Are you looking to build a sustainable, passive form of marketing for your business? Do you wish to build your online presence within your niche market? If so, then you need to learn all that you can about hiring the best SEO company.
Doing so can help you build lasting power in the eyes of your target market. You’ll have an easier time generating leads, increasing your sales conversions, and building customer loyalty among your clients.
See below for an in-depth guide on how to hire the best search engine optimization company for your brand and the things that you should look for.
1. Check for Positive Reviews
You could hire an SEO company… or you could hire the best SEO company out there. What’s the difference? One offers the service that you need while the other could be a one-man company being run out of their mother’s basement.
It’s important to find someone that deserves your business. Someone that’s established a reputation for helping companies like yours find their brand online. Someone that has a tried-and-true portfolio of customers with passive marketing.
One of the best ways to check in on an SEO company’s reputation is through online reviews. You can find these by Googling the name of the company you’re considering, then reading up on the ratings and comments. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself as you sort through them:
- What niche market is the customer in?
- How did the SEO company help them build their online presence?
- Do they mention any specific SEO tactics that the SEO agency established?
- What kind of data or analytics did the SEO company incorporate?
- How long have they used the SEO company’s services?
- How long did it take for the client to see measurable results? (Keep in mind that SEO takes around 4 to 6 months to show any movement)
2. Ask the Right Questions
Once you’ve rifled through the online reviews, you’ll have more confidence about the SEO company that you want to hire. That said, you should always make sure that they fit with your brand, your operations, and your overall business philosophy.
All of that starts with the initial phone call. This is a time when you can ask them questions and get a better understanding of their initiatives. What tactics do they use to help their customers see success?
You want to make sure they use white hat SEO tactics—clean, moral practices for building your SEO presence; otherwise, Google’s search algorithms will shove your site down to the bottom of their search results pages.
Here are a few questions you can ask the search engine optimization company that you’re considering:
- What would you consider to be a “successful” SEO growth for my brand?
- How long will it take to see results with your SEO methods?
- What are your primary tactics for developing passive marketing leads for my brand?
- What industries do you specialize in for SEO? (more on this in a moment)
- How much emphasis do you put on mobile?
- What is your assessment of my current website and marketing plan?
3. Look for Diverse SEO Companies
You might be surprised to learn that there are specialized forms of SEO for certain industries. Some SEO companies prefer to only offer their services to companies that are within a specific niche.
It’s important to understand an SEO company’s portfolio before you hire them. If they’ve focused too much on one industry, then it could be problematic for your brand.
For example, hiring an SEO agency that’s primarily done work for breweries wouldn’t be as beneficial for you if you had a construction company that needed SEO assistance.
The more diverse an SEO company’s portfolio is, the better. It shows that they have experiences and knowledge that surpass the borders of a specific industry. They’ll get to know the biggest pain points of your market, then use that information to develop a strong plan.
4. Find Someone With a Legitimate Interest in Your Business
An SEO company can only take you so far if they don’t believe in your company, your product, or your services. it’s vitally important that you find someone with a legitimate interest in what you do.
This will ensure better results. They’ll spend more time learning about your industry, the biggest pain points your customers have, and how they can draw customers to your products/services.
On the first call, pay special attention to their attentiveness. Are they listening to you describe your business? Do they seem intrigued? Do they have other customers in a similar niche? If so, then it bodes well for them.
5. Look for Strong Measurables
SEO companies can tell you they’ll boost your SEO results until they’re blue in the face, but what are they willing to do to prove it? How are they prepared to show you the progress you’re making?
It’s important to understand how that SEO agency tracks the progress. How often do they extract SEO analytics on their SEO tactics? How frequently will they send you information?
More importantly, how can they translate that data and help you understand it? Data won’t do you a lot of good if they’re just going to use industry jargon to explain it.
Hire the Best SEO Company for Your Needs
Now that you have seen an in-depth guide on how to hire the best SEO company for your needs, be sure to use this information to your advantage.
Make sure to check back on our blog frequently for more articles on search engine optimization, as well as many other topics that you will find interesting.
