World Wide Web is tricky. Ignorance here is no bliss, my dear. Your negligence towards your website’s presence on the web could be a winning point for your competitors, and then you might end up wondering why your business isn’t making bigger bang for the buck.
In comes the role of Search Engine Optimization. By employing some effective strategies at the right time, your business can definitely boost its presence on the web. But, it is not that easy. Just one wrong selection of any random SEO company, and it will be downhill all the way.
So, besides worrying, what is it that you could do, or rather you should do to save yourself the pain of losing your efforts and money on the wrong SEO agency? Ask a couple of questions to some of the agencies in the business. Use your judgment and make the right choice by selecting the one that fairs quite well on these questions.
Let’s get started!
Question #1: “What strategies will you adopt to make things work?”
SEO isn’t a child’s play. It takes time to bring on the results. Keep those false promise makers at bay who claim to bring your website at the top of search engine results in a few weeks’ time. It won’t happen. To make things work in the digital marketing sphere, a number of strategies have to be employed, and patience is the key. Discuss the different strategies with your potential SEO partner and see if they are worthy enough to be brought on board.
A good mix of on-page and off-page strategies with unique and relevant content can help your website rank well. See, what your preferred company thinks will work best for you and confirm if they are actually needed, or you might be just gearing up to sail on a boat that leads to a ‘nowhere’ land.
Question #2: “You will do changes to my website, agreed, but how will I know about them?”
A well-organized SEO company will make sure its clients know what all changes are being done on their websites, rather than leaving them all perplexed. Choose a company that sends regular updates about the changes that your website needs.
In case you want the staff to take your permission before making any changes to your site, you must set the expectations right before the initiation of the project.
Question #3: “There are many search engines’ webmaster guidelines, do you adhere to them all?”
Look for an agency that knows what it means to work on the web. Search engines come with frequent guidelines that impact the rankings every now and then. Ask your company if it strictly abides by these guidelines and practices laid down by the leading search engines, especially Google.
After all, you will not want your website to be penalized or, worse, to be banned from the results altogether! So, adherence to best practices and conforming to the guidelines released by search engines is a must if you don’t want your website traffic to be adversely affected.
Question #4: “Success is a relative term. How do you measure it for your SEO projects?”
Another important question that you need to ask your SEO agency is – how do they actually measure success? For a project’s results can only be checked, if you measure them against a specified set of parameters. Be it the percentage increase in website’s traffic or the keyword rankings on SERPs, everything that helps you gauge the success of your project should be clearly defined well in advance.
Question #5: “Communication will keep us going. How well do you think you can communicate?”
Like any relationship, business also works great when regular and transparent communication happens between the entities involved. Your preferred SEO experts should tell you about the flow of communication that will occur and what all modes of communication are available.
Luckily, technology has made things a lot easier for everyone. So, no matter whether you want them to call you on phone, drop text messages or e-mails, or you wish to receive updates on Skype, find out how often the communication will take place, so that you don’t miss out anything related to your website’s SEO progress.
Needless to mention, SEO is an important investment. A detailed interview in the beginning can help you reap the benefits later on by making the right choice on time. These simple questions cover a lot that can guide you in taking the right decision.
Now, let’s hear it from you!
Do you have more SEO related tips for the world out there? Leave a comment below and share your tips with us. You can definitely help others learn from your experience, so do it!
