1. “We can’t get you top rankings in Google for the words you really want…”
Search Engine Optimization consultants know how hard it is to be on the first page of Google for generic terms like “car insurance” and “life insurance”. Most of the words you want to rank for take time and effort over a period of months if not years to rank well for. Hiring an SEO consultant for a one time optimization for your website will not put you on page one for the competitive keywords your firm wants to rank for.
2. “…but we’ll promise you we can anyway”
SEO consultants are great at over-promising and under-delivering. A consultant will tell flat out lies about where they can get you in the search engines just to close the deal. Be wary of consultants who guarantee #1 rankings within a specific time frame.
3. “We don’t actually optimize your web site, our entry level employees do that”
The consultant you meet with oftentimes is no more than a salesman with a nice haircut who speaks web and SEO language fluently. Make sure you know who is doing the actual optimization of your site. College interns make great coffee, but don’t trust them with optimizing your website.
4. “Our custom content management system is worse than many open source CMS platforms like Wordpress and Drupal”
Many SEO firms have their own custom content management systems (CMS) that they overcharge clients for. These CMS’s are oftentimes slow, clunky, and full of extra code that will hurt your SEO efforts. Open source (free) alternatives like Wordpress are more stable, have a better support community, and beat out other proprietary CMS’s in the search engine rankings. This is just one more way consultants can make money off of you.
5. “We love to sell continuing search engine optimization services that you don’t need.”
Search Engine Optimization is an ongoing process, but too many consultants overcharge for useless services after the initial optimization is complete. A good SEO consultant equips the customer with the knowledge and tools to continue the SEO process.
SEO is big business, with new entrants and enticing lures being added every day. Before you hire a SEO consultant to improve the performance of your site, make sure you’re getting what you pay for. Seeing through the smoke and mirrors of initial promises is essential to creating a lasting and useful relationship with your SEO consultant and obtaining the results you want for your business.
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