Ask yourself first, why you are considering paying for SEO. The answer is usually because you would like to find more of the right type of customers for your business. Remember that your goal is not just ranking on Google. That is just a part of the SEO process. Your goal is customers and revenue.
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Without SEO Your Customers Won’t Find You
In the global market for B2B products most potential customers start their search for a new supplier or solution on Google. If you don’t appear in their local search results, you will not be found. You need to find an SEO partner that can deliver the results you need.
You will probably search for a supplier on Google and here I will give you some information to help you make better decisions when finding a partner for SEO.
The Secret of Good SEO is Working in Partnership
To be able to market and sell your business effectively online is what good, effective, SEO is all about. This means that an SEO company needs to understand your business and your business market very well to be able to do a good job. How can anyone sell your products if they know nothing about them or you?
When considering an SEO supplier, think about what they say when they make contact with you or when they respond to your inquiry.
- Does the SEO company want to know all about you and what you do?
- When you ask questions, is it clear they want to understand your business?
This is the information that a good SEO supplier will ask for
If you want to achieve your business goals with SEO, a good SEO supplier will need the right information so that they can design the correct SEO package for you.
They will want to know:
- Information about your industry and how your products fit in the market.
- Information about your local & global competitors and your relative position to them.
- Strengths and weaknesses of your company in the market.
- Countries / regions / Industries from which you are already receiving inquiries.
- Countries / Industries you would like to receive inquiries from.
- A list of keywords (If you have one)
- Any SEO or marketing reports that you may have from a previous supplier.
There are Two Types of SEO Companies
Actually there are many more than two types, but for this article I will keep it simple to help you to find the right one for your business.
Type 1: The SEO Company That Says They Can Make You Rank High On Google
Many SEO companies focus on “creating” backlinks to improve your Google ranking.
Backlinks are links to your website from other websites. The more links you have, the more well known / trusted Google thinks your website is. This then helps you to rank better on Google.
These companies often have thousands of fake blogs and websites set up and they just put links to your websites in all of these places, maybe find a few useful links too, and that’s about it.
These companies often focus on keywords that will rank easily, not necessarily the keywords that your customers actually use to find a new supplier.
There are a few problems with this type of SEO:
- You want inquiries and orders, not just ranking.
- They are not adding value to your website with new content and better structure.
- Most of the links are in websites run by the SEO company.
- Keywords may not be correct for your customers but will allow them to say you rank on the first page of Google.
- If you decide not to work with them anymore you lose all of the SEO value that you paid for.
Type Two: The SEO Company That Is Focused on Inquiries & Long Term Value
These companies focus on content driven SEO. Which means they will discuss your company, industry and the structure of your website. They will discuss your business goals and new content that help you find your target customers. They are usually marketing companies too.
Things to note about these companies:
- The SEO they propose requires a lot of work on your website to make it better. This is a good, long term investment in your business.
- They ask a lot of questions about your business and customers to help them understand how to help you.
- Keyword research will be detailed and should be able to show you the keywords your competitors are using too.
- If you decide not to work with them anymore you keep all of the SEO value that you paid for.
How to Choose an SEO Supplier?
It isn’t easy to choose between suppliers for a technical service that you don’t understand very well. Here are some things you should think about that will help you to make a better decision.
- Any new supplier should ask questions about your business, customers and goals you want to achieve. If they don’t, speak to someone else.
- SEO service should be based mainly on changes to the content and structure of your website; “link building” is only effective after the structure and content is right.
- Choose small to medium companies for SEO, not large marketing companies with hundreds or thousands of customers. You need a tailored service, not an “standard product” which they also sell to your competitors.
- Do not work with the same SEO company as your competitors. They cannot make all of you rank at number one, which means they will be selling additional services to decide who is at the top of the page.
- Make sure that if you decide to change suppliers, you keep the value of the SEO you have paid for so far. Good SEO adds long term value to your website.
If you found this article helpful, please consider reading some of the other articles on our marketing blog.
If you would like to discuss your marketing needs with us, please contact us here.