After speaking with hundreds of small business owners, one thing is clear: you guys (and gals) get inundated with phone calls from internet marketers offering search engine optimization several times a week, if not several times a day.
The SEO industry is a strange beast. When you go to your doctor, you do not question his advice, as he is an MD and went to school for it. The same goes for many different professions.
Not so for SEO. Anyone can say that they know SEO. So how do you decide a charlatan from a legitimate company?
That’s a good question.
I would say there are red flags to look out for. Here are a few; please read the entire explanations!
#1 Guaranteeing placement.
Nobody can guarantee placement, as only Google can control the search results, and even they don’t do it manually (only through algorithmic changes).
The one company I witnessed that offered this had “fine print” that enabled them to get out of the guarantee, should they not be able to rank the site. I would like to say that this is the exception in the industry, but I doubt it is. What I will say is be wary of any money-back guarantee, and be wary of any ranking guarantee.
#2 Using pricing “packages.”
Unfortunately, SEO just doesn’t work this way.
I will try to give an analogy on this one. Say you take your beat up old 81 Honda Civic (my first car!) to a mechanic. You say that it’s been making a funky noise (forgive me I know nothing about cars). He then—without inspecting the vehicle—proceeds to tell you that he is offering 4 different packages!
Wait… what? You haven’t even inspected my car!
This is how SEO works. Each website is DIFFERENT. It has a different age, different backlinks, a different number of citations (many times which DON’T match), different anchor text ratios, and on and on.
And that’s not the only variable! You haven’t even begun to analyze the competition (and their age, backlinks, citations, etc)! See where I’m getting at? Packaged pricing cannot account for all of these variables.
#3 Not having proof.
They can’t show you any proof of current clients that have current first page rankings. Everyone should have at least ONE client that they can show you is currently ranking.
This one seems obvious but you’d be shocked at how many people will sign on the dotted line without being shown proof (get current proof!). A talented sales person is sometimes all it takes, which is a shame, and why so many people have such utter disdain for the whole SEO industry.
#4 Price and value don’t add up.
Here is an example with some completely made up numbers that are used to illustrate a point:
Say you are a roofing company in a medium sized market. The keyword “roofing company” receives 720 searches a month and you want to be #1 for that keyword. You charge on average $30k for a new roof.
To make the numbers easy, say you get 200 visits a month from that keyword (I know you’ll be ranking for tons of other stuff but want to keep this example simple). Out of those 200 visits, you get 10 leads, 5 estimates and 2 jobs. You just made $60k in that month.
Now, the proposal you received from ABC SEO company is for $500/month and they say it’ll take you 6 months to get to #1 (another red flag). So by the end of the year you will have paid $6k (12 months x $500/month) to have made $360k (#1 for 6 months, with average 2 jobs/month at $30k/job).
Seems like a pretty good deal, right? Maybe a little too good?
See where I am getting at? I almost didn’t mention this point because in some markets and industries, SEO is an incredible investment when you take into account the competition present and the ROI. These markets and industries are becoming fewer and farther between, however. That being said, I do believe it is still a good investment in most if not all industries, providing that you are working with a talented SEO/SEO company.
#5 Not fully disclosing the fact that SEO isn’t for everyone.
The truth is, SEO just isn’t the right marketing choice for some businesses. I wish I could say that most of the SEO companies you talk to will be upfront about this however, the following quote illustrates an all-too-common attitude:
“If we don’t get this client, then someone else will, and it might as well be us making the money.” –Anonymous SEO company
I think we have a duty as internet marketers to be honest with potential clients about the likelihood of their campaign being a success with regards to their bottom line.
Not only is this the right thing to do, it will also alleviate churn.
How did I come up with all of these? Well, unfortunately I’ve met my fair share of shady SEOs and SEO companies. Keep in mind, these are not hard and fast rules, just considerations.
Looking for an SEO company that… wait for it… actually knows how to do SEO? Give me a call at 714-369-2477 or drop an e-mail to Mark@LimoAgency.net. We’d love to help you grow your business!
