Good SEO fish in this huge sea?

[denemante]

Hey all,

I've got a web design firm and also run several e-commerce stores.

We know a bit about SEO, and how complicated it can be. That's why we simply want to hire someone else to do it all for us.

However, it seems there are about a billion different companies all proclaiming different strategies to gain success - all charging on multiple different levels.

Want to get in shape? Hire a personal trainer.
Got the flu? Call a doctor.
Want top rankings? Who the hell do you call?

Certainly, there are a few firms who have proven themselves, and have proven methods at a fair price. I want to sign them up.

I don't need to know how they do it. I just need to know that they are trusted and will continue to work for me - for the long haul.

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[qwerty]

You'll probably find different views here on what constitutes a good SEO, but I'd recommend looking in the directories at http://www.seoconsultants.com/ and http://www.seopros.org/

[strategicrankings]

Hi denemante,

IMHO, quering where the SEO firm website rank for the SEO related competitive keywords (ran after by most seo firms ) (at least the ones they are targeting ) is a way to know how capable they are. If they want to rank your site, they must be able first to rank theirs.

Wish you good luck in finding a solid seo firm :)

[I, Brian]

A complicating factor is that SEO is a varied field in it's own right.

A better analogy would be - if you have an illness, which type of doctor do you call?

Of course, it depends upon the actual type of illness in the first place as to which is appropriate.

Same with websites and SEO - if the illness is lack of SEO, the the remedy requires an understanding of what individual goals and objectives are to be met by the SEO, as SEO has different fields and specialities.

The basic issues of SEO are search engine visibility - simply getting search engine spiders to well regard a site and its pages. But it gets more complicated after that when looking at issues for commercial ranking purposes. Which strategy do you use?

A few SEO specialities off the top of my head:

1. Basic on-page factors - general tags, page titles, keyword use, etc
2. Dynamic page generation - tags, titles, URL rewriting for dynamic sites
3. Directory submission - basic link building focussed on directory listings
4. Text-link advertising - link building foussed on text links from other sites, based either on PageRank and/or theme.
5. Cloaking - IP redirection for different language versions, geo-targeting, or just plain spider food baiting
6. Doorway pages - development of sites with multiple keyword related points of entry
7. IBLN - extensive custom Independent Back Linking Network
8. Copy writing - general writing of body copy that helps develop rich information that search engine spiders like, while still remaining relevant to human users.
9. Keyword research

And that's before we even touch the marketing side proper, with AdWords and Overture management, general internet marketing services, and the like - which can often tie in closely with SEO as a major tool. Marketing requires visibility - organic SEO offers it.

My own limited observation is that different people/companies will tend to specialise in different areas, and themselves outsource for specialist areas they don't tend to deal with.

For example, if I personally want ed to focus on body copy, I might look to someone like Jill Whalen (http://member.php?u=852) - if I wanted to develop dynamic sites, I might talk to rustybrick (http://member.php?u=11) - cloaking might be fantomaster (http://member.php?u=1461) - text links might be Bobmutch - massa (http://member.php?u=745) possibly for IBLN's - seobook (http://member.php?u=76) perhaps for directory submissions - DanThies (http://member.php?u=322) to consider for keyword research...it all depends on the areas you personally need to develop.

There are plenty of other people of note with their own specialities too - rcjordan (http://member.php?u=277)
seomike (http://member.php?u=234)
Nick W (http://member.php?u=353)
DaveN (http://member.php?u=326)
Mikkel deMib Svendsen (http://member.php?u=22)
MrMackin (http://member.php?u=106)
...
and plenty of others I don;t have time to list because I'm already late starting Sunday Lunch. :)


Point is, many SEO's will be competent in a range of areas, but you need to be able to best match your SEO to your needs, according to your budget.

What you might want to look at, is to contact a few different companies - a good half-dozen at least - and point out that you are looking to optimise your own website, plus a client's e-commerce website.

That will give you an idea of the specialist services available for your budget.

[Black_Knight]

There's still a fair few of us 'full service' folks around too of course.

Your regional best may be worth looking at. There's a lot of times when the important SEO relationship is far better when you can physically shake hands on a deal, and when you can meet up face to face to consult on various issues.

There again, the latest 'specialists' are the consultants that act like project managers and strategists, helping you select which other specialist things you'll need, and how to get them. This can create a nice system of checks and balances, where many different specialists act upon a single client's campaigns - each knowing they are being watched by others. On the other hand, it can just create higher costs and cause wasted time if communications are poor.

[Adam C]

You'll probably find different views here on what constitutes a good SEO, but I'd recommend looking in the directories at http://www.seoconsultants.com/ and http://www.seopros.org/

And also there's http://www.seolist.com

[Bernard]

I don't need to know how they do it. I just need to know that they are trusted and will continue to work for me - for the long haul.

This is the mentality that got a lot of business owners banned from Google when Traffic Power's **** hit the fan.

[Mikkel deMib Svendsen]

Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thats easy - I'm here :D

Joke aside, thats probably what most SEOs would say. We all battle the markets our own ways with various offerings and strategies. Many of them are fine.

As Brian pointed out you should look at what you really need and possibly hook up with more than one. It is not likely that you will get a "cheap" person that can handle all the very advanced stuff. On the other hand why pay for a very advanced person on a simple job where all you need is TITLE and META-tag tweaking?

I also think you should look very closely at the "people" aspect. What kind of person would you like to work with? Talk to him/her and find out if you "speak the same language" and basically if you feel you can trust him or her. Communication and trust is very important, I found.

If they want to rank your site, they must be able first to rank theirs.

There are many reasons I do not agree with this. First, let's take the keyword "search engine marketing" - there are only two SEO companies at the top of Google. Are they the only ones worth hirering? Absolutely not! There are far more than 10 good SEOs around (standard 10 set search result page). Another fact is that many of the very best SEOs I know of don't care much about uptimizing their own sites. Reason? They don't have to! Either they mostly do affiliate stuff or, like me, simply don't have the time or need. Locally (Scandinavia), where my main market is I do actually rank at the top for many "seo" keywords but honestly I hardly ever get a new client that way - I get 99% of my new consulting clients by word of mouth and recomandations from prominent people in the online and marketing industry. I think that too many searches for SEO-related keywords are industry people, not prospects.

[ACSSEO]

You should go to Alexa (www.alexa.com) and type in a URL of a SEO or SEM firm in the search bar. Once you do that, you should see some results. The popular SEO and SEM firms will have ratings, such as SEO Inc. and Bruce Clay. I would read their ratings and go from there. Do not go by this to make your decision on which firm to go with, but instead use it to double check on the firm you have in mind. Be careful because many companies just have their own workers post good ratings on there, such as SEO Inc.