How to Choose an SEO Company and Avoid the Devil

Hire an SEO consultant, but try not to sell your soul to the
devil.Hiring an SEO company is a decision that can improve your
business and save you time, but you can also risk damage to your site
and reputation. Make sure you know the what to look for in search
engine optimization as well as the damage that bad SEO consultants can
do to your site and your business.Don't Believe the HypeIf an SEO
consultant guarantees #1 rank in a very short time, move on to another
one. If they are guaranteeing great results like first page search in
a few weeks, ask for details. Make sure they aren't going to get you
there just by using Google AdWords and paying for the spot if their
optimization isn't working. There is nothing wrong with Adwords
itself, but anyone who is telling you they are going to get you to
rank well in the search engines and then just takes out some Google
ads is ripping you off. Paid ads are not search results. Supplementing
good SEO with ads to bring in traffic until your site really is
ranking well is an acceptable practice. Just make sure you know that
is what you are paying for. Nobody can really guarantee search engine
results but many search engine optimization companies do make
impossible guarantees.Also watch out for wild promises about Google
Places, promises to submit your site to thousands of directories or
any other "pie in the sky", impossible to prove claims. The old saying
"if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is not true"
definitely fits. So does "you get what you pay for".Ask Questions and
Accept No SecretsFind out exactly what you will be getting, and how
they plan on achieving results.Remember - this is your business and on
the web, how you rank and how you get there can make or break your
business. If you hire an SEO and they get backlinks to your site from
disreputable or even illegal sites, it is YOUR reputation on the line.
If they use "black hat" tactics or otherwise violate Google's rules,
it is YOUR website that will get penalized or banned. Of course most
SEO consultants are not going to tell you every little detail about
their methods. That would be time consuming and probably overwhelming.
If an SEO will not give you at least some general idea what they do
and they claim it is their "secret", then they are probably not
someone you should trust with your business.Some things to ask
potential SEO candidates:Tell some success stories?
Do you follow Google Webmaster Guidelines?
How do you determine what keywords and phrases to target?
Do you offer any other online marketing services?
Do you have marketing experience or just keyword manipulation and
backlink building?
What kind of results do you expect to see, and in what timeframe? How
do you measure your success?
What's your experience in my industry? In my country/region/city?
Localized marketing is very important.
What SEO techniques do you use? Which are most important?
How do you get backlinks? (Avoid paid link schemes like the plague)
Will you tell me what you did and give detailed information about your
recommendations?Finding good, trustworthy SEO consultants can be
difficult, but it is very important that you make an informed
decision. Choose wisely and your SEO company can save you a lot of
time and give you the results and great ROI your business needs to
succeed.Check back soon for similar tips on how to choose a web
designer. After all, if your designer doesn't know SEO, you'll have a
many more potential hazards to avoid in promoting your website.