Figuring out how to optimize your web sites is a job best left to the pros. After all, they’re the ones who should be spending a lot of time trying to understand how the big three search engines (Google, Yahoo and MSN) operate and how to boost your site’s rankings against their algorithms. But if you’re running a small business, how do you find somebody who can really help you do the job?
We asked Randy Zlobec, a search engine marketing (SEM) expert, to share his advice for hiring a consultant. Zlobec is the author of the upcoming book, Search Engine Optimization, due in December, which is intended to give small website owners the opportunity to “grasp what SEM is and to implement it in their own marketing.”
Put together a shortlist of possible SEM candidates. Zlobec recommends doing a search on “search engine marketing consultant” or “search engine optimization specialist.” He also suggests visiting topseos.com, a site that lists all the major SEM consultants and marketing firms. It provides a ranked listing of the best firms, based on responses to a set of questions, such as “What are the applicant firm’s competitive advantages?” “How are the applicant’s services and pricing levels superior to the competition?” and “What other attributes/innovations does the applicant provide to set it apart from the competition?”
Once you’ve identified finalists, ask them a few simple questions.
- How long have you been in the business? (The longer the better.)
- How long have you been an SEM consultant? (Likewise.)
- What was your previous job? (Was it technology-related and something totally different?)
- How long do your clients remain with you? (A good sign of customer service.)
- Have you done repeat jobs with any of them? (The best testimonial.)
Ask for a couple of client names with web sites and search terms they’ve optimized the sites for. Type those terms into Google, Yahoo and MSN to find out just how the sites rank. “If they’re not on the first page of results, find somebody else who can get you there,” Zlobec said.
Once you’ve confirmed the results, get references. Here, said Zlobec, you’ll want to be cautious. If somebody claims to have optimized a particular site but can’t name a contact person at the client, move onto the next consultant. “I do a lot of research myself. I’ve heard many of [my competitors] say, ‘Well, based on non-disclosures [I can’t reveal that information].'” Don’t buy it. “If you’re doing a search engine marketing campaign for somebody, they’re not going to tie you down so much that you couldn’t tell another potential customer to use them as a reference.”
Don’t count on doing a pilot project; it’s all or nothing when it comes to SEM. “It takes quite a bit of time to increase link popularity,” Zlobec said. “It would take a few months. You can’t really give somebody a small project and say, ‘Well, let’s see how you can do on this.'” There’s a lot of strategy behind SEM, he said, both “on-page” and “off-page.”
The on-page optimization is the back end code — meta code, alt tags, description and title tags. “The off-page stuff is link building, article writing and distribution and pay per click campaigns,” he said. “You have to combine that. The engines take time to come and re-index web sites. It’s not going to happen overnight.”
Last, make sure you’re not dealing with somebody who uses Black Hat techniques. One example is creating “doorway pages.” These are additional pages within a web site that could help increase the search engine ranking. Sounds good, right? According to Zlobec, “You’re going to hire the consultant, they’re going to use their black hat techniques, you pay them and they leave and move onto the next client. Then you’ll find your site a few months down the road put onto Google’s blacklist. You’ll never rank.”
The search engines are getting “smarter and smarter” every day, he said. “They’re going to find you one way or the other. You could come up with techniques that are borderline shady, and you don’t want to do that.”
That’s why, said Zlobec, you should expect to pay an upfront setup fee and a monthly maintenance fee. “The engines change constantly. You want them to follow that change and do whatever needs to be done to get them up to the top of those engines.”
What’s your advice for locating just the right SEM expert?
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