Where do you rank in the search engines? If you don't have a clue, don't worry you aren't the only one. However, with that being said companies are becoming more aware of the importance of being found in search engines when consumers conduct their research.
When a consumer does a search, they are what I would call a "warm" lead. They are ready to buy; that's why they are doing their homework. Companies have become more aware of the role that search engines play in their marketing; this pushes them to either find someone in-house to do their search engine optimization or to outsource the job.
The problem with outsourcing is you must be careful to find a legit search engine marketing company and not just a company that will blow smoke and tell you what you want to hear. Outsourcing your search engine optimization can be one of the best investments you make in your marketing strategy, but if you hire the wrong company, it can also be the biggest drain on your bank account.
How do you know what to look for when outsourcing your search engine marketing? Take a few moments to review five guidelines that I have provided to you regarding outsourcing your search engine marketing. These guidelines will help you in selecting a company that is not only legit, but can also have the skills and expertise to help you in getting the search engine results that you desire.
Excellent article! I am trying to figure out how to better my search engine optimization, and I was thinking about possibly outsourcing. Your top 5 tips were very helpful and a great guideline to follow. I loved the analogy you made in tip number 1 about practicing what you preach – “Would you go to a dentist that had bad teeth?”
Great tips. Especially the first 1. If a company can’t rank in the top 10 for their own niche how can you expect them to get your site ranked high for your niche.
I have to agree with all you say Laura, SEO is not an option any longer ……it is an imperative.
All I would add is that you can do a lot to get better rankings before you even consider taking on an SEO consultant. Ensure you have a a site map, great content that really focuses on a single topic and that you add metatags to every page on your website.
For those that don’t understand what metatags are they are the bits of code behind the page that search engines use to index your page. When you add a new page you just type in the keywords and other tags you want the search engines to focus on. It is done in plain English so you don’t need to be a geek to do this .. it is a form of DIY SEO and really works.
Then once that is all done then get your SEO consultant to boost your place on the search engines even higher.
Stefan, great comments but I believe it is the SEO consultants job to create the sitemap and to also guide the site owner into what content they should write. After all, that’s why they are hired
Hi Marketing
I know some people hire SEO consultants to advise on content but my point is that it is unecessary. Any website owner ought to be able to decide on the content of their own site by watching their Analytics, using a keyword tool to generate related keywords and hence related content. If they know their subject and typical customer they should also have a good idea what people need, want and are searching for. Other good places for getting ideas about content are magazines – just see what the relevant magazines are writing about.
As for the sitemap. I don’t personally believe this is the SEO consultants job. The webdesigner should have set this up initially and if it creating a new page doesn’t automatically add the page to the sitemap then you person adding the page (often the website owner) should add it manually. Leaving it for a SEO consultant loses the immediacy of the new page.
My point is that it is easy to spend money with a SEO consultant and I think you are closer your own business than an outsider and should take control of your own business marketing. I’m not suggesting you never use SEO consultants – I offer SEO consultancy myself so have a vested interest in people using them …. but I do think that website owners could do much more of the basic work themselves and reserve their money for the really sepcialist work.
Thank you, this site has been so informative. I get all the updated information I need on practically everything. I posted my idea about creating a Jewelry web site about a year ago. Thanks for all the comments, ideas and knowledge. My Web site has finally been created. It can be viewed at http://www.siana.com/oscommerce . It is pretty much brand new. The site is getting known slowly. I have currently 400 unique visitors a day. I have taken everyone’s advice from all the postings. I have a goal for August to reach 500 hit’s a day and have 10% of that in sales. So far even with the hits I haven’t made any sales. I have though been told the site is very easy to navigate and the product is amazing. Please give me your advice again, for me to peruse the next step. I don’t have a lot of capital currently for a large advertising budget.
http://gmail.com
Thanhs for share very good information about search engine marketing .