An SEO agency will improve your website’s rankings on major search engines, such as Bing, Google, and Yahoo. SEO stands for ‘search engine optimisation.’ It is the practice of increasing a website’s visibility and the amount of traffic that it receives.
There are several factors that should be taken into consideration before you make a decision to hire an SEO agency.
This article will tell you how you can hire an SEO agency the right way:
Location and Culture
While it’s true that most SEO agencies operate online, it might still be worth finding an agency nearby. This is so that you can go and have actual meetings with the company’s representatives.
This will improve transparency and allow you to build a better relationship with the agency. It’s unlikely that you will meet them often, so they do not necessarily need to be in the same city or town as you. The most important thing is to just make sure that you can travel to them within a day if needs be.
You also need to take culture into consideration when choosing an SEO agency. If you’re from somewhere in the English-speaking world, then your SEO agency should be too. If you’re located in England, then it’s sensible to find the best SEO in Australia, Canada, or America, for example. While there are slight cultural differences between these countries, they all have more in common with each other than, for example, a Japanese SEO firm might.
Having to overcome cultural barriers can confuse and complicate business relationships, especially in complex areas like SEO. Having said that, you shouldn’t just base your decision on location and culture. There’s much more to consider before entering into a business partnership.
Referrals or Relationships
The main way that businesses select SEO agencies is through referrals or established relationships.
It’s worth networking with other businesses in your sector and asking them whether they have any recommendations for SEO agencies. Almost every business uses SEO in some form nowadays, so it shouldn’t be difficult to find a referral.
If you’re not experienced with SEO, the recommendations of friends and other businesses that you trust can be very useful.
A lot of marketing agencies also double as SEO agencies. If you have already established relationships with marketing agencies, it might be worth asking them if they are involved in SEO marketing. If they don’t then you can ask them if they have any recommendations.
When it comes to referrals from other businesses, carefully research the company suggested. It’s unlikely that anyone will direct you to a subpar agency to sabotage your business, but you can never be sure.
Company Knowledge and Processes
When you’re thinking about hiring an SEO agency, it’s important that you research their customer service, thought leadership, transparency, staff experience, and reporting. All of these factors can make a company successful. You will be able to find most of this information online.
Past Performance
The internet gives you access to a company’s complete history. You should be able to find records, files, and reviews with a simple search. You should also consider a company’s past performance before you consider before selecting an SEO firm.
If a company has been poorly reviewed in the past and has failed financially, then it’s probably best to avoid them.
Sometimes a company’s online records might show that they performed poorly in the past, but then pulled it together and turned things around in recent years. If this is the case, then you could still consider giving them a shot. Mainly, you want to see how they have performed over the last year or so.
It’s also worth researching their past clients and finding out how they have fared financially since they dealt with the agency in question. If they have achieved success, then it might be worth reaching out to them to ask how the SEO agency helped them.
Price
If you’re on a budget, then you’ll want to find an SEO agency that can offer you a competitive package within your price range. Price matters when it comes to SEO firms. You do not want to hire an agency that advertises ultra-low rates, because more often than not, they underdeliver. You get what you pay for with SEO.
SEO is incredibly useful for businesses. It’s worth setting a reasonable budget for SEO. The benefits that you receive make paying a little bit more worthwhile. It’s also worth trying to negotiate prices down if they seem a touch too high.
Specialisation
When you’re selecting an SEO firm, it’s important that you select one that specialises in the service that you need. A firm’s website will likely tell you everything that you need to know in terms of what they specialise in.
Interview the Agency
When you have an agency that you are thinking about hiring, it’s important that you interview them. This feeds back into our previous point, location and culture. An interview will be much easier to conduct if you can do it in person. It will also be much easier if you share a language and a culture. Interviewing the agency is a very important part of the hiring process. Ideally, the company should be passionate and motivated. You can tell a lot about a company by the representative that they send.
Before you interview an agency, prepare a list of well-thought-out questions. You might also want to bring a colleague or partner along to get a second opinion.
Regular Updates and Communication
When you have hired an agency, it’s important that they update you regularly and communicate with you. If you notice that they are not updating you or communicating, then you need to bring this up with them. SEO firms will not be able to rank you at the top of Google’s listings overnight. However, they should still keep in touch and tell you about their progress and predictions for your website.
Finding the right SEO agency can be difficult. Use all of the tips on this page to find the right agency for you. It’s also important that you feel comfortable with an agency. You should always feel like you can ask questions, raise concerns, and question decisions. You must develop a partnership with your chosen SEO agency.
Sometimes worrying about SEO is a little much for a startup founder who already needs to worry about product development. If this is the case for you, then a PR package from Pressfarm might be the answer to your problems. Backed by a team of expert writers, PR professionals and certified designers, Pressfarm can help you create winning press releases, compelling guest posts and a creative media kit. With this quality content, you can make a name for your brand in your industry.
Beyond creating this content, Pressfarm can also help you to distribute it widely, thus getting it in front of the right eyes. By submitting your content to respected media outlets as well as high-quality startup directories, Pressfarm can boost online visibility for your brand. Likewise, with custom media lists as well as access to a comprehensive media database of over 1 million contacts, you can keep doing media outreach for your brand long after Pressfarm wraps your PR campaign up.