Hiring Top Quality SEO Firms is A Key to Success

There's a been a lot of talk recently about the propensity for bloggers, marketers, business owners and everyone else, buying into the hype about this or that. Currently, the "big thing" is social media, and businesses are forking out big bucks to follow the crowd... quite literally.

Peter Shankman highlighted this point in his excellent article entitled Why I Will Never, Ever Hire A "Social Media Expert". In it, he makes the point that just because something is currently all the rage doesn't make it "right" for you or your business.

This got me thinking about the state of online affairs in general - not necessarily social media in isolation, but also development, Internet marketing and SEO services.

There's obviously no single governing body that can qualitatively ascertain the quality of a service, so businesses are free to pretty much promise the world, and deliver very little. Also, there is no shortage of "chancers" willing to set up shop, despite having little to no experience or skills in their chosen niche. Poor quality services flood the Internet and make it very difficult for individuals, organizations and businesses to select the ones that are both affordable and of good quality.

Recently, I spoke to a business owner who had requested a quote to redo a straightforward eCommerce website from scratch. The quoted amount came in above $30,000. What was interesting about this was not that the owner disputed the amount, but rather they disputed "how" this amount was obtained.

Quite correctly, they pointed out to me that the quote had been given without so much as a single question being asked, or suggestion for improvement on the existing site. This is clearly a quote that has not been researched, is ill advised, and could be way under or way over (although it is likely way over) what it should be - depending on what the requirements of the project are.

It occurred to me that businesses often don't know how to determine if a contractor is good or bad. I thought I would highlight a few points that are very good indicators that you are about to work with a quality business or individual (it's not exhaustive, but certainly you should think twice if your potential contractor is light on any or all of these attributes):

1. Doesn't promise "anything"

A good contractor has a good knowledge of their own abilities and limitations. They will be upfront about it, right from the start. If you have project that falls across multiple disciplines, technologies and skill sets, you might find that instead of telling you they can do everything, they point to areas where they have less experience and offer possible solutions.

When it comes to disciplines like Internet marketing and SEO, or social media, be wary of anyone who tells you they can get "top page results". If everyone who promised this actually achieved it, the top page would need to have hundreds of thousands of results on it.

2. Exhaustive discovery

Any contractor that doesn't drive you nuts asking questions before a project starts is probably not going to understand your requirements well enough to do a good job. It's not possible to provide a client with an accurate quote based on the single email you wrote outlining the project.

Developers, marketers and other service providers need to do a lot of research before work starts in order to ensure they know exactly what you want and how it can best be delivered.

3. Helpful and insightful

There's an old saying "Give the client what they need; not what they want!". As a business owner, you have to understand that often what you think you need and how it should be done is not necessarily the best way to do it. It's not your job to be the technical expert.

I have spoken to people who have spent tens of thousands of dollars having custom features developed; features that already exist and are freely available. The reason? They asked for that feature to be developed, so that's what they got.

A good contractor will take the time to understand what you want and then suggest the best way to do it - even if it means the job only takes two billable hours instead of 200.

4. Transparency

Good contractors should be pleased to highlight how they are going to accomplish what you want. I'm not saying that they'll take a day or two out of their schedule to give you SEO training, but they should be able to explain what they are going to do and why it is necessary.

5. Realistic rates

Think about the service you are asking for. Does it make sense that if you are paying for a highly skilled and experienced professional to do a job that takes a couple of weeks, you are going to get away with paying $200? Probably not. When you get a service that offers something that is apparently too good to be true - there's probably a reason. Question them about what you get.

Remember, more often than not, you get what you pay for.

When you do find a person or company who works reliably and to high standards... reward them with repeat business as and when you require it. You can rest easy, safe in the knowledge of having a reliable partner, and they get to grow their business and put food on the table.