16 July 2010
It's a case of try them and see I'm afraid! If it'd help, we have lots of client testimonials here: http://www.firstfound.co.uk/customer-success-stories.htm

16 July 2010
I would listen to 'First Found'. Check their testimonials and look at other recommended SEO companies on this site, if you need to. At least you can see that you can trust them. There are a lot of scammers out there who are using and taking advantage of this service to grab some quick cash. Be wary of anyone that says that get you a No.1 spot in a week, submit you to 100's of 1000's of search engines etc....won't happen :)

I'm sure you'll be in safe hands here, though. Good luck in your choice (sorry, I don't specialise in it!)

Jason

17 July 2010
Hi Lydia,

The companies above have given good advices and I can vouch for FirstFound being a company you can trust.

If you're looking about, I would stay away from outsourcing companies from other countries that do SEO, not that there probably isn't some good ones out there, but most aren't that good at doing it and you'll waste a lot of money and time finding that one that does do well.

Like Jason says No1 spots in as little as a week are vey hard to get if not impossible especially if you're industry has a lot of competition and that's where the problem starts. There are so many variables to take into consideration to get you higher up that you need to spend a decent budget each month to ensure that you not only get high up in the rankings but you stay there.

You also have to work out the value of that positioning, so as FirstFound said try different companies out (you probably need to give them about 3 months to be able to see real consistent results).

Track as much as you can, so ask every new prospect that calls "How did you find us?" if you sell online and never speak to them try to capture their email at least and do a simple 3 question survey (short and sweet so most should respond to it) to find out how they found you, what made them buy and if they would recommend you to others or use you again.

If the numbers of sales/profit adds up to more than your marketing budget then it seems to be working, if not raise that with them find out if the traffic you are getting is coming from good quality sources because it could be your site that is actually letting you down by not converting the visits to sales or future prospects.

Then review it all again and if the results haven't improved you might want to move to a new company. If you're a new business with no trading history you may also take into consideration that seasons may play a part in your sales, so it might not be the SEO companies fault if there is a low take up right away.

So be careful when it comes to contracts and try to get a month to month or maximum 3-6 monthly if possible. Measure measure measure! and constantly tweak everything based on the feedback and talk to many companies and choose one that you think has done a good job explaining, proving they can do it and meets your budget requirements.

I could go on forever, but I hope that's enough to get you on the right path for SEO.

Good Luck!

30 July 2010
Choosing an SEO company can be a tough decision. One thing that you may want to look at first is how does the SEO company themselves rank in the search engines. How do they rank for the keywords that they are trying to target? For example, our company is based out of Dallas Texas, therefore we target keywords such as "dallas seo", "seo dallas", "dallas search engine optimization", etc and we are ranked within the top 3 organic listings constantly for our website http://www.dallasseocompany.com.

SEO should never be a flat fee for any and all websites. The reason being is that every website and set of targeted keywords is different. One website and set of targeted keywords may be very easy to rank for because they are not very competitive. Compared to another website and set of keywords in a highly competitive market that is very difficult to rank for. Therefore the price and time it takes is going to be much higher for the competitive keywords.

Also, you should be weary of any company that just contacts you via phone promising SEO results.

You should also checkout what Google has to say about choosing and SEO:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291

Good luck with your project.

3 August 2010
Hi Lydia

I agree with all the other comments above but I think what you should do is narrow down your search to 3 SEO companies and invite them to pitch for your work. Give them each the same brief and ask them what techniques they're going to be doing to win your work.

You can ask to see their case studies, check out their reviews and read their client testimonials.

Hope this helps and good luck with your project!

6 August 2010
To add to what the others have stated; If you can find a local SEO company, make sure they have an office and that this is their full time job. Don't skimp and pay a part-timer or a person who works from home. They will eventually disappear.

Also, ask you friends or other businesses that have websites if they are happy with their rankings. If so, talk to their SEO person.

6 August 2010
The best advice that I can give is to avoid anyone who "promises" first page of Google.
Look for someone you feel comfortable working with, who will devote the right time and expertise to your SEO and preferably someone who comes recommended.
This is not a simple area...take your time and get it right.

Best of luck.

6 August 2010
We don't think you should hire anybody. While we've successfully done SEO for hundreds of our clients, we still think that clients will do the most careful, tedious job when it comes to their own websites. No company feels the "fear" that you feel if something is done wrong.

We'd suggest that you skip the confusion and do it yourself. Only hire someone if you just have no interest whatsoever or you don't have the time. It will be much, much cheaper in the long run if you do it yourself.

Check out this online resource for learning SEO: www.do-it-yourself-seo.com

That's our advice. :)

22 August 2010
The truth is - that no SEO can promise you no1 listings for any or every keyword and it is unethical to do so in my view. Although this is our aim for every client and it frequently is the result - some keywords are harder to rank no1 for than others and to promise such a result is not realistic.

Look for an SEO company that instead will offer you tangible, proven results. For example, if a client comes to us wanting our backlink package. We provide them with evidence and proof of the 2,400 backlinks that we guarantee to get them. We also teach them how to check up on our work independently of us. Far too many clients come to us after paying other SEO companies a lot of money for months- and have no idea what that SEO company was even doing for them for the money!

Make sure that the SEO company that you choose, explains everything, provides evidence of the work they have done and shows you how to check up on them. That way - you won't go far wrong.

24 August 2010
Hi Lydia,

The one piece of advice I would give is, don't waste

26 August 2010
Hi Lydia,

ok - bottom line - unless you are part of a very big company fighting for a very generic search term then I would not get over excited about SEO. I was on a pitch to a client recently who would not leave it alone, he had been reading his forums and was obsessed with it - he was set to budget more for his SEO than the design of his website which is just ludicrous ... don't forget that once you get them there they have to actually like your website!

Once I told him a list of BASIC rules I use when coding my website - he calmed down, as it was in essence the entire list he had in his little notepad of 'SEO techniques'. For most companies - good coding and honest business is it's own SEO, I don't care what anyone says.

One area I will address though is SMO - and that is again for the big sites but all down to hard work. I currently do SMO work for a very large sporting website and this involves genuine BLOG posting and then channelling these posts virally via standard social media channels - it's all honest hard work but you can waste a LOT of time with people who do not know what they are doing.

So - in summary - do NOT choose an 'SEO' company, choose a website designer who writes good code from the off. If you are indeed one of these huge companies that spends thousands of pounds a week on PPC etc etc then I can't recommend as this is another world to me and one I frankly do not completely understand - but by my reckoning - if your company really is big enough to think you need it, then you should probably know how to do it or who to use ;-)

Thanks, - Max.

27 August 2010
I disagree with a few people on here. You CAN use freelancers and often freelancers will provide a much better and more dedicated service than many so called big 'agencies'...

We use a freelancer for all of clients online marketing and SEO work - now I'm not looking to promote my business on here. I'd simply like to give some great advice. We choose that freelancer because we know he is well respected in the SEO world, has provided speeches at online markerting conferences, comes highly recommeneded and we checked out his client and gained references! You need to do the same rather than taking the persons word for it!

Good luck!

27 August 2010
Hi Lydia,

I agree that if they're *promising* you a first page ranking (are they being specific for what terms?) then they're probably no good. How you rank in the search engines really depends on a lot of factors, including what you sell. Google also has a lot of tricks for getting the most "relevant" search results and it involves quite a bit of work to get what you want. Often, that means that you have to sacrifice getting lots of traffic for getting only some traffic that converts better. I only know about the SEO work we do here at Xynergy, but if there's a good place that people are recommending, go for it. I've heard horrible stories about people outsourcing from Non-English speaking countries though, so I'd avoid that if I were you.

28 August 2010
Please go through page http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35291, we are sure it will resolve all your doubts.

16 September 2010
Give these guys a go, they have some really good client briefs they can show you as proof http://www.seoptimise.com/

Tell them we sent you too


Many thanks

Toby Gunston
Chimera Studios
Tel: (01865) 589105
http://www.chimera-studios.co.uk/