How To Hire The Right Type Of SEO Firm
There
are many different types of SEO firms, and as a client you need to know
what they are in order to hire the right type for your business. This
guide to the different types of SEO firms will tell you the questions
you need to ask yourself about your business to make sure you choose one
that matches your objectives and needs. If the title of this post reads
a lot like another recent post of mine, 4 Tips For Hiring The Right SEO Firm,
don’t worry, I’m not repeating myself. Whereas that one focused on what
you should do when hiring any type of SEO firm, this one focuses on
making sure you choose the right type of SEO firm to begin with.
The different types of SEO firms can be segmented most
effectively by focus (industry focused vs. generalist), service level
(entry-level, mid-level, and high-end), and service type
(jack-of-all-trades vs. specialty).
Focus
Should you hire an SEO firm that specializes in
working with your type of business, or a generalist firm that works
with all types of clients? If you work in a well established industry
where there is a lot of similarity between you and the guy in the next
town over who does the same thing, then you likely want to go with a
specialist firm that focuses on your industry. This might be the case
for dentists, self storage companies, lawyers, and realtors. I say
“might” because there are always exceptions. However, if your business
is more specialized itself, then you probably don’t even have the option
of finding a firm that focuses on your niche, and you would work with a
generalist SEO firm.
Service Level
I like to segment SEO firms by service level. Others might
do the same segmentation based on cost, since the level of service tends
to correlate quite well with cost. As with anything else in life, you
tend to get what you pay for. But that doesn’t mean you have to go with a
high-end SEO firm in order to get good results (and I say this as
someone who runs a high-end SEO firm). If you have a landscaping
business and you only work in one or two cities, there’s no need to hire
a high-end SEO firm for $5,000/month. You can find a firm that offers a
more template-driven, one-size-fits-all approach for as little as
several hundred dollars per month (anyone offering full-service SEO for
less than $500/month I would steer clear of with rare exceptions), and
as long as they are a good firm (I didn’t feel it necessary to add good
vs. bad to our list of various segmentations) you should be fine. If you
don’t feel you’re getting what you need at that service level after 4-6
months you can always upgrade later. If your company is a global brand
with a presence in 40 countries, then you will certainly be going
high-end. Most companies will avoid either extreme and fall somewhere in
between.
The main difference between high-end and entry-level firms,
and the mid-level firms that exist in between, is customization. An
entry-level firm, in order to charge a lower price than a high-end firm
and still earn a profit, has to either provide fewer services or
automate many of them. Where the road to SEO success is well-travelled,
the weather is fine, and competition is minimal, this can work well. But
if the road is rocky and challenging, weather conditions are unknown
and change rapidly, and competition is fierce, you need an SEO company
that can customize the strategy and execution as needed.
Service Type
Some SEO firms do it all, from link building to content
marketing, and conversion optimization to pay-per-click management.
Others focus on one thing, and one thing only. If you need just one
thing, then find the company that specializes in that one thing and does
a better job than anyone else. If you’re needs are constantly shifting
or you need several things and would prefer to work with a single
vendor, then you want to hire a firm with broad experience and service
offerings.
Start With Your Company
To begin answering the question of what type of SEO firm
you should hire, start by categorizing what type of business you work
for and the competitive environment. Is your company a common one, or
rare? Do you compete locally or nationally? Do you need a slow and
steady, straightforward approach, or lots of customization and
creativity? Is the competition SEO-savvy and fast-moving, or just by
doing minimal SEO will you be ahead of most of your competitors? Do you
need lots of online marketing services, or just one?
Identify Potential Matches
Once you’ve answered those questions, you can start
searching for the right firm. Using a search engine is a good place to
start, since any SEO firm worth its salt should theoretically show up
well on Google and other search engines. My personal recommendation is
to rely on word of mouth. Ask your friends and business associates who
you should consider. Regardless of the method you use for finding
potential SEO firms to work with, whenever you find one, look at their
website and the services they offer. It should be easy to tell what kind
of firm they are. If they specialize in a particular industry, they’ll
be saying it all over their homepage. The same goes if they focus on
local marketing. If they are a generalist firm, they’ll probably list
all their myriad services on their homepage.
SEO, whatever the term comes to mean today or tomorrow, is one of the
most effective forms of marketing available. But it’s also poorly
understood, which makes room for unscrupulous businesses to take
advantage of those who don’t know what they need or what they should be
paying for it. If you understand your business and the different types
of SEO firms out there, you’ll be that much closer to avoiding the bad
SEO firms that are out there, and finding the right partner to help you
grow.Joshua Steimle is a Hong Kong based entrepreneur writing about startups, entrepreneurship, and online marketing. Connect with him at:
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