How to find a good SEO firm?

Hello everyone,

I hope this is the appropriate forum for this thread. If not, please let me know and I will post elsewhere.

I'm having a hard time locating a good SEO firm, and I'm hoping that some of the users in this community may be able to offer some advise. I represent a medium-sized company that has a pretty decent SEO budget, but unfortunately I've been unable to find a good SEO firm or freelance consultant. What we're looking for is an SEO company that we can partner with to develop our site and bring it to the next level of site traffic and visitor conversion. We're motivated to put in the work, write content and develop pages, but what we need is an overarching strategy guiding our efforts. The type of questions I'm asking are:

- What is the benefit of a blog, and how can it be utilized to enhance search engine optimization and visitor conversion?
- What opportunities outside of search engines exist to increase overall web site traffic. Local business directories, article syndication, etc.
- Should any new web pages or sections be developed to take advantage of under-utilized search terms?
- Are users searching for terms that the current site is not ranking under?
- What type of techniques should be employed within the web site to track and improve overall visitor conversion.

Yet all of the proposals we've been receiving from companies and freelance individuals are generic documents containing lots of keywords and search terms but no clear strategy for moving forward, and no direct answers to my questions. I'm really looking for something comprehensive, and I have the budget to back it up, but all of the companies seem to want us to take the lead. We tell them what pages we want optimized and they'll add a bunch of keywords to it, and get incoming links from directories and call it good. But, we're looking for a much more involved and thorough approach than that.

First, I contacted all of the SEO firms in my area, and unfortunately did not feel confident in any of the responses I received. Next, I posted a job posting to seomoz.com, and received over a dozen responses, but almost all of them were from companies based in India, and we'd really prefer someone U.S. based. All of the proposals I've received so far are pretty much the same. A template proposal with our name added at the top, and the results of a keyword tool pasted below.

So, my question is, are there SEO companies or individuals out there that provide the type of full service SEO consultation I'm looking for? I understand that much of what SEO experts work in is intellectual property, and they don't want to give that away for free in a proposal, but I still feel that providing a comprehensive site-wide SEO strategy for the next 12 months is possible.

I'm thinking my next step is to contact national-level SEO firms, but I don't know of any specifically, beyond what I'll find in Google.

If anyone has any thoughts I'd love to hear them. Either recommendations of good SEO companies, or recommendations on how I can alter my approach.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

I've moved this to another forum.

1 Blogs aren't meant to help you gain links, although most company blogs that are done well do just that. The point of a blog is another medium to join the conversation in your industry with your customers. Think of it as client engagement.

2 You should be looking squarely in the face of social media. Now this is dependent on your industry, but for most utilizing social media to connect with a target market is paramount to future success online.

3 Again, industry dependent, but that's the direction you need to be thinking.

4 Not sure if you need new pages, some things should be taken care of in the blog. You have to think of offering a concise web site with your product/service. And then from there engage in the longtail keywords through your blog. I can't see a good strategy of just adding interations of keywords for the same product being a good idea. '

5 Google sees 20% new searches everyDAY. So yes you'll have word you're not optimized for, but frankly if your in a niche market you'll capture most of those words (or should at least).

6. Techniques are developed through careful analysis of analytics data. So you need that information before making decisions.

You basically need an internet marketer who can handle your seo, cro and smo campaigns, help in building the brand, user engagement, conversions and traffic. Providing a comprehensive site wide strategy for 12 months and that too before signing a contract is not a smart move for a seo, if you ask me. SEOs are billed hourly, so spending too much time on a proposal is not financially feasible. They are lot of top notch seo companies in US like stone temple consulting which provide a wide range of internet marketing services.

If it's imperative you have someone who is US based, I would recommend either JBacchi or jsteele823. If you do a member search and order the results based on reputation, you will see both are highly respected in this community.

Always ask to see evidence of works and how long it will take before you see any change in your rankings.

...and how long would it take?

As fast as the slowest man.

Thank you for the replies, everyone, that's a lot of great information.

Can anyone recommend a good national-level full service SEO and marketing company by chance? Or, ideas on how to locate one?

Thanks!

They did... post #4

JBacchi is Media Partners

and

jsteele823 is Search Satisfaction

If you want the cheaper alternative, you could go for outsourcing. Just be sure to ask for a portfolio. If you like what you see, hire them.

Keep in mind that you may want to have an idea as well about the basics and as to how SEO works to make sure that the work of your outsourced team is right and effective.

You need to check following details of the company :

1. Company Profile.
2. Projects done in past.
3. Company reputation.

Can anyone make any similiar recomendations for services based in Australia or SE Asia?

Hi Toplink,

You are probably aware of this anyway, but just to underline, SEO is not something which is largely dependent on client and practitioner both being in the same country. There are a number of members on here capable of doing a good job from overseas. It just depends on whether you would feel more comfortable employing someone from the same country/region.