Hi there,

If you are considering starting a search engine optimization (SEO) program, this month's article provides a step-by-step guide to getting started.

Please let me know if you find it helpful.

Also, just a heads up that there will be no September Apokrisis report, as I will be out of town on my honeymoon. It will be back in force in October!

Thanks,

Kristen
Principal, Apokrisis

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How to Choose a Good SEO provider? Some Tips

As demand for search engine marketing services grows, every other Spam email seems to be a promise of top search engine rankings. How do you select an SEO provider that understands your goals and provides quality service for the price? Here are some tips.

First, understanding the basic breakdown of SEO services makes it easier to recognize a good product. Search engine optimization can generally be divided into the following "sub-services":

• Current site evaluation and goal setting
• Development of a list of target keywords relevant to the site
• On-page optimization - technical adjustments, meta tag writing and insertion, and page content recommendations
• Off-page optimization - link building programs, directory listing writing, and submission
• Manual search engine submission
• Reports showing ranking and tracking of search engine referrals coming to your site
• Monthly maintenance - tweaks are always necessary as pages and sections of a site change over time. Search engine algorithms are also constantly being tweaked, necessitating changes to your optimization.
  
  Note: Maintenance is a critical aspect of your program. If after investing in optimization no monitoring happens, then over time small, incremental site changes render the activity useless and it will have to be done all over again.

Other services that may be included are paid inclusion account set-up, pay-per-click advertising, etc.

So how do you pay for all this? Pricing structures for SEO can vary by company. Some firms have a set cost for service accompanied by a monthly fee for maintenance and reporting. Others develop customized proposals based on a company's specific needs. Generally, however, good search engine optimization services can cost anywhere from $100 to $200 per hour. A larger, more complicated site will naturally take more time to optimize than a smaller, simpler site. The scale of the Internet business and complexity of the site programming can also influence cost.

Once you have a feel for the scope of services generally offered and how it is priced, you are ready to start looking for a company you can work with. Check your local Internet or marketing industry associations if you would like to consider someone local, and there are several directories online specifically for SEO firms. SEMPO's membership directory and the SEMlist at ClickZ will definitely get you started. Find three or four you want to talk to, and then ask the following questions:

1. How long have you been in business? If not long, what is the previous experience of the principals?
2. Do you only provide SEO services, or do you provide other Internet marketing services?
3. What types of industries have you serviced?
4. How do you break down cost of your services?
5. How much staff resources will I need to assign to SEO during the project?
6. If applicable, how much time will be needed to be set aside for my web design/development contractor?
7. Can I contact any current or previous clients?
8. How long does it take to achieve results? (If you get an answer of less than 6 months, be wary. SEO is an gradual process that can take up to a year or more.)

When you do receive a proposal, check to see that the following is included:

1. Glance through first without checking on the details. Do you feel that the firm heard your needs clearly? Does the proposal respond specifically to what you want?
2. What specific services are provided in the contract? What is omitted?
3. Who you will be working with? Are you dealing with a sales person that will be handing you off later?
4. What sort of time is allotted within the contract for client/vendor communication?
5. How is support provided? Email? Phone? In person? Are you only given so many hours of support as part of the contract?
6. Is it extra for re-optimization or additional consulting? Will it be necessary?
7. What maintenance is provided and what is the cost? (If maintenance is not included in the contract, be wary-maintenance is essential to preserve the optimization)
8. What reports are provided and how often?
9. What charges are included and what is additional? Things like hard advertising costs are sometimes included, sometimes separate.

Taking these steps will enable you to understand the service you are getting and allow you to compare offerings. But how can you tell if these companies are operating ethically? The SEO industry is growing exponentially, and such growth brings with it businesses providing SEO services with a wide range of quality. Some sales pitches to consider red flags:

• Guarantees of top rankings or placement
• Service that includes development of "doorway pages." These go by a variety of names, but generally the concept is a web page developed specifically to rank for a given keyword, then submitted to search engines. They are not designed for ease of use by site visitors but instead are designed to rank for the keyword based on search engine ranking theories. Search engines do not like these and can ban your site completely if they catch you using them.
• Service that includes using many domains in addition to your primary domain and have the same content. Domain spamming is also a practice that is being thwarted by search engines and you can also get banned for using them. It is not worth the risk.
• Offers to link your site to "Free For All" sites that are used only to manipulate link popularity. Links to these "bad neighborhoods," as aptly named by SEO expert Shari Thurow, will only get you into trouble, so why pay for it!
  

There are a wide variety of practices like these that can be considered "Spam" by search engines, and there are many SEO providers out there that use them, because they are cheap and easy to implement. Beware. The best way to tell if the practices are not entirely ethical is to ask yourself, "Does this change to my site benefit visitors as well as make it more search engine-friendly?" Good SEO practices are those that make your site more useful to visitors. If something smacks of manipulation, then steer clear.

Dealing with all these concerns can be overwhelming, but in this rapidly growing industry it pays to know what is good service and what can get you into trouble. Good SEO firms boost site traffic without resorting to shady practices and keep up with changes in the industry. This checklist should help you find them.

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