Starting and sustaining business has never been more unique. As recently as a decade ago, businesses had to go out of their way to attract clients. This meant having to use traditional marketing methods such as word of mouth marketing, taking out local advertisements, and other similar old-fashioned methods. This stemmed from the fact the past business industry had not taken full advantage of the internet yet. This made important business processes, such as branding and advertising very costly and inconvenient to implement. Today, while many of these strategies still work, they are not nearly as powerful and cost-effective as digital marketing methods are. In a nutshell, digital marketing strategies allow businesses to take advantage of the nearly endless population of potential clients online. More specifically, it allows a business to do so by creating methods to place themselves in a convenient online position for a client to see.
That said, out of all the digital marketing methods, perhaps the most effective is search engine optimization. Also known as SEO, this strategy has grown in popularity by essentially being a free form of online advertising. More than anything else, it’s attractive to both local and company level business as it doesn’t require a specific campaign budget amount like other digital strategies such as Pay-Per-Click advertising. However, the only drawback to SEO is that it can be too technical for most casual online users. It requires basic technical known-how of factors like building a website, optimizing a landing page, and content creation as well. This is where the importance of hiring an SEO agency comes into play. With this in mind, here are ten tips on how to choose the right search engine optimization service for your company.
#1: Look For Niche Agencies
When it comes to finding the right service for your company, a proven beneficial tip is to look for agencies within your niche. Choosing an agency within the same realm as your business allows both parties to speak the same language. In other words, it creates an environment where all service goals are clear and precise. Overall, this tip reduces the chances of any miscommunication or misunderstandings that can be costly to your business.
#2: Stick To Local Agencies
Another proven tip to use when it comes to finding a good agency is to stick to local agencies. This serves a similar purpose that finding a niche agency does. Doing so simplifies communication at every step. More importantly, local agencies understand your local market better than a national agency does. Not to mention, faster communication time is another bonus to choosing a local agency. This is helpful in the case of any emergency where drastic changes might need to be made to your SEO campaign.
#3: Factor In Agency Experience
As far as mistakes are concerned, one of the most commonly made by business owners is not factoring experience. While it may be true that most agencies are younger, given the recent development of the digital marketing agency, it doesn’t mean that experience doesn’t play an important role. Finding an agency that has quite some time in the game most likely means that they are more adaptable.
#4: Research Online Agency Reviews
During the research stages of finding a service agency for your company, a proven source for finding out about an agency is looking at online reviews. For the most part, online reviews are quite honest about experiences with a company. In the case of an agency, it can be a good source for finding out about any specific agents within an agency, how they structure meetings, and other important factors that might benefit your business.
#5: Research More Than One Agency At A Time
Another helpful tip that can be used during the research stages of finding a good service agency is researching more than one at a time. Apart from other benefits, this strategy mostly helps in speeding up the time it takes to find a good service agency. By process of elimination, one good research can help your company find the perfect agency according to your needs and specifications.
#6: Ask Them If They Run Competitive Analysis Campaigns
When your company does manage to secure a meeting with an agency, another helpful tip to use during that meeting is to ask them if they run a competitive analysis campaign. Competitive analysis is one of the best benefits of digital marketing and is at a point where it is needed to run successful SEO campaigns.
#7: Ask Them How Often They Provide Performance Audits
Similar to asking an agency if they run competitive analysis campaigns, asking them how often they provide performance audits is just as important. In this case, performance audits allow your business to spot any areas of weakness. Even better, it can also give recommendations to your business as to how they can improve.
#8: Avoid “Specialty” Agencies
To be clear, specialty agencies should not be confused with niche agencies. The main difference between the two is that specialty agencies in regards to the specific digital strategies they use as oppose to the niche that they are in. For this reason, look out for agencies that are more well-rounded in their SEO approaches instead of agencies that only focus on one strategy. This includes a Phoenix SEO Firm that only focuses on SEO.
#9: Ask Around For Referrals
Asking for referrals is a method that has been around for a long time and still works as effectively as ever. As far as looking for a good service agency, ask anyone within your company’s inner circle if they know any good agencies to work with.
#10: Ask The Agency If They Will Negotiate Their Prices
Last but not least, asking an agency if they negotiate their SEO prices does far more than simply being a strategy to pay less money. Overall, this method shows if an agency is flexible. Flexibility is arguably the main quality to have as an agency as there are always changes that need to be made in the digital marketing world.