Succeeding with SEO (search engine optimisation) is crucial if you want your small to medium sized business to:
- Be seen by the right people
- Get the right leads/enquiries into your business
- Convert valuable sales – whether visitors are filling in an enquiry form or buying a product or service.
The above is achieved by making the content of your website as relevant as possible for the keyword searches you want to be shown for. If you have a website that matches your target searchers’ queries perfectly, then Google will reward you by placing you higher in the search engine rankings. This really is an excellent marketing strategy to use if you are seeking long term prosperity and credibility online.
Ultimately, Google is looking for website content that is compelling, relevant and effective at meeting the needs of its visitors. This is a win-win situation for both parties; you get more valuable sales leads to grow your business, ROI and online presence, and Google has quality websites that they can display to their users to keep them coming back to use their Search Engine.
When building an online presence through SEO, you must do everything possible to strengthen your reputation and position. If you have any concerns about your businesses reputation online here is a free guide to help you… Reputation Managment For Businesses.
A Word of Warning: The punishments for poor relevance websites that don’t follow SEO rules, greatly outweigh the rewards for good sites. If your website’s content is over-optimised on keywords, in an unnatural way or doesn’t offer what is promised in the search engine listing, it will most likely drop off the page one results. Even worse it could get de-listed altogether!
The huge benefits of SEO but equally significant risks of failure, mean that many savvy businesses turn to professionals. Good SEO agencies handle the whole process of optimising your website; getting you higher in the search rankings for longer, and measuring performance regularly – all whilst maintaining close communication and understanding their client.
However, not all agencies can be trusted. SEO marketing services are becoming more in-demand, resulting in higher competition. In an attempt to stay ahead, some SEO agencies make grand claims and false promises to draw clients in. With a lack of experience and integrity, they make little improvement in your search rankings and charge expensive fees.
Pick up on the warning signs before it is too late
You must keep track of what the agency are doing and whether or not their efforts are working. The 3 simple points below will help you to do this. Knowing how to spot the warning signs of a doomed SEO campaign and cutting your loses quickly, is guaranteed to save you money and salvage the reputation of your website.
3 easy to spot signs of a doomed campaign:
1) Poor communication
Poor SEO agency communication can range from the honesty of their initial promises and the effort they make to understand your business needs, to the clarity and frequency of communication during the campaign’s progress.
Their advertising
Agencies that make attention-grabbing promises like “We guarantee to get you to the top of Google”, or don’t make the cost of their services clear should be avoided. This is a sign of dishonest practices and pushy selling.
Initial consultation
Did they make an effort to listen to you and understand your business? Did they provide a thorough initial assessment and clearly explain what they will do for you? If the answer is no, then you have a big problem. An agency that doesn’t understand your business to begin with, can’t possibly create a website that is SEO optimised to meet the needs of its target visitors. Equally, if the SEO agency doesn’t conduct an initial website SEO analysis before starting work, they don’t know what requires improvement and what doesn’t.
You can get a FREE website SEO analysis report here if you are interested in finding out how you stand against your competitors… (http://www.jdrwebsites.co.uk/index.php?webpage=free_report).
Continuous communication
Do they provide monthly reports to prove that progress is being made? Do they make an effort to keep you updated, or to receive extra information from you? If there isn’t regular communication you can easily lose track of the campaign progress, resulting in mistakes being made.
2) No clear performance indicators
For SEO campaigns to have maximum effectiveness, the SEO agency should make it clear what metrics they will use to monitor performance. By focusing on key variables, such as average visitor time on your website or number of calls to action (conversions), the campaign will be more organised and likely to succeed. If you aren’t clear on the key performance indicators, you have no way of keeping tabs on the campaign’s progress for yourself.
3) Your rankings aren’t changing
This is a sure-fire sign of a bad SEO agency and a doomed campaign, for obvious reasons. You are paying professionals to give you a higher and more sustainable position in Google’s search results. If they aren’t doing their job then you are simply wasting money. However, you should check with the agency about the timescale of the campaign before taking action; SEO is a long-term marketing strategy that usually takes over 3 months to deliver noticeable results.
Taking note of these key warning signs will give you a good idea of whether your SEO campaign is in the danger zone or not. Deal with any issues promptly but cautiously to save the campaign and the online profitability of your business.
Artice by Laura Wootton
photo credit: 96dpi via photopin cc
