Hiring a SEP Company

[Redfisher]

First off, I want to thank everyone who posts on this forum. You guys know your stuff and it's very interesting, not being in the business, learning how the business works. With that said, I have a site which I realize needs professional help.

The question is, when going through the hiring process what should I look for and what should I ask potential SEP companies?

Further, what is an acceptable time frame for a site to go from not being ranked to a respectable ranking? I understand there are a ton of other factors that make this a loaded question, so just general timeframe would be appreciated.

Again Thanks to Everyone in Advance-

Mike

[subgen]

IMHO-
1) ask about experience, current search trends, make sure you ask specific questions concerning "your" industry (as a pro seo company i specialize in real estate and automobiles) so make sure the sep you are considering has a good understanding of your core business.
2) timeframe depends on your competition and page design metrics. 1-2 months for indexing and then a continual move up in rankings usually has been my experirnce, however things do change sometimes for the better sometimes not.
3) if the sep company promises seem too good to be true, end the meeting. bull**** artists abound.
4) read before you meet and have some current algo/seo questions prepared but DO listen to their opinions more than absolute answers. intuition plays a big role in seo, regardless of current seo enviormentals.

hope that helps some.

knowledge is power...
$$$ make sense...

[simonuk]

There are a lot of cowboys out there but since the changes in algo's like Googles it is no longer just an SEO problem but also the design of the sites problem.

There are ways around this (like not using the customers web site and instead create a dummy page on a well established site which links to it). I have never liked or used this method.

I am now very reluctant to take on existing sites that can't do well in SE's because the problems are normally something on the site the engines do not like and the client, who loves how their site looks, does not want to change the layout. Great example is all these templates you see where all you have are graphics on every page and no text. Or even worse a flash based web site.

Up until last year getting in the top 10 was very easy. Now it is a constant battle with the changing algo's which are currently coming into force just about every month.

The single most important key to SEO's is how long they have been doing it and how aware are they of all the recent changes. Some SEO's just used some software to submit to SE's and haven't bothered seeing what’s been going on. These are the ones to watch out for.

Simon.

[pageoneresults]

Here are a few questions you might want to ask...

1. How long have you been providing search engine optimization and search engine marketing services?

2. Are you an individual consultant or are you part of a team?

3. How long have you and/or your team been online?

4. Do you participate and/or, are you a moderator for any of the SEO - Search Engine Optimization / SEM - Search Engine Marketing Forums? If so, what is your username and can you provide links to your most recent or notable discussions?

5. Can you describe and/or provide recent successful campaign results? If so, can I use those clients for references?

6. Do you have website design experience? Technical background? What types of programming environments are you experienced with?

7. What are your opinions in regards to Best Practices for the SEO - Search Engine Optimization / SEM - Search Engine Marketing industry? How does a company effectively compete online using traditional optimization strategies?

8. Can you assure us that the marketing strategies and methods that you are utilizing fall under the criteria of Best Practices for the SEO/SEM Industry? Can we assume that this means no penalties for our website? Penalties could include, but are not limited to; removal from the search engines or directories index, or a possible Google PageRank™ penalty, also referred to as PR0 - PR Zero or Zero PageRank™.

9. How many search engine marketing campaigns have you been involved with? What was your role for those projects? How many are still active? How many are inactive? If inactive, why?

10. Are there any guarantees for top search engine positions? The answer to this question will depend on whether or not you choose a PPC - Pay Per Click program from Overture, or similar keyword bid management program like Google's CPC - Cost Per Click program.

    Depending on the competitiveness of your industry, guaranteed top search engine placement may be difficult and expensive to maintain. It is recommended that you perform an ROI analysis prior to making a commitment.

11. Do you have experience managing PPC - Pay Per Click, CPC - Cost Per Click, and other keyword bid management campaigns? What types of programs do you use for PPC bid management?

12. What is link popularity? What linking strategies would you use to increase link popularity for our website? Is this service part of the proposed price? What types of websites will you target for link exchange? What other target audiences are available in a link strategy campaign?

13. What is Google PageRank™ and how does it affect our website(s)? How would you address improving our PageRank™ with Google, and other search engines that calculate the number of quality inbound links to our website?

14. What changes can we expect you to make to our website to improve our positioning in the search engines? Will these changes be visible? Will there be changes in the coding of our website?

15. What type of reporting (website log analysis/metrics) will you provide to us? How often will you provide those reports? Do you provide live statistics? Will you provide consultation on how to interpret the reports so that we have a basic understanding of the statistics?

16. Do you offer ROI (Return On Investment) analysis? Is this in addition to your contract pricing? Have the consultant explain the process of how the ROI will be determined.

    This type of ROI tracking may require strict participation by the employees of your company. You may need to address internal procedures first, before being able to successfully track ROI for your website.

[edited by: pageoneresults at 1:29 pm (utc) on Mar. 19, 2004]

[pageoneresults]

Further, what is an acceptable time frame for a site to go from not being ranked to a respectable ranking?

For traditional (organic) SEO, I'd allow anywhere from 90 to 180 days. If the site is new, definitely allow at least 180 days.

Link development will be the primary factor in acquiring PageRank. Acquiring links should be a gradual process, not too many in a short period of time.

For PFI (pay for inclusion), allow 7-10 days.

For PPC/CPC (pay per click/cost per click) allow 7-10 days, could be sooner depending on the provider and level of service you've chosen.

[Redfisher]

Thanks everyone!