• Yellow Pages vs Google
• Yellow Pages vs SEO
• How Much SEO Costs
• How Long SEO Takes
• How to Choose an SEO Agency
• Why SEO Guarantee Is a Scam
• How to Avoid SEO Rip-Offs

• Why You Need SEO
• Check Your Google Rankings
• SEO Is All About Search
• How Unethical SEO Hurts
• Beat Recession With SEO
• Why Google Ranking Matters
• Think SEO First

Choosing the Right SEO Agency Is a Big Challenge

Did you hire a search engine optimization (SEO) firm that failed to produce any noticeable results for your web site rankings, traffic, conversion and sales? If so, you are not alone. There are many self-claimed SEO “experts” out there who can’t get their own web sites any decent rankings. Have you noticed that some SEO firms use Google AdWords to be found, while their web sites have no organic rankings? Does the fact that these SEO consulting agencies have to resort to paid ads say a lot about the quality of their service?

In today’s competitive world of online marketing, SEO is the lifeline of a company’s bottom line. SEO improves the visibility of a web site at search engines, such as Google or Yahoo!, attracting more visitors and sales. Studies have shown that over 75 percent of web users find products, services and information through search engines. If you can’t find your web site at search engines, neither can your potential customers.

4 Steps to Choose the Right SEO Agency

• Ask the SEO agency if the service is done by an SEO consultant – This may sound very obvious that every SEO agency should designate a true SEO expert to your project. Unfortunately, the reality is that many so-called “search engine optimization packages” are nothing but some software-based automated search engine submissions and ranking reports. These packages can do more harm than good.
• Ask for real client ranking samples. – Please be aware that top Yahoo and MSN rankings are not worth as much as top Google rankings. High Google rankings are much more difficult to achieve, plus top Google rankings can bring as much as 10x the traffic over top Yahoo or top Bing rankings.
• Google the SEO firm’s rankings yourself. – If an SEO agency can’t get their own web site ranked at the top, do you believe they can optimize your web site? When you Google your local SEO agencies, stay away from those that use paid ads like Google AdWords, unless these SEO firms already have top natural rankings.
• Ask for references. – Search engine optimization isn’t just about increasing rankings or traffic. The ultimate goal is to generate leads and sales. The number of leads and sales isn’t included in the web traffic analysis. Only the client companies can testify the effectiveness of the search engine marketing. If a client company is very satisfied with their SEO agency, they would love to share with you their success.

SEO service fees vary dramatically and stay away from those “fixed fee packages”. Any reputable search engine agency would quote a reasonable fee based on factors like the size of the web site, the competitiveness of the keywords and the aggressiveness of the SEO campaign. A 100-page web site takes a lot more time for keyword research and optimization. Some industries, like real estate, are much more competitive than others. Therefore, more aggressive SEO effort is needed for those very competitive industries.

For SEO Service, You Get What You Pay For

Don’t choose the lowest bidder! Working with the wrong search engine optimization agency can be worse than throwing money down the drain. We have met several business owners who had made such a mistake. Their web sites were poorly handled by SEO “experts” who either had no clue about what they were doing or had used questionable or even unethical tactics. Your web rankings can be much worse off if the optimization is not done correctly.

A good SEO firm is hard to come by. Sometimes it may seem like their fees are quite high. However, which is more expensive – spending $5,000 on SEO while getting $100,000 worth of new revenue, or spending $500 while getting absolutely nothing? Based on our experience, SEO pays for itself in the long term. All of our clients in Minneapolis St. Paul get their investment back within 3-6 months.