In today’s digital world, there are a lot of words that are thrown around for advertising or clout purposes. Blockchain, digital marketing, and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are just a few of these popular buzzwords that you hear all too often. Sometimes, people leverage these words in order to gain ancillary business that is vaguely related to the words. Other times, they actually practice what they preach and are worth their salt. But how can you tell?
This article will focus on how to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to SEO firms who know their way around digital content. From going local, to giving a user’s perspective, SEO firms that are competent in digital marketing will be able to do a deep dive into your digital presence and keep the good while discarding the bad. Allowing a quality digital marketing company into your life can do wonders for your business, online presence, and more!
Go Local When Possible
One of the biggest problems with national SEO firms or digital marketing agencies is that they paint with too broad of a brush. This is understandable because unless you’re going with a local SEO firm or digital marketing agency, such an organization can only have a limited understanding of your local market. Even large cities such as Denver, CO, or Omaha, NE may get less quality content from such a firm that is used to advertising for businesses in Atlanta, GA, or Seattle, WA. When you work with a local SEO firm instead, you can almost guarantee that they know what works and what doesn’t in your local market. This type of expertise is as good as (digital) gold.
If They Get Results, Others Will Say So
Instead of scouring for online reviews when looking for a local SEO firm, take a look at their testimonials/client list and call them instead. If a firm gets results, they will only be too happy to share their experience with others that ask about it. Even if you’re a rival business, it should be no problem for former clients to testify that this local SEO firm got them legitimate results that were worth paying for and can be substantiated. If their word of mouth is good, then they tend to be telling the truth. As with everything in life, results cannot be guaranteed, but they sure as heck can be measured. More positives than negatives is a good sign, which will be substantiated by word of mouth.
They Can Give You a User’s Perspective Easily
When you’re the head of a business or organization, you can sometimes get lost in the details of how much work it took to create a certain webpage or social media presence. But what SEO firms will quickly remind you of is that it helps to look at all of this from a third-party, user’s perspective. Metrics such as “roughly 38% of users will stop interacting with a website if its layout is unattractive” should remind you that when you’re creating content and trying to engage with potential customers, it is about what THEY want and YOU can provide instead of the other way around. If the SEO firms you contact or consult with can’t do this, then you’re better off moving on to someone else. Along with giving you a user’s perspective, they should be able to measure how a change will result in better traffic, visibility, or whatever other metrics you are trying to change.
When You Choose Quality, You’ll Get Results
Hopefully by looking at this list and weighing your options with some critical thinking, you’ve learned a bit about how to locate and choose SEO firms. While many SEO companies provide similar services, they are certainly not equal and can produce drastically different results to the ruin of your brand, organization, or wallet. Local SEO services are gaining in popularity because they can fine-tune your business for a hyper-specific market while actually consulting with you in person. Despite the digital content marketing maze that SEO firms seemingly inhabit, by taking some time to sort the imitators from the authentic players you will be able to find quality SEO results that you can count on for the future.