elance.com. Prices have ranged
widely.
Is there anyone out there who has had experience(s) with SEO firms
(bad, good, anything)? Any advice when looking to hire an SEO firm,
qualifications etc and measuring ROI?
Anyone with experience with offshore SEO companies (I have been in
touch with a couple in India and Romania), especially related to
lanuguage/content creation?
Any firms/individual specialists reccommended? Anyone in NY who could
advise me on this more specifically?
Thank you in advance for any help you can provide in this area!
Cheers,
d
Douglas Price
v: +1 917 679 2530
f: +1 718 228 6820
www.onliness.org/douglasprice
You are going about it slightly the wrong way at the moment Douglas
It is important that you protect yourself from the scammers and the those who think they know SEO but don’t. It is an unregulated activity and the are literally thousands of bad SEOs for every good one - be careful!
I would suggest that you start by looking here and here
Draw up a list of (say 10 - 15) companies whose web presence and spectrum of services meet with your approval. Then make a simple initial approach to these companies and reduce to a short list (3-5) based on the quality of their response and their understanding of your requirements. Interview the companies on your shortlist and include the following questions in your interrogation:
1. Ask for 5+ references and current clients and make sure you follow them all up. When speaking with the referees if you are not entirely happy ask for another 5+ references.
2. What type of reporting will they provide?
3. Do they offer Return On Investment (ROI) analysis? You want a YES here!
4. Can they assure you that the optimization strategies and methods used will be ethical and hence guarantee no penalties for your website?
5. Do they place a link on their clients sites to their site? You want a NO here!
6. Ask to see a sample contract. Check that it says ‘what is’ and ‘what isn’t’ required on the clients part and details what they say they will do.
7. How many hours will they put into working on your site?
8. Make sure you will not be ‘ransomed’ if you decide not to use them any more at some stage.
9. Do they outsource any of the work? Better if they have all the expertise in-house.
10. What results can you expect and over what time scales?
If during the course of your interviews you are told something you don’t understand don’t rely on searching the web for information. There is out of date SEO information everywhere and many misguided articles and blog posts. Stick to the real experts websites like Rand Fishkin at or Michael Duz at
Hope that helps to answer your question and good luck!
I would suggest that you