By now you’ve figured that your business really stands to benefit from professional SEO company services. But the real question everyone’s asking is: How can I fit this into MY budget? Also, we wonder: What am I looking for exactly? We want what works — nothing more, nothing less.

When hiring an expert SEO company, you’ll want someone who will respond quickly and courteously. You’ll want someone who will give you a realistic timetable (SEO takes time, probably a month). If an SEO company gives you unrealistic guarantees, you should be suspicious (no one can promise to get you to the #1 search engine position). A professional SEO company that promises to deliver reports, however, can be a trustworthy friend. Check the “testimonials” section for added validation and don’t be afraid to ask what sort of clients the SEO company services. (If you’re a smaller company with a smaller budget, it’s best to find an expert SEO company who primarily deals with smaller clients so you won’t be pushed aside to the sidelines when bigger contracts come through.)

Next you should be aware of SEO company ranges. A higher cost may indicate more experience or a bigger operation, but doesn’t always equate with higher quality. Site consultations range anywhere from $500 (low), $2500 (mid) or $10,000 (high range). A manual link-building campaign can run you $500, $5,000 or $20,000. Viral content packages vary from $1,000, $7500 and $20,000, whereas a web design/development/marketing package may range from $5,000 - $25,000 - $100,000. The monthly retention for a low-end professional SEO company can be as little as $2500, $7500 for a mid-range operation and up to $20,000 for a high-end, according to SEOMOZ.org.

The good news is that you can start small and expand as your business expands. The best professional SEO company will offer you a range of packages and services to choose from. You may choose an hourly consulting plan or a per-project package. You may opt for profit sharing or performance-based pay in some cases. We’ll discuss the SEO company payment options in a future blog

As a professional SEO company, one of the first things we do is analyze your site to see which search engine optimization techniques you need.

First we'll check all the basics: Which keyword phrases are you using (and which keyword phrases should you be using?) We'll use many different programs to assess your industry and come up with both general and the oh-so-profitable targeted keywords, which bring web traffic from the search engines to you.

Next we'll check: Where are these keywords placed and how frequently are they being used? You've probably come across a site before that just seems to have keywords on top of keywords in arrangements that make no sense at all. It's amazing that you actually found that site (given that web crawlers usually penalize such sites with poor ranking), but it doesn't really matter because NO ONE sticks around or buys from those sites! Also, another common problem our SEO Company come across is that people underestimate the importance of having keywords in image text, titles, links and the first paragraph of text.

Our SEO Company will also make sure you're not breaking any rules by hiding content in JavaScript, including tough-to-read URLs or spamming.

Then we'll move onto some more advanced SEO company analysis: How many incoming links do you have (and are they of good quality)? We have many partnerships for link building if you need it!

We'll look at: When was the page last modified? If it hasn't been modified in a long time, you've got problems (your site isn't being recognized as "fresh!") If you have made dozens of very minor changes, your ranking will be hurt too. However, if you're constantly updating the site with loads of compelling content, your site will enjoy high ranking (which is why our SEO Company also highly recommends our copywriting services as well!)

Google Software engineer Matt Cutts sits in his comfiest chair in blue jeans. He's not worried about the future of Travel SEO… neither are we… are neither should you. Some Travel SEO companies are panicking because they were comfortable with their knowledge of the complex Google algorithms. Search engine optimization and leading the rat race to the top Google position has never been straightforward – which is why many top executives choose to hire a Travel SEO expert who can keep up with the latest industry changes, trends and formulas.

"I think that it's natural that some people would be worried about change, but some of the best SEO's are the SEO's that are able to adapt, that are able to look down the road 4 or 5 years and say, 'What are the big trends going to be?' and adjust for those trends in advance, so that when a search engine does make a change which you think is inevitable or will eventually happen, they'll be in a good position," explains Matt Cutts. "Personalization is one of those things where if you look down the road a few years, having a search engine that is willing to give you better results because it can know a little bit more about what your travel interests are, that's a clear win for users, and so it's something that Travel SEO's can probably predict that they'll need to prepare for."

This year, Travel SEO professionals can help your business gear up for this new environment. As you may have noticed, the beginning of Google's personalization has already started with a personalized homepage and personalized news. Google will be able to look at users' locations and past searches to determine which sites come up.

More and more, relevant content and site value will be important for businesses engaging in Travel SEO. Cutts says, "The sort of people who have been doing 'new' SEO, or whatever you want to call it -- that's social media optimization, link bait, things that are interesting to people and attract word of mouth and buzz, those sorts of sites naturally attract visitors, attract repeat visitors, attract back links, attract lots of discussion -- those sorts of sites are going to benefit as the world goes forward."

Ah, the “simple life”… you got customers because they knew you personally, your business did well because you were the best, there were a handful of stores in town and “marketing” meant drawing up a few flyers. In today’s fast-moving, competitive world — unless you live in Peoria, Illinois or Round Top, Texas – you will need a complex (and more expensive) strategy. Given its proven efficiency, hiring an SEO company shouldn’t even be a question anymore, but rather an answer.

In today’s expensive, bottom-line-lingering world, it’s tempting to look for a “bargain.” But then again… remember that time you purchased a cheap wine cabinet from Wal-mart that was made in China, only to find that there was magic marker scribbled over the scuff marks, stripped screws, crooked-cut boards and about two weeks before it just fell apart?  When looking for an SEO company, sometimes you get what you pay for.

If a cheap SEO company promises you submission to thousands of search engines, the addition of hundreds of doorway pages, #1 rankings and thousands of links… it’s likely a bunch of old-fashioned rubbish. However, if a reasonably priced SEO company can offer you customized packages with a variety of options to suit your need, print-outs to indicate progress and a whole host of search engine marketing techniques (website design, content creation, targeted keywords, inbound linking, blogging, etc) then you just may be in business!

One last word about “the simple life”… life moves a little slower around here. Take a breath of fresh air with the time you’ll be saving (by not stressing over your website.) Visit with your family a little more, take that vacation you’ve been planning, cram that workout in. Give your new SEO company at least a good six months (with billions of websites out there, magic doesn’t happen overnight) and see what an SEO company can do for you!

According to a 2008 study done by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, experience in search engine marketing can be rather costly these days. The published results indicated that a professional SEO company with over five years of experience could cost you between $100,000 and $200,000 per year. For an SEO company with less than five years of experience, the cost is still $60,000 - $100,000 annually, on average.

So what does this tell us? For one, it tells us that search engine marketing is not something you dump on an inexperienced existing employee who already has a full plate of work. The study found that 35% of the search engine marketers were hired solely for that job, with an additional 26% carrying the “entry level analyst” title. Smaller percentages indicated that, in some cases, senior analysts, managers, directors, Vps and senior managers were trying to wear the SEO company hat. In those cases, hiring/training costs were tacked onto $200,000 salaries. It’s reasonable to assume if you’re paying someone that much money, they’ll do a decent job at whatever you throw at them. But can an expert SEO company give you more mileage for less money? Certainly.

In another key study from 2005, iProspect & JupiterResearch marketing firms surveyed 636 individual marketers and 224 agencies to study return-on-investment from SEO company performance. Of those surveyed, 35% reported that SEO company search engine optimization outperformed search ads. Secondly, 42% of the respondents who outsourced their search engine optimization to an expert SEO company reported a higher return-on-investment (an additional 11% had no idea what was or wasn’t working, if that tells you anything!)

Duane Forrester, lead SEO program manager for Microsoft, says that the SEMPO study found most larger companies deal with monthly SEO company budgets of $200,000 or more. “We anticipated a lower ceiling of monthly spend closer to the $100,000 range so we were pleasantly surprised,” Forrester remarked. “The $200k monthly spend is a healthy barometer of the search marketing industry and it syncs up with SEMPO’s current trend projections that SEM spending will double by 2011, to more than $18 billion.”

Jitendra Jain of Starwood Hotels Dubai sees change brewing in the hotel SEO industry, which may sound surprising to some, seeing as hotels were slow to catch onto the idea of optimizing their pages for search engines. In the past, hotel chains could rely on their brand name or location alone, without surfing for new clients. It used to be that they could piggyback off the travel booking sites, but more and more hotel SEO is honing in on capturing audiences directly and running a self-sufficient empire.

"Experience building will become key to the looking and booking process online," said Jain. She added that hotels will allow all elements of the hotel to be booked separately or bundled together to allow more personal customization.

Additionally, hotel SEO like paid search will fall by the wayside and top placement won't necessarily be everything anymore. Instead, more than just text will be optimized – videos and photos will be as well. Also, Google may begin to show rankings based on past searches. "Successful hotel search marketing of the future will be more about optimizing content of all types and reaching the right audience through the right niche and social search channels," Jain writes.

This year many companies will face smaller marketing budgets. Business professionals are searching for the most tangible, cost-effective solutions. While there's a lot of focus on print ads or direct mail marketing with coupons to track results, many insiders are boasting success stories related to search engine optimization, SEO copywriting services and web marketing.

"It all starts with a powerful, search engine-friendly website," explains Jon Wuebben, author of Content Rich: Writing Your Way to Wealth on the Web. "Companies today need to focus on the words they are using to communicate with their prospects and how the leverage this content in order to maximize their online exposure." SEO copywriting services, he says, can be an effortless way to harness the power of cost-effective online marketing. Generally you'll want to hire a proven SEO Company for your SEO copywriting services, but here are some tactics that can help you boost your sales (and why.)

·   First of all, your website copy should be conversational, appealing directly to visitors and making even the most complicated messages plainly understood.

·   Secondly, bulleted lists can pop out of the page, keeping consumers focused on important sales points, and headings or subheadings can direct the reader's focus where you want it.

·   Thirdly, limiting the amounts of words per page to 350 can keep visitors from being overwhelmed.

·   Next, you'll want your copy to be both interesting and informative to engage your readers (Think of the AIDA method – build Attention, Interest, Desire, Action).

·   Lastly, don't be afraid to ask for the sale with calls-to-action, prompting readers to click to get your newsletter, visit your online catalog or order now.

"I think you need to start with writing the best copy you can for your target audience, then step back and look at it from an SEO perspective, not just a marketing perspective," advises E-commerce expert Julian Chu. Additionally, he says hiring SEO copywriting services to write engaging product descriptions and Search-Engine-friendly attributes will act as a magnet, reeling in web users from Google and Yahoo.

"Sales copy is what turns visitors into customers," explains Derek Gehl at MSNCBC.com.  "Take a look at your own and see if all the elements are in place, and if not, give it more of the attention it deserves" – with professional SEO copywriting services.

Nothing makes my day like an SEO company success story. Obviously, my company’s own testimonials and triumphs make me happiest. Yet, I still find myself feeling up, even if it wasn’t my personal achievement. Why? Because, while we’re all competitors, there’s still this very basic sense of “We’re all in this together” or “It’s us versus the search engine bots.” We’re all ambitiously trying to crack the codes and keep on the upswing of this tremendously fast-paced (and exhilarating) ride we lovingly refer to as “Internet marketing.”

This week I read that Monster.com has been making significant search engine optimization changes over the past few months – and as a result, the amount of organic traffic jumped 26%, with a 13% revenue increase this quarter! Thanks to a newly designed homepage that better reflects the “Monster” brand, an SEO company helped Monster attract a market, appeal to that market and create more repeat visitors. Having a fresh layout that allows visitors to instantly find the information they desire is the quickest way to drum up more support. If you have related articles that interest people and keep them captivated, they will be drawn back regularly, so long as you keep maintaining your content.

Additionally, I read another SEO company success story for Mini Cooper car leasing in the UK (Cooperlease.co.uk). Just three weeks after the site’s launch, they found themselves in the top Google slot with over 200 hits per day. This is all thanks to the work done by their SEO company, they say. In October, the site had 292 visitors (with 25 visitors finding them through associated Google searches). The following month, the site had 694 visitors (with 75 visitors finding them through associated Google searches!) Their site is growing organically, without any gimmicks. They’ve just focused on creating relevant news and content that interests people. If you write it, they will come: This has always been my favorite mantra. Hey, that’s why you’re here, right?

Nothing makes my day like an SEO company success story. Obviously, my company's own testimonials and triumphs make me happiest. Yet, I still find myself feeling up, even if it wasn't my personal achievement. Why? Because, while we're all competitors, there's still this very basic sense of "We're all in this together" or "It's us versus the search engine bots." We're all ambitiously trying to crack the codes and keep on the upswing of this tremendously fast-paced (and exhilarating) ride we lovingly refer to as "Internet marketing."
 
This week I read that Monster.com has been making significant search engine optimization changes over the past few months – and as a result, the amount of organic traffic jumped 26%, with a 13% revenue increase this quarter! Thanks to a newly designed homepage that better reflects the "Monster" brand, an SEO company helped Monster attract a market, appeal to that market and create more repeat visitors. Having a fresh layout that allows visitors to instantly find the information they desire is the quickest way to drum up more support. If you have related articles that interest people and keep them captivated, they will be drawn back regularly, so long as you keep maintaining your content.
 
Additionally, I read another SEO company success story for Mini Cooper car leasing in the UK (Cooperlease.co.uk). Just three weeks after the site's launch, they found themselves in the top Google slot with over 200 hits per day. This is all thanks to the work done by their SEO company, they say. In October, the site had 292 visitors (with 25 visitors finding them through associated Google searches). The following month, the site had 694 visitors (with 75 visitors finding them through associated Google searches!) Their site is growing organically, without any gimmicks. They've just focused on creating relevant news and content that interests people. If you write it, they will come: This has always been my favorite mantra. Hey, that's why you're here, right?

The 2007 State of the Market survey by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) is out, so pay close attention!
After consulting with 867 companies, findings suggested that the SEO company is still very relevant in today’s market. “The spending statistics show search engine marketing continues to prove its worth in the larger marketing arena,” reports SEMPO president Jeffrey Pruitt. “However, in light of the concerns about the overall economy, it’s important to note some of this spending is the result of shifting marketing dollars from other offline and online marketing endeavors.”

The report said that the North American SEO company industry grew from $9.4 billion to 12.2 billion in the last year, exceeding projections. Analysts say that it could grow to $25.2 billion by 2011! Researchers also said marketers are finding more dollars to spend on their chosen SEO Company by “poaching budget from print magazine spending, website development, direct mail and other marketing programs.” Paid placement accounted for 87.4% of 2007 spending, with organic SEO (10.5%), paid inclusion, (.07%,) and technology investment (1.4%) covering the rest.
The average business spent $18.6 to $25.2 billion on their SEO company and 75% of businesses reported that they could handle paying a little bit more for their paid placement, even though prices held steady. Gordon Hotchkiss, SEMPO chairman, commented, “While CPC price inflation has slowed, marketers are finally beginning to recognize the value of search, and we expect search prices will hold and may even continue to move upward based on survey data”

According to MarketingProfs, one of the latest SEO company trends involves a lot of SEO copywriting services and a little bit of social media marketing. Contributor Stephan Spencer says that hot SEO company trends include the following:

· Becoming a trusted contributor on social news/content sites like Digg, Propeller, Reddit, Mixx, StumbleUpon, Wikipedia, and Knol

· Building your personal and professional network in online communities like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube, Bebo and MyBlogRoll

· Link baiting—posting humorous/fascinating/contentious/controversial content that is a magnet for links

He said the old methods are out. Your SEO company will certainly take keywords into consideration but it won't be viewed as the "end-all, be-all" of internet marketing that it once was. The old methods of link baiting are out.

To gauge success, your SEO company will be looking at the amount of traffic coming to the site based on your brand name (you should be getting more traffic from other keywords or else your site is fundamentally broken.) They'll also be ensuring your homepage offers many other pages of unique content … and if those pages aren't hauling in traffic, they'll be revised and redone. They'll track the number of keywords on each page and how many visitors are drawn by each one. The methods of a successful SEO company are changing all the time, so keep coming back to hear the latest!

On Thursday, a panel of SEO Company professionals gathered at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose. Christine Churchill, president of one SEM firm, said SEO Company success depends upon finding the optimal keywords. The SEO Company must look at words the consumers are using, not just industry jargon."If you're speaking the same language as your customers -- then you're communicating," Churchill said.

Additionally, relevant keywords need to be incorporated in website design, adds Jill Whalen, CEO of High Rankings. "Good content is the key to SEO, as well as paid search landing pages," she said.

Program Manager Jorie Waterman recommends the new Microsoft adCenter Add-in for Excel 2007 tool that researches keywords and provides query traffic data.

Google Adwords spokesman Frederick Vallaeys says that any good SEO Company will make use of free programs like Google Adwords, as well as Google Trends and Insights for Search. Ideally you'll want to focus your attention on two to four word phrases, he adds. Another common mistake is that an SEO Company will put too many or too few keywords into an ad group. The ideal size should be between 10 – 50 keywords, he advised.

The best thing about hiring a professional SEO Company is that you're trusting in someone who's deeply embedded within the internet marketing industry, who attends these conferences and who has the know-how to execute an up-to-date online marketing program for you. The best way to get started is to have search engine optimization worked right into your homepage from the get-go, experts say.

Any Phoenix SEO expert will tell you, the key to a successful website is understanding how people use the web. You've got to know who's coming to your site, where they're coming from, where they're going next, how long they're hanging out with you, whether it's their first time or they've been there before. The amount of knowledge you can gather is just astronomical. There is certainly no substitute for customized web analytics from your Phoenix SEO guy. However, studies are also a good indicator of what people generally do.

In the Consumer Electronics Association and Yahoo study ("Understanding How Consumers Use the Internet to Research and Shop for Consumer Electronics"), researchers found that 77% of the $32.5 billion in online purchases occurred following Internet research.

Most consumers still bought their goods offline, but they spent an average of nine hours researching cell phones and fifteen hours researching TVs! They generally checked six sources before making a purchase. This is where Phoenix SEO can really help a small business manipulate their online image and beef up consumer-generated content. Nearly 47% of those surveyed considered themselves "Searchers" of information and they were more likely to consider Internet ads and 114% more likely to spread the newfound information through word-of-mouth.

According to a new report by Aberdeen Group, there are huge gaps between the most successful retailers and the rest of the pack. So in anticipation of the holiday season, it's a good time to look at your Sacramento SEO efforts compared to the competition. So what are the winners doing? They're…

*       Using Sacramento SEO. 73% of the best retailers are using search tools on their own websites to help shoppers find exactly what they're looking for (compared to just 33% of the average retailers and 24% of the worst retailers.)

*       Using Shopping Comparison Sites. 60% of the best retailers are using social comparison sites (compared to 32% of the average retailers and 0% of the worst retailers.)

*       Using Dynamic Web Content (50%, 32%, 13%)

*       Using Online Personalization Tools (40%, 28%, 24%)

*       Using Social Marketing Tools (40%, 27%, 13%)

*       Using Cross-Channel Abilities (50%, 32%, 20%)

*       Using Sacramento SEO Analytic Tools (50%, 45%, 33%)

*       Using Cross-Channel Loyalty Programs (40%, 27%, 7%)

Some companies can afford to throw their entire marketing budget to an SEO Company and will use the techniques to grow their business ten-fold seemingly overnight. For the rest of us "little guys," we've got to prioritize our needs and plot out our budget and tasks on a reasonable timeline.

Many of us understand business in the "real world" sense: we can set up a retail display, get booked at a trade show or meet with business professionals to network over lunch. But when it comes to the world of online marketing and SEO Company work, many of us are still asking, "Inbound links, blogs, article publishing, pay per click – where do I begin?"

First you begin with the basic question of functionality. Have your SEO Company work out any major kinks. If your site is giving people errors or freezing, you will forever lose your captive audience. This also includes having a site performance measuring system in place, so you can monitor what's working and what's not. Analytical information is absolutely priceless!

Next you'll need to make sure your site is accessible and usable, with easy-to-read fonts, multiple language settings (if applicable), dial-up HTML-only pages, a navigable menu bar and a search button. Are the colors and images adding to the value of the site or frustrating people? Be sure the links and buttons work.

Eisenberg says the intuitive layer is "about improving the flow of the visitor's site experience and optimizing aspects that keep the visitors from buying." Again, the analytic info will help your SEO Company determine any weaknesses. Perhaps you need to add a shopping cart element, offer free shipping, shorten your information form or improve your customer service model.

Hiring an SEO Company skilled in copywriting and effective persuasion will yield the most results, although this cannot be done without the other elements already in place. The companies that get ahead have memorable product descriptions, eye-catching videos, excellent testimonials, a useful blog and compelling content.

A few months ago, I talked to a business professional working in the real estate market who confided that he wasn't aware that SEO copywriting services existed. He told me he thought once content was put on the Internet it was "fair game" for anyone to lift and use on their own sites! As shocking as it may seem, many small business owners are in-the-dark when it comes to content generation and search engine optimization. In other words, they know where they are and where they want to be, but aren't sure how to get there.

When hiring someone for SEO copywriting services, you'll want to first have some sense of what you're after. Do you need someone to write blogs, revamp your website, cover article marketing and press releases, craft newsletters or write sales copy for you? Also, you must decide what you're willing to pay. Most copywriters charge anywhere from $20-$200 per hour for their services. Some companies (like OptiTrex) offer SEO copywriting services budgeted at your request, so if you want to start off with 20 blogs one month and perhaps try 20 more plus a press release, that can be arranged. Be sure you have the funds set aside to pay for your SEO copywriting services too: nothing scares fresh affordable talent away like late payments!

Lastly, you'll want to look for a copywriter who:

-has been in the field for several years and possesses a college degree

-has accomplished a variety of different industries and assignments

-has marketing/sales experience or drive

-responds in a timely fashion and has the time to finish your projects.
 

Rant in 3… 2… 1… You know, I’m tired of all this SEO company trash-talking. There are critics who accuse us of participating in “fake work” to extort a profit. There are critics who feel they’d be better served just reading a book and doing it themselves. There are critics who think search engine optimization is just something you dump on an existing employee to “finish up if ya got time.” There are critics who think that search engines are entirely unpredictable and random, or who suspect there is some covert power allegiance exalting certain websites while condemning others – and there is nothing we can do about it!

I whole heartedly disagree! Look, an SEO company can be your best friend. The SEO company consultant can be the therapist who listens to all your grievances, your fears and your dreams regarding your business’s website and web presence. The SEO company consultant can be your biggest fan and spokesperson, promoting your business to all his or her contacts, friends, family and web of journalists. The SEO company can be your beacon of light, offering innovative 2008 solutions that consultants picked up at industry seminars, ceremonies, meetings and tech geek conversations.

To circumvent all this drama and get back to the meat-and-potatoes of the SEO company industry, we need to remember why we’re here. It’s not the rankings – it’s the conversions. Secondly, we need to have respect for one another – let’s be positive about conferences and SEO expert advice. Lastly, let’s work together to uncover new strategies that will level the playing field. At the end of the day, may the most innovative, hard-working company win and may the world awaken to the significance of hiring a professional SEO company to do the job!

You may cringe while going over the budget, but you’ll simultaneously be sighing with relief once you hire an SEO company to tackle the difficult task of Internet marketing. No one in the office was particularly keen on it and you haven’t the slightest clue what a “meta-tag” or “inbound link” is — or an extra 120 hours/month to devote to it, for that matter. Of course, hiring an SEO company still doesn’t save your hide when you have to explain your business’s performance to shareholders, other corporate executives or company presidents. Knowing the very bare bones basics of search engine optimization will help you understand the best way to strategize with your new business partners and report on marketing progress at the next meeting.

First of all, understand that there is a good way to approach SEO and a bad way. While the vast majority of SEO companies are trustworthy, knowledgeable and skilled, you also need to know what a “Black Hat” SEO company is – and what one could do to you. The Black Hat SEO company will use link farms, keyword stuffing, link baiting, link spamming, competitor sabotaging and other nefarious tactics to boost your company. However, once search engine bots catch on, your site will be blacklisted and you can kiss your entire web promotion effort goodbye. No one will ever be able to find your site if you become one of the villainous sites trying to kill off the competition. Good luck explaining that to the boss!

On the other end of the spectrum, you want to be able to talk intelligently with your SEO company and develop customized strategies that will best improve your business. You want to be able to discern what’s going on from the web traffic statistics your SEO company gives you. You’ll want to direct your SEO company as a visionary, without having to know the actual mechanics of how the job gets done. By having a working knowledge of all the various marketing options, you can be sure you’re getting the best deal and confidently take the next step.

To learn more about what an SEO company does, you can speak with an SEO consultant, purchase an online training program (like SEMPO Institute), read a book (like The SEO Bible), or join an SEO community (SEObook.com). Several hours invested can go a long way to ensure the best results.

You may cringe while going over the budget, but you'll simultaneously be sighing with relief once you hire an SEO company to tackle the difficult task of Internet marketing. No one in the office was particularly keen on it and you haven't the slightest clue what a "meta-tag" or "inbound link" is -- or an extra 120 hours/month to devote to it, for that matter. Of course, hiring an SEO company still doesn't save your hide when you have to explain your business's performance to shareholders, other corporate executives or company presidents. Knowing the very bare bones basics of search engine optimization will help you understand the best way to strategize with your new business partners and report on marketing progress at the next meeting.

 

First of all, understand that there is a good way to approach SEO and a bad way. While the vast majority of SEO companies are trustworthy, knowledgeable and skilled, you also need to know what a "Black Hat" SEO company is – and what one could do to you. The Black Hat SEO company will use link farms, keyword stuffing, link baiting, link spamming, competitor sabotaging and other nefarious tactics to boost your company. However, once search engine bots catch on, your site will be blacklisted and you can kiss your entire web promotion effort goodbye. No one will ever be able to find your site if you become one of the villainous sites trying to kill off the competition. Good luck explaining that to the boss!

 

On the other end of the spectrum, you want to be able to talk intelligently with your SEO company and develop customized strategies that will best improve your business. You want to be able to discern what's going on from the web traffic statistics your SEO company gives you. You'll want to direct your SEO company as a visionary, without having to know the actual mechanics of how the job gets done. By having a working knowledge of all the various marketing options, you can be sure you're getting the best deal and confidently take the next step.

 

To learn more about what an SEO company does, you can speak with an SEO consultant, purchase an online training program (like SEMPO Institute), read a book (like The SEO Bible), or join an SEO community (SEObook.com). Several hours invested can go a long way to ensure the best results.

In all the talk of link relationships, has the art of communication itself been lost?” SearchEngineWatch.com blogger William Flaiz writes.

When you’re working with an SEO Company, they will often offer you a copywriting package. It may be tempting to feel like you can just do this yourself (after all, who knows your products and services better than you?)… but there is much merit to finding a pro to really write for you, employing writing strategies you never knew existed. Just as you are an expert in your area, the SEO Company copywriter is an expert wordsmith, researcher, communicator and messenger. The professional copywriter’s job, first and foremost, is to write on any given topic at the drop of a hat, employing an attractive tone and well-researched data.

Secondly, let’s not forget how fickle audiences can be. Let me speak frankly with you for a moment. If your readers find one typo, one misspelling, one weird character… they’re gone. Don’t kid yourself. There is a lot of competition out there and they don’t need you half as much as you need them. So why risk it? You’ll want an SEO Company copywriter who has an eagle’s eye for editing.

Thirdly, there is so much focus on keywords, that many business owners lose sight of what’s truly important in a fast-paced world: relevant information. You’ve probably seen many a site where an individual crams in keywords for the sake of keywords until the text is just shy of being meaningless drivel. The SEO Company copywriter will have the background knowledge about what readers are looking for, related to your field.

Additionally, the SEO Company copywriter knows social networking, the newest Internet hotspots and the latest trends. They know HTML coding and slideshow making, they know how to create promotional webpages on sites like Facebook or Myspace that can drum up more business than any ad you could possibly dream up.

“A strong SEO copywriter is adaptable and capable of internalizing a lot of new information extremely quickly,” Flaiz concludes. “They need to be subject matter experts and SEO savvy, client focused, and audience attentive. These unique individuals have fast become the backbone of many SEO engagements.” So why not ask your SEO Company about what their copywriters can do for you?

The components of a professional SEO company strategy may vary, but they’re all based around your needs and the ever-evolving industry standards.
Since so much information on how search engine bots rank pages is purposefully shrouded in secrecy by Silicon Valley executives, most of what we know comes from trial and error, published web statistics, industry success stories and years of experience. Often times, it’s sort of like a cat-and-mouse game: the expert SEO company finds system loopholes to push their clients to the top of the search engine ranking… and the search engine developers/bots find ways of discouraging strategies that helps any one company gain advantage over another.
However, the reason so much is held secret and so much changes month to month is all for one admirable goal: to protect Internet users from useless garbage and provide the most relevant, useful answers to every individual’s one burning question he or she’s come to the Internet for. While many variables will come and go, an SEO company knows that all a search engine bot’s really looking for is a site with a popular circle of trustworthy friends, whose best interest is the reader.
To show your popularity, a professional SEO company will have to, again, perform hours of research to see who’s leading your industry in page ranks. The SEO company can then work on your behalf to cultivate valuable “you help me / I’ll help you” relationships. Remember, a link from one highly rated site is much more valuable than 100 links from lower ranked sites.
To prove that you’ve got better content than the competition is where it gets tricky and enlisting help of a professional SEO company is particularly salient. Google isn’t completely Draconian, after all. They have given us several tools that encourage self-improvement. The idea is that it will benefit us all if web developers know what words matter to web users, which will in theory produce more relevant content. These tools result in pages and hours of boring research. Luckily this “boring research” is the bread and butter of an expert SEO company, so you won’t have to be bothered with it. The end result can put together in a meaningful package and may require content production or rewriting a few things, which your SEO company will gladly do for you.

We’re all looking to cut corners in our budgets. As a result, an expert SEO company is something that smaller businesses often overlook — taking the “I’ll do it myself” approach instead. Well, you are technically capable of sewing your own clothing, growing your own food or building your own house too. However, we seek outside help because 1-We’re too darn busy, and 2-We know that the end result will be much better if handled by a professional. The same holds true for search engine optimization and web marketing. Sure, you could buy software and try to do it yourself, but a professional SEO company has years of experience and all the time in the world to focus on this area of your business for you.

“Google page rank” may sound like jargon, but in literal terms it means capturing millions of web users each day and funneling them to your site. To get a good Google page rank, you could try paid advertising… or even more cost-efficiently try organic methods of optimization. It’s the difference between paying for an ad in a magazine or having an article published about your products, services and company in that same magazine. Time is money these days, so paying an expert SEO company will, in essence, save you loads of money and will outperform an online ad any day.
To get a good page rank, you’ll need two main things that an expert SEO company can do for you. First, you will need to have relevant content for what people are searching for online. Google search bots will be busy scrutinizing your page for exact matches of people’s search terms on your page, if the keyword density is appropriate, if your titles speak to what people are searching for and if the word count is ideal.

Secondly, you will need inbound links from other high-ranked sites in your industry (which acts as a testimonial to your credibility.) An expert SEO company will work on your behalf to negotiate link exchanges with other valuable sites within your industry or related to your industry. For instance, if you’re a realtor, it would benefit you to be associated with some top-rated builders, home renovation companies, home inspection guys and insurance companies.

Rant in 3… 2… 1… You know, I'm tired of all this SEO company trash-talking. There are critics who accuse us of participating in "fake work" to extort a profit. There are critics who feel they'd be better served just reading a book and doing it themselves. There are critics who think search engine optimization is just something you dump on an existing employee to "finish up if ya got time." There are critics who think that search engines are entirely unpredictable and random, or who suspect there is some covert power allegiance exalting certain websites while condemning others – and there is nothing we can do about it!

 

I whole heartedly disagree! Look, an SEO company can be your best friend. The SEO company consultant can be the therapist who listens to all your grievances, your fears and your dreams regarding your business's website and web presence. The SEO company consultant can be your biggest fan and spokesperson, promoting your business to all his or her contacts, friends, family and web of journalists. The SEO company can be your beacon of light, offering innovative 2008 solutions that consultants picked up at industry seminars, ceremonies, meetings and tech geek conversations.

 

To circumvent all this drama and get back to the meat-and-potatoes of the SEO company industry, we need to remember why we're here. It's not the rankings – it's the conversions. Secondly, we need to have respect for one another – let's be positive about conferences and SEO expert advice. Lastly, let's work together to uncover new strategies that will level the playing field. At the end of the day, may the most innovative, hard-working company win and may the world awaken to the significance of hiring a professional SEO company to do the job!