SEO Top 10

You can do a lot of things that require effort and time in order to optimize your website or blog. Of course, you can always leave all this effort and time, for a cost, to specialized companies that do this for a living. They are called SEO companies.

Before you ask for help, I suggest a list of items you should ask these companies when you engage in setting up a connection with them. Based on their answers, you’ll be in a better position to decide if this is the real deal or another fly-by-night who will only bruise your Google rank and they disappear in the digital sunset with your money.

They are the ones who attempt to unfairly manipulate search engines results, only for a short lived high ranking position for your company.

Google has set up a list of 10 things to keep in mind before you sign the contract with a SEO Firm:

1. NO ONE can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google – if they do, back away immediately
2. Be wary of SEO firms that send you email out of the blue – they are desperate to get clients. No clients – no recognized expertise in their field
3. Be careful of a company is secretive or won’t clearly explain what they intend to do – these are the ones who especially engage in unorthodox methods to trick search engines
4. You don’t have to link to an SEO company. Ever. Period
5. If the SEO company is asking you to purchase and install extra pieces of software to give you the ability to type keywords directly into the browser address bar, don’t. Hang up the phone and move on
6. Ask details to where all the money is going. Ask them to be specific
7. Choose wisely after you have done your research with at least 4-5 companies. Try to find past clients who worked with the SEO company. Gather testimonials
8. When you narrow down your list to 5 companies, call them again one by one and ask if they’d recommend the other 4 firms
9. Make sure you’re protected and the items of a contract are very clear to you
10. And the number 10 item – If an offer sounds too good to be true, read rule#1

SEO and web promotion is a complicated activity and requires time, expert knowledge, money, patience and a lot of communication between you and the SEO company. If you don’t feel the results are there, cut your losses and stop.

Look back what you were doing and where everything might have gone wrong. Depending on the relationship you have with the SEO company, ultimately it’s your decision to stick with them or move on. Most of the time the answer is to stick to the plan and correct the things that we’re done wrong.

 Claudiu Geanta is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Design by Satori Inc. & Satori CG Inc.. He helps businesses promote their presence on and off line. He is also an accomplished web designer, book writer and photographer. You can follow him on Twitter.
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