Are SEO Companies Worth Their Money

Hi,

Whilst I appreciate that there may be many SEO companies that over promise, over charge and under deliver, are SEO companies worth considering at all?

What are some of the most reputable SEO companies?

Am I best off staying well away from SEO companies?

Regards

Jimbob

Well, that's not an easy question to answer.

What's it going to cost - really.
What is your budget.
How many visitors will it take to break even, much less make a profit. The way I look at it, if you can completely pay for a project with PTD profit, you're already in a postion to make money.

What are your expectations? (turn around time from start to actually getting to where you need to be just to reach break even)

Depending upon what you're doing. Every new client is an opportunity to touch everyone within that new clients circle for new business. (most business owners don't even think about this element of web based customers - including SEO firms selling the service)

So while a website touched one person that you made money from. That person, provided they had a good experience, could tell 1, 2, 3 other people multiplying the impact of your web rankings. The best referrals we get are existing client referrals.

Not sure what that's worth to you, but it's worth a lot to us.

The internet, for the most part, is unregulated chaos. You'll always hear nightmares about this company or that. Most are real. Some are self induced by unrealistic expectations or webmasters who tried their hand at SEO.

I don't sign contracts with people that I believe have unrealistic expectations, I refer them to my competition.....lmbo! Really!...lol I know, throwing away business and referrals, however, right now, I'd rather be safe and selective than take on a client that will give my small firm a bad name.

Are you best off staying away from an SEO company? If you can accomplish the same thing yourself, then yes.

If you can't you will have wasted whatever time you invested and that time equals money to your business where marketing a website online is concerned. It is about budget, cost and ROI.

Plenty of peeps will make recommendations. Here are mine. Can't any of them are taking on clients, but I believe they do good work; (They're in no particular order)

seomoz.com
seo-guy.com
webuildpages.com
bruceclay.com

These are all firms I recommend. If you google seo and internet marketing related terms, you'll see them. That's a good indication of the quality you can expect from any firm that can compete in a very competitive specialized field like SEO.

There are other posts relevant to this that have questions you could ask a prospective firm and you'll get some other great suggestions for other good seo firms and individuals.

Hope this helped.

Wow, thanks for the reply gchaney.

We are due to launch our new web site, which retails mens designer underwear and we are dependent on a global market. We also work hard to ensure that all of our customers have a good experience, many of them are repeat customers and we feel confident that they would recommend us as an ecommerce retailer.

At present I am spending a lot of time trying to get in bound links by submitting to both free and paid directories and also listing the site on social bookmarking sites.

My learning curve over the past 12 months with regards to SEO, has been steep and all of which is self taught from reading up on sites like this, trying to identify what I need to be doing and how to do it right.

However, my lack of experience and the fact that I am self taught means that I am unsure if I am going about SEO in the right way and I am beginning to question whether I should;

a) Continue as I am.

b) Invest in a good piece of seo software such as WebCEO, SEOElite or IBP etc

c) Commission an SEO company to do the work.

Regards

Jimbob

I'll address you question directly. When you purchase consultation all you're doing is buying someone's time. You're buying time because you don't have it. You could theoretically spend all your hours learning SEO, as you could for any job or task. Fact is, most companies and people don't have unlimited resources so they find it's cheaper to hire a consultant then spend the time learning. I'm of course assuming all SEO's are worthy consultants and you won't loose time buy hiring a nob.

Having said that piece, your only options are really a & c. b is just a glorified reporting tool and does very little in terms of SEO. Plus, if you call buying WEBCEO an 'investment', you probably don't have the budget to hire a reputable/competent SEO

Your welcome jimbob.

Relative to your concerns, djstreet offered a very thoughtful suggestion concerning consultation. These can be expensive, but will provide some very valuable direction and suggestions that you can implement.

djstreet is entirely correct. Whether you're paying for a consultation or for seo/sem services, you are in effect paying for time and expertise. You can utilize a consultation to facilitate your education and continue to control your SEO and SEM in house. This will save you money, but will require continued investment of time.

Whenever reasonable, in house work is typically more desirable than outsourced if only from the standpoint you have full control over the project and the personnel. This depends upon your firms desires. There are many that just assume not have to deal with it and like the offsite nature of the whole technology thing.

If your present efforts are resulting in positive results and do not take away from the efficiency of the business, then I would suggest continuing to do your SEO in house. This is naturally tied to revenue and profit of the business site. For a high dollar and high sales platform, it simply makes the most sense from a business model stand point to control this asset in house. If you're a mom and pop shop, again, it probably makes a lot of sense to keep this in house.

The SEO software packages you suggest are only tools and really are of limited value, though highly hyped. You would be far better served investing in education and training from a knowledgable expert.

If you elect to commission an outside SEO company, I still recommend searching google for relevant SEO and Internet marketing search terms. If an SEO firm can effectively rank against other seo's and companies, there is a high probably they know what they are about. Search, if anything, starts with language. I would certainly want to retain the services of someone who understands my market. I don't believe this is important with a consultation so much as it is when fully outsourcing. However, we don't do international services, so I am not the best person to address language issues as they relate the importance of consultation Vs. outsourced services.

If it were me, I would talk with 10 or 15 firms as this is a big decision, and I wouldn't rush into a decision by being pressured. Always ask for references, ask these reference for ranking information and check out any company you're considering with the BBB (This is U.S. so If you're not in the states, I don't know where to point you on that.)

Finally, if considering keeping your project in house, do consider consultation with an expert who will provide you with recommendations that should be implemented to facilitate your rankings. djstreet might be willing to provide a checklist of what to expect (not giving mine out...lol) Like an SEO company, make sure you check them out.

There are many experts here in this forum, djstreet being one, that provide this type of SEO consultation service. I believe if you PM SEO Am he will most likely be kind enough to provide you with some others who could provide your firm with some one on one consultation on a fee for service basis.

As I come here for pleasure, though talk about our business, I'll pass on any offer in case you were thinking that was the reason for replying. I don't like to mix business and pleasure and I consider helping people in this forum to be a pleasure.

Have a great evening.