Dilema in hiring SEO company services

[dp91]

Hi

My question is one that most startups face. No large budgets for online SEO marketing and lack of quality SEO consultants willing to work for peanuts.

To the point:

1. Where can I read reviews of SEO consultants before giving a contract?

2. Is it naieve to expect an SEO contract based on real ROI i.e. increase in qualified enquiries? All I spoke to over last 12 months refuse to commit, even in part, to this requirement. My take is what good is an SEO contract if all I get is loads of reports of work done? I do not have the capability to analyse the reports hence I employ someone!

3. I have SEOMoz pro memership. Can I do  my SEO myself by using the tools in the dashboard?

thanks to all for reading my post.

[LynchInteractive53]

without being too bold, I believe the only way SEO can work going forward is to have the client, or as i call them, the passionate expert, participate in the process.  The key to the programs we're developing rely on the client.  We are just consultants who help people build online relationships.

Basically we've been saying for over 10 years that writing quality content that engages your core audience is a sure fire method of gaining and maintaining rank, unfortunately over the years other methods that are easier have produced results for a lot of people, but now we have Penquin and our original marketing concepts have never been more valid.

[mytouchoftech]

Also keep in mind that SEO is not an exact science.  There are methods that should produce results, but there are no guarantees that the company can rank your for the keywords you want at the price you're willing to pay.  Theoretically, given the budget, any company can rank for any keyword they want, but you probably aren't going to be happy with the price tag.  They're a company too, so the more work it's going to take them to rank you, the more it's going to cost.

[EGOL]

don't put your fate into anyone elses hands

This is my basic philosophy.  I don't like to hand important matters over to other people.

All of the work that is done on my sites is done here in my office by staff.  The only exception is some database and programming work that is done by long-trusted consultants.

Sometimes it is good to use consultants to obtain opinions before doing a big change on the site or getting a periodic review.  I don't always follow their advice but they often give me ideas that I would never have thought of on my own.  These are sometimes very valuable.

But, always making the decisions yourself will keep you on a conservative or aggressive path as you see fit and on a philosophy that you agree with.

[dp91]

SEOrank does offer one such platform. I hired someone @$400 pcm, based in India, and found them unsatisfactory. They raised issues (your site has posts instead of pages which will cause loss of rankings due to penguin update) but clueless when asked to explain

Surely the search industry is so big that there must be golden standards of measurement or none??

[Andropenis_Australia]

It's possibly just our experiance, but we will never hire any SEO companies.

You are putting your site and business into the hands of someone else. And paying them for it.

What may work for SEO now, may not work in the future.

There are basics to creating a good website with easy enough SEO you can do yourself, but it takes time to read, research trial and experiment.

Start learning and don't put your fate into anyone elses hands.

[EGOL]

Every time I have needed help with one of my websites I asked a person who posts on a forum where I have been a long time member.  That long membership allowed me to see the responses of many people over time and determine who seems to know what they are doing and has a style that I would want to work with.   I have never been disappointed.

So, consider asking as many questions as you want here and see how people reply to them.  If they give you great answers for free then imagine what you will get when you pay them.  You will learn the answers to your questions, make some friends, and possibly find someone who you trust and will do great work.

Visit the profile page of people who you think might do a good job.  They usually say if they are not available or have a link to their site where you can see if they do consultations.

[symbolphoto]

I would love to find and SEO expert, a true expert, not a self proclaimed expert. And one that was willing to point me in the right direction to do the work myself and charge a consulting fee. Do these exist? I think they should implement that here on this site somewhere to find reviewed vendors for this type of work.

.02

[EGOL]

2)  Expecting real ROI?

When you hire an SEO that person or company agrees to make you visible in the search engines and create a flow of traffic from search engines to your website.  That is the deal in very basic terms.

Other parts of getting ROI are up to you.   To achieve ROI you need:  a website that converts, products clearly described, products that are in stock and priced reasonably, shipping charges that are not excessive, a shopping cart that works, phone staff that answer calls and advise on products.  These other parts of ROI are under your control and are your risk.

The SEO should not be expected to assume your risks of doing business.  If he wanted to assume those jobs and risks then he would be a merchant and not an SEO.

3. Can you do SEO yourself with SEOMoz tools?

Anybody can use the tools, but there is a lot more to SEO than pushing buttons and running reports.

Lots of people do SEO for their own business.  That's what I do.  In fact, if you are willing to study diligently, experiment, work hard and smart then you can probably do SEO for your business as well as any SEO would do it for you.

A good way to proceed is to study on your own, experiment on your sites and then hire an SEO for consultation. That way the SEO studies your site, makes a job list for you, and reviews that job list on the phone with you so you know how to do it.  Some SEOs will do this type of consulting and it works well for lots of business owners.