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Online Marketing Solutions from Concept to Implementation
Online Marketing & Programming Solutions by Alorit.com
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"For $1,000.00 a year I will guarantee that your site will be in one of the top 30 spots in the search engines(...)for the word or phrase of your choice". This is part of a marketing phone call I received from a Search Engine Optimization consultant, not named here per his request, based near Boston, during the first half of January 2003. At first it sounds almost too good to be true, until you start to think about it. In which search engine will I be? How many people actually look for that particular word or phrase? How many targeted visitors will it bring me? This is just one of the many examples of why the Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) industry has been given "a black eye through their (...) attempts to unfairly manipulate search engine results" as stated by Google. There are quite a few very good and reputable S.E.O. consultants and companies. However, there are also a number of "unethical SEOs" (Google) that have hurt the general reputation of the industry. In this article we will introduce you to some of the things that you should consider when choosing a Search Engine Optimization consultant or company.
Please Note: This article only touches the surface on some of the things that you should check. Should you require a consultation on choosing a Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) or Search Engine Marketing (S.E.M.) company/consultant feel free to contact us.
Before going go out to get 50 different price quotes from different S.E.O.s decide what exactly are your needs. Will you just need key word research and reports? Will you require the consultant to update your web site? Will you need the consultant or company to submit your site to the search engines? Will you need the consultant or company to create the new text copy for your pages? Different companies offer different services, so you are better off having one company that does everything that you will not be doing yourself.
Now that you know your needs, you have do decide on a list of key words and phrases that you want to target. This can be either a small or large list. The list can contain only words that you think are worth targeting, or it can also contain current key word referrals to your site from the search engines.
Now that you have done your homework you have to start shopping around for the right consultant or company that will fit your needs. According to the number of sites reviewed by www.seoconsultants.com there are over 500 S.E.O. consultants and companies, so do not worry if you start declining some of the proposals you receive, there are certainly enough around in order to allow you to find the right one. While shopping for the right S.E.O. there are a few basic questions that you can ask to help determine if they are a reputable company. The following is a basic list of questions you can ask, as suggested in the seoconsultants.com web site:
- If ethics are important to you can start off by asking "What types of websites will you not promote?".
- In addition you can ask: "Do you participate (...) " in "any of the S.E.O. / S.E.M. - Search Engine Marketing Forums? (...)If so, what is your username and can you provide links to your most recent or notable discussions?
- Can you describe and/or produce recent successful campaign results?
- If so, can I use those clients for references?"
You may also ask them if they advise you to use any kind of cloaking, door-way pages or redirects to help with the optimization of your web site; these tactics are also known as search engine spamming. If they do advise you to use any of these tactics you are probably better off crossing them off of your list.
What is search engine spamming and why is it a bad thing? Let us start off by understanding that it is the search engine's job to find the most relevant results of a search word or phrase. If the results were not relevant then no one would be using them. Search engine spamming is a term that has been used for a while to define unethical practices, done by site owners and search engine optimizers, such as key word stuffing, doorway or gateway pages, and redirects in an effort to overcome the natural results of the search engine algorithm and increase the web site's position in the results. The different algorithms are there in order to get the end user the most relevant results. In the past, one form of spamming was to put multiple words with a white font on a white background, in effect hiding them. Most search engines know how to recognize this and penalize the web site by not showing it in the results at all. Every now and then a new form of search engine spamming will come up that the search engines have not caught. They usually catch this quickly. As tempting as it may be, what is the use of being in a high position in the search engines only to be completely banned by them a few weeks later?
Another crucial factor to check with them is if they will research the value of your chosen words and phrases and if they will suggest alternatives, either instead of your current words and phrases, or in addition to them. The logic behind this last question is that some consultants will not check the value of the words they receive from the client. Instead they will use them as is. What usually happens is that the client is very pleased at first, as they are getting to the top positions of their chosen words. This is usually followed by great disappointment, and sometimes anger, some time down the road when they realize that there is no value to the words or phrases that they chose. How many people actually type in "purple cheese with non plastic wrapper" in the search engines? Although the company that makes this purple cheese will be happy to be in the top spots in the search engines for this phrase it will not bring them too much traffic.
In the end you really have to ask around and do your homework before deciding which company to go with, it is your money and you want to make sure that you get a good return on your investment. Check with their references, forums and news groups, among other things, to see what information you can find about them. It is my personal opinion that most of these "unethical SEOs" (Google) have come up due to the dot com boom at the end of the 90's. At the time all you had to do was go to an investor with an idea and use the words "internet" and "computer" a few times during your presentation to get a hefty check to start with. Although this is an exaggeration, it was the general mood, so the gold diggers were quick to follow.
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