As a brand manager, you need to establish the brand’s visibility, presence, and popularity on the Internet if you want it to be among the several top names that come on people’s minds when talking about your branch of industry.
Let’s read the previous sentence once again.
Notice how “come on people’s minds” is mentioned instead of “appearing on page 1 on Google Search Results Page”? Even though both things are significant, it must be made clear that if people can’t recognise your brand and pick it out from the crowd, it won’t matter if you are on page 1 on Google. Has an SEO expert told you that before? Or their only promise is to get you there and henceforth you are on your own?
Truth be told, there are a lot of things that are happening, discovering, changing and developing in the field of SEO as it is a very young niche of the online IT sector. Keeping with it is difficult if the SEO is not eager to learn, explore and experiment to get results.
There is no strict formula when it comes to ecommerce SEO and everyone that claims otherwise only wants to get in your pocket, take your money and leave you with empty promises. Therefore, how can you trust your SEO, especially if you are looking for one to begin the collaboration with? How can you be sure that they will improve your online presence, make you more visible, get you the profit you want and help you beat your competitors? To help you out, here are five things you didn’t know before hiring an SEO Agency and why you should do them first and only then make the decision.
Table of Contents
1. Interview Your Future SEO Experts
The interview is the first step and probably the most important one of the process. Why should you choose them as your partners? Let them tell you all about it. You can ask them what makes their service unique and valuable as well as what is the profile of their typical customer. Also, you can ask about all the channels the SEO Agency uses (offline advertising or work on social media platforms). Don’t hesitate to ask who their competitors are and what they do to beat them in the game. The answers you will get will tell you how determined they are and how motivated they are to do their job.
Moreover, you can talk with them about their previous experience in your niche and the projects they did in the field.
2. Let Them Show You Previous Results
The next step is a bolder one. Nevertheless, it is a smart move from your point of view because, in the end, you want them to provide you with results. Therefore, it is perfectly normal asking to see the results from previous projects. It shouldn’t be much of a trouble for the SEO agency, though, because in their strategies of promotion they already use analysis of their projects to boast with incredible results. The thing is to make them share with you the bad results and the reasons why they were terrible.
Finally, check their references and see for yourself whether they are telling the truth or not.
3. Ask for a Technical and Search Audit from the SEO Agency
In the process of hiring an SEO Agency, you would need to get technical and search audit from them for which you would probably need to pay for. Why is this audit important? By doing it, the SEO Agency will provide you with information about your website and will suggest what kind of improvements should be made. Generally, you will get information about the issue, the proposed improvement, an estimate on the overall investment, the estimated positive business impact and a plan of how to further improve the implementation of the SEO strategy or what should be done if results don’t reflect the wanted expectations.
4. Talk about Team Members and Their Work Capacity
Can the team members answer to your needs of SEO services? Is the SEO Agency fully capable of doing your project and bringing you results? You should know how much time they are dedicating to your business, better yet, what kind of work is done in a selected period of time. You can make a deal to receive a weekly, biweekly or monthly reports of all the work done as well as the outcome, both positive and negative.
5. Talk about Price
One thing is for sure; you shouldn’t cut corners and pick the cheapest SEO agency and expect fantastic results in no time. This is simply impossible. Instead, be reasonable and let the SEO Agency explain their price. Keep in mind that if they already have experience in your niche and had shown excellent results, the price will be high. However, you should also know that even though the price is high, it will pay off in the long run.
And last, but not least, don’t expect results in 1 week, ten days or a month. SEO practises need time to work, especially if what you are looking for is getting new visitors, new leads and lots of organic traffic. You should understand that SEO is not a miracle that happens overnight. Instead, it takes a group of expert and skilled individuals who will work hard to get you the results you want.
That’s all about it. Are you ready now in making the next step and hiring an SEO Agency that will answer to your needs? Let’s talk.