By Henry Brown
Every solopreneur and small business owner knows that SEO is crucial to their business’s survival. Without good SEO and content marketing strategies, your company will fall down through Google’s search results and hardly any potential customers will find you through a web search.
But there is one problem that most solopreneurs and small business owners have when it comes to SEO – they just don’t have enough time or enough knowledge about how to do the job right! That’s why it is ever so useful to outsource all of these jobs to an SEO consultant. However, before you commit to hiring one particular consultant, you always need to ask the following questions.
Can I see your past and current client list?
Any SEO consultant worth his or her salt will be able to show you a list of some of the clients they have had on their books. You should ask to see this as it can give you an idea of the type of work they carry out, and in which industry or sector they have their experience in. You might also want to speak to some of their clients about their experience of working with the SEO consulting firm such as Octiv and the particular results that they found in their company.
Do you follow current search engine guidelines?
Search engines regularly update their guidelines that they expect all companies and businesses to adhere to. All large SEO companies, like Ignite Digital, will know exactly which guidelines they need to work to. However, if you choose to go with an independent consultant, you should quiz them to make sure that they know all the current regulations and guidelines. Otherwise, no amount of high-quality SEO work is going to help your business rise through the ranks if it doesn’t meet the guidelines.
Will you run any website changes before me first?
It is very likely that an SEO consultant will want to make some changes to your company’s website. That’s because he or she will need to make landing pages, add a blog, and maybe change the wording of your copy. Even if you do completely trust the consultant, you should still get them to run any potential website changes before you first. That way, you can ensure that any changes are kept in line with your overall branding.
How much will our in-house team need to help you?
Your own employees might have to carry out small tasks to help the consultant, especially your IT department and website design team. It is perfectly acceptable to have employees helping out with minor tasks, but if they find that their time starts to be taken up with SEO work, it could be bad news for your company’s productivity. So, make sure you pick an SEO consultant who realizes that he can’t use your workers as he or she pleases.
Once you ask all the necessary questions, you will be able to shortlist and eventually hire an effective SEO consultant. This should put you on the road toward higher search engine rankings and more views for your website.
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Henry Brown is an online marketing executive. When he isn’t talking shop he’s roaming the streets of London, uncovering the extra-ordinary in the ordinary.
