In today’s world, having a website and online presence is a must for businesses who want to grow and succeed. If you don’t have a website or have one but no one can find it, you can bet your competition is working on theirs. Think about it – can you name the last time you needed something and Googled it? Maybe it was for a plumber, chiropractor, restaurant, happy hour, wine tasting locations, oil change, roofing company – you name it. I’m guessing your answer may be not that long ago. Possibly within the last hour? The shift to online search has increased over the years and continues to move in that direction faster than we can keep track. SEO, or search engine optimization, is a multifaceted process that needs to be worked on month over month, and if a business doesn’t have the time or capacity, it should consider hiring an SEO company. How do you find the right one? And after you’ve hired an agency, how can you tell if they’re doing what they are supposed to? Here are some ways to check to see if your SEO company is doing a good job.
They Ask You for Help
An SEO agency will always need your help in order to get started and continuously improve. An SEO company that never reaches out to you is a major red flag. After all, they are not in your business and can only do so much without some guidance from you. It could be getting access to your website and certain accounts, needing help with new ideas for blogs, collaboration on research, and more. An SEO company can do research, but they are not in your industry and may not know the best answer depending on your goals and target audience. At WSI, we see ourselves as your business partner and collaboration is key for a successful digital marketing campaign.
They Provide Deliverables
A good SEO company should be able to provide a scope of work with deliverables worked on each month. If a company says, “Sorry, we don’t disclose what we do” or “We can’t give away our recipe” – stay away! Sure, an SEO company may not be able to provide their “exact” recipe or instructions on what they do, but they should be able to provide a list of deliverables and what’s involved within the digital marketing campaign.
They Provide Reporting & Recommendations
Reporting is key in any marketing campaign. How would an SEO agency know if they’re doing a good job if they didn’t review reporting and reassess if needed? A good SEO company should provide monthly reporting, including Google Analytics or Google Data Studio (Google’s newest and fanciest kind of reporting), conversion tracking and reporting (they should be able to prove that what their doing is working, right?), heat mapping (advanced reporting showing “how” people use a website), competitive analysis reports (a little detective work on how your competition is doing online), and more. In addition to reporting, it’s normal and common for SEO companies to see opportunities or red flags in your data that may incline them to provide recommendations. It may be recommendations on tweaking a couple things on the website based on what the data is saying in order to improve conversions and a user’s experience or suggestions on your strategy to improve results and reach your goals. At the end of the day, a good SEO company is your trusted partner and recommendations are made with your company’s best interest in mind.
They Communicate, Check In & Want to Meet with You
Alas, any good SEO company should constantly be communicating with you and checking in. They should also be easy to communicate with and available to meet with you. Whether it be via email, a phone call, face-to-face time, or a virtual meeting, all good SEO companies should not only want to meet with you, but they need to in order to see how SEO is impacting your business, what’s working and what’s not, what new changes are happening within the business, and more. An SEO company is again, your trusted business partner, and should be involved.
We Place People Before Profits at WSI
Our team of seasoned digital marketing experts are here to help your business. We work with local, regional, and national companies throughout the United States, with our agency located in Santa Rosa, CA. We offer a free 30-minute consultation to see if what we offer can help your business’ goals and objectives – whether it’s more online leads to increase sales, brand awareness, exposure and reach, opening a new location, hiring great talent – you name it. Every business has its own goals and objectives, so we listen and tailor our recommendations to make sure we put the right digital marketing strategy in place. At our WSI agency, we offer a full range of digital marketing services including SEO, advanced paid search (pay-per-click, Google Display and Retargeting, Facebook Display and Retargeting), social media marketing and management, and web design. Schedule a call with one of our digital marketing specialists at 707-843-3714 or fill out our form to find out what digital marketing campaign would work best for your business.
