5 key points to keep in mind while you're thinking of hiring an SEO firm

Any web based business in today’s world is completely dependent on marketing. It is almost the key to realise the limitless potential that the internet platform provides. With most consumers being on the internet, the field of internet marketing is soon approaching a full fledged discipline status. A large chunk of internet marketing is the “black magic” like search engine optimization, SEO, which essentially is to get websites on the first page of a Google Search of a related keyword. Not many do SEO well, earning the trade a dubious reputation among various other web skills. Having said that, the value proposition of SEO is still something that can greatly benefit web businesses.

We spoke to top industry experts and made a list of 5 important things that you must keep in mind before putting your money into a SEO firm -

1) Do It only if You Need It - A lot of entrepreneurs get their SEO done too prematurely. If the product that you wish to sell isn’t going to be ready in the foreseeable future, then getting SEO doesn’t really make sense. Do it only if you’re ready to sell your online goods via traffic from a search engine.

2) SEO doesn’t mean Sales - Selling over the internet, especially in India is one of the most difficult thing to do and if you think SEO will ensure that, then you might be mistaken. The scope of SEO is to get your site on first page of a search engine (Read Google). Converting visitors to customers is completely on the merit of your product and the design of your website. If your product has this, then SEO will help.

3) Beware of Scammers - The SEO service provider space is over crowded and there is a good possibility that quite a few of these service providers aren’t really what they claim to be. It is a good idea to have a look a firm’s clients, and better still, speak with them on their experience of working with the firm. Also, make sure that these are recent clients as search engines keep changing their policies often. So what worked 3 years ago wouldn’t work today.

4) Be Ready to Work with your SEO firm - Keyword research and Link Building are the cornerstones of a successful SEO campaign and the business owner can have interesting insights on how people would search for their solutions and what other relevant keywords. As with link building, founders are a part of very relevant online communities that might be missed by the SEO firms.

5) Be Ready to Provide Content from Your End - At the end of the day, content is king.This is precisely what Google and other search engines have been saying for the past decade or so. While most of the content used in SEO operation is mostly the responsibility of the SEO firm, nothing works like content on this business coming directly from the horses mouth. Key insightful written pieces or video demos of the benefits of your products greatly helps in SEO.

So these were some key things to keep in mind before signing up for an SEO firm. Stay tuned as we bring you more essentials from the consumer internet world over the coming weeks in the lead up to WebSparks. Apply to become a Webspark!