Looking for SEO consultant

Hello, my company is looking to hire either an SEO consultant or actual service for our website, ESDSystems.com. Our site uses ASP intensively and includes fully functional eCommerce catalog + shopping cart, as well as a pretty large amount of ESD (electrostatic device) related content. We have been doing in-house SEO for some time with erratic results, and now are turning towards professionals. We do not simply want to hand over this job but would rather work in parallel with a consultant or professional. One of our main weaknesses is link development. I can be contacted at david.bohner@esdsystems.com. Thanks!

Choose the SEO wisely, judging from my experiences from this from you are about to get a lot of offers from not so skilled consultants. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice. My company is very particular about hiring outside help, so we will no doubt be talking to many SEO'ers before choosing. We have already turned down several scammers and picked up correspondance with a few serious companies.

ESD - I would make three recommendations to you:

#1 - Identify SEOs whose particular advice and style you find to be a good fit. Send them a private message through the forum or email them.

#2 - Be careful NOT to choose an SEO who has specific experience in your field. This creates a natural conflict of interest if an SEO must serve two clients fighting for the same keyword phrase(s).

#3 - Check out this thread - http://forums.seochat.com/t17522/s.html - on questions to ask an SEO firm before hiring them.

Good luck to you!

good set of questions Randfish...but perhaps you might add...

6]. References :
Which of your past clients may we talk to via email, to support your work?

I think that this simple addition, would certianly make the SEO company trying to get the project, think about whom of their clients would be a good reference, and why? The thing is, that a new client will ask all kinds of questions about all kinds of facets of SEO...all good things I believe. And the SEO company should have some/many clients to put up as "referrers" too if needed. Nothing better than a happy customer working for you!



Jim

Many SEO consultants will never give you a single reference. It is very important to protect clients, nobody needs to know that they have had professional SEO help.
Happy custormers will result in work (they recommend you to their partners), no need to exploit them in your own marketing efforts.

sorry....but business must be considered ALL important here. I do hear you about confidentiality...but when you need to show a prospect that you can do the job, nothing works better than a testimonial.

as far as "no one needs to know" that a firm has used an SEO company, that too is wrong IMHO. so what? they've got the serps and that's all that's important, so saying so is just another way to show your prospects that you CAN do what you say you can do...

and as far as 'exploiting' your clients, in my contract I say right up front that I may use them for my own marketing of our services, so my clients know right up front. and in 20 years of client work I've never had 1 client ask about deleting same. if I do the work, then ask for a testimonial, they're happy as hell to tell anyone I point at them what kind of job we do! so if your clients "know" you might ask them for a testimonial or some such thing, it increases the working relationship you have with them. honest, I'd know as I've had hundreds of clients over 20+ years.... when you do a good job, they dont mind at all saying so on your behalf. that's business, plain and simple!

surely you see, that business and business processes here are paramount. it's not about "hiding" your clients or your works....it's about proving you can do what you say you can do. plain and simple!



Jim

I understand your point of view.

Like I said before the 17 dollar a hour and glass of chocolate milk for every hour overtime served still stands.

I don't know what your waiting for grab me right up !..

Ohhhh crap daddy says its past my bed time gotta go !

whats your budget anyway?
no offense. lmao.
most clients I have met who are picky, are stingy and demanding too much as well.
lol.

one client even copied and pasted 100 questions about seo and trends for me to answer!
lmao/

lol lol lol lol lol lol lol Can you sent me that copy? That will be very intresting! If memory serves my correctly, didn't Webby have an SEO questionaire a while back?

I would hire sorvoja. I don't care to pay for your marketing portfolio. What's to prevent a TopGun from asking you for a quotation, top-to-bottom mining the keyword research, backlinks and optimization of those sites, and then attacking their positions? Would save them a bunch of time and money, no? And if they can improve on your SEO or have supeior site power your client just got his butt kicked - possibly by multiple sites.

I have just sent that part of email to you Chatmaster. lol.
enjoy.
Answer all of them and you will be a seo professor (or my client's hero, lol.)


this potential client already wanted my blood before work started..

Yeeezzzzzzzz, That is some list!
Just cracked a retina!

hehe. I dont know where the list came from. this is insane.
clients drive me crazy. lol.