April 23, 2007
Web Traffic Woes
Creative Solutions for Search Engine Optimization

It is important to carry out search engine optimization for your website, but if you do not have the expertise or the time to learn, you may want to consider hiring a search engine optimization company.

The following guideline can help you to choose a good Search Engine Optimization (SEO ) company:

1. A good SEO company does not guarantee #1 ranking(There is no way that anyone can guarantee you a #1 ranking in the top search engine (not even Google can do that). Therefore, if any SEO company guarantees you #1 ranking, run away from them as far as possible.

2. Methodology(Find out the method that SEO company will be using to optimize your website. Check if it is blackhat or white hat SEO. Blackhat refers to the using of unethical techniques to achieve high search engine ranking. Most of the time, it will breach the search engine rules and regulations and will result in your website being banned. Examples of blackhat SEO include keyword stuffing, doorway pages and invisible text.(A good SEO company follows the search engine guidelines (especially Google) and uses SEO strategies that will boost your website ranking, visibility and credibility.

3. Depth of optimization(This refers to the amount of work that your SEO company will be doing. Do they merely submit your site to the search engine or they perform a thorough keyword research and page content optimization? Find out how many pages will they be optimizing.(Search engine optimization involves more than just submitting your site to the search engine. It includes keyword research, content optimization, link structure, image tagging, link exchange, site submission, traffic generation, conversion tracking and analysis and many more. A good SEO company should perform all the full onsite and off-site optimization.

4. Duration of project(Depending on the competitiveness of your keyword, it usually takes 3 to 6 months to achieve the desirable results. A good SEO company should give you the optimization goals and the timelines it needs to complete the project. Any timeline less than 3 months is not acceptable.

5. Proven Records(Check out the past record of the SEO company. Do they have great success with their client? Do they have testimonials to prove their results?

6. Cost(It is definitely not cheap to hire a SEO company and this is also not a good place to save your money. A typical SEO project will cost between $3000 to $8000 upfront, excluding any monthly maintenance fee. Any SEO company that quotes you only $49.95 per month is definitely not trustworthy at all.

7. Website monitoring(Will the SEO company generate a website performance report for you every month? Will they help you carry out split test to find out which keyword combination is most appealing to the search engine and the audience? What happen if you do not get the result you want? Will they have any backup measure. Clarify this out before you hire them.