In this podcast episode, Rebecca talks about a recent sales call and what you can learn from her discussion with an unsuspecting business owner. She then walks through the important questions you need to ask your future SEO agency or consultant.
Qualifying Questions
- How long have you been performing SEO?
- How did you learn SEO?
- How do you stay up to date on SEO changes?
- Who will be working on my project?
- What will you do as part of our engagement?
- Will we have a formal project plan and list of activities?
- How will we communicate?
- How often will we interact or speak live?
- How long will the engagement last?
- What will we measure to judge progress and ultimate success?
Getting into the Thick of It
- Will you audit my website?
- Will you review technical SEO as part of the engagement?
- Do you review website personas and map the customer journey?
- How will we perform keyword research?
- Do you map keywords to content?
- Who is responsible for writing content?
- Do you have resources available to help create new content?
- What’s involved in the content optimization process?
- Who is responsible for updating the website?
- Will I be able to review changes before they go live?
Just Don’t…
- Start the conversation with a request for backlinks
- Require industry experience unless you’re in a high touch industry like healthcare and pharma
- Ask for guaranteed results
- Ask for a prediction of ROI (return on investment)
- Ask for a “quick win” or limited engagement
- Expect a discount or special pricing
- Expect you’ll have a hands-off project
- Assign the intern as your primary internal contact
The Takeaway
That old saying of “you get what you pay for” absolutely applies to hiring an SEO consultant or agency. Research your future hire, check their online reputation, and ask around before you sign that contract.
Your future agency or consultant should have a public profile and interact with their community. They don’t need to be the divas of the SEO industry, but you should find online references to them and their activity.
Today’s Episode Sponsor
A big thank you to Scripted.com for sponsoring season three of the SEObits podcast!
I’m very particular about who can sponsor our show and who I’ll put my name behind, however, today’s podcast sponsor won me over when I did a walk-through of their Cruise Control content offering. They had all the core ingredients for attracting search engines and appealing to the real humans we all want to convert.
Effective content marketing takes hard work, time, and expertise. The Cruise Control package offers all three. Don’t let content get in the way of achieving your SEO goals. Get help from the talented team at Scripted.com.
If you’re interested in the Scripted.com offering, just head on over to scripted.com/seobits so you can review the special offer for listeners.