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You are here: Home > Internet and Businesses Online > SEO > Shopping for an SEO Consultant: 5 Key Questions to Ask |
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Casual Articles - Shopping for an SEO Consultant: 5 Key Questions to Ask
Students Discover Your Niche By Using Career Assessment company, and hundreds of others who thought they could outsmart the system. Just enter the phrase "banned from Google" into any major search engine and see what I mean.In our ever changing world where job competition is rampant it can be difficult to understand one’s strengths and what one wants to do in life.If you feel uncertain about your career path you’re not alone. Most college and high school students are unsure what path to take in their future or even what is their chosen career niche. Unfortunately, this uncertainty comes through in job interviews. This is a chance you can’t afford to take in today’s competitive market.With career assessment you not only learn your niche, but you reap the rewards! Consider these distinct advantages that come from knowing your niche.• Save time and money • Optimize your skills • Target the right jobsDid yo I know what you're thinking. "How can somebody who gets paid to improve search engine rankings afford to get clients banned from a search engine?" Easily. They do it until their reputation goes down the toilet. Then they close up shop and re-launch under a new name. Of course by then, Know When to Walk Away from A Deal In a certain regard, search engine optimization companies can be compared to house painters, real estate agents, auto mechanics and other service providers. With any of these professions, there are good providers and bad providers. Some are worth the money, while others are worth avoiding. The trick is telling them apart.There are times in business when you need to walk away from a deal. This is a tough thing to do. I hate doing it. It takes money out of people’s pockets and it makes me sick to my stomach – but sometimes you have to do it to be successful. Here are three times when it may be best to walk away from a piece of business:When it compromises your integrity. If you have to do something that will make you feel dishonest, unethical or immoral to get the business or to fulfill you agreement, you should walk away. In the end a person’s character is demonstrated by what he does when nobody is looking. If you don’t feel good about it, you should not do it.When you sacrifice the long-term potential for a Unfortunately, SEO professionals do not have to pass a competency test or obtain certification. All kinds of folks refer to themselves as SEO consultants, regardless of their actual qualifications. So how do you tell good from bad when shopping for an SEO consultant? By asking the right questions, that's how. Here are five key questions to start with: 1. How do you go about choosing the right phrases? Search engine optimization centers around two things -- key search phrases and visibility for those phrases. But it all starts with the phrases themselves. If an SEO company or consultant has trouble answering this question, or if they say, "Our clients usually handle that" ... then keep shopping. A good SEO company will get to know your company, your products or services, and your audience. And they will (or should) help connect these things by incorporating the right language into your website. 2. What kind of "black hat" techniques do you use? In the SEO industry, black hat techniques are those techniques that violate Google's guidelines for webmasters. They include such tactics as cloaking, domain masking, hidden text, and other attempts to trick search engines into thinking a site is larger or more relevant than it really is. Such techniques can get your website banned from Google. Yes, your website could actually be purged from Google's database. It happens every day. It happened to a European division of BMW, a major online printing company, and hundreds of others who thought they could outsmart the system. Just enter the phrase "banned from Google" into any major search engine and see what I mean. I know what you're thinking. "How can somebody who gets paid to improve search engine rankings afford to get clients banned from a search engine?" Easily. They do it until their reputation goes down the toilet. Then they close up shop and re-launch under a new name. Of course by then, y The Web Directory Dilemma, Need the Links Don't Have the Time ves as SEO consultants, regardless of their actual qualifications.Most webmasters know that to rank high in the search engines you need to have other websites link to your site. A common way to get started in link building is to submit your website to directories. This gives two benefits, first it creates a link to your site, and second the more popular directories send traffic to your site.Next comes the problem, it take time to submit your website to hundreds of directories, especially if you are trying to type all of the submission information by hand. Then next thing most new webmasters try is to create a text file with all of the submission information on it, and cut and paste this information to the boxes on the submission form. This works much better, it decreases the amoun So how do you tell good from bad when shopping for an SEO consultant? By asking the right questions, that's how. Here are five key questions to start with: 1. How do you go about choosing the right phrases? Search engine optimization centers around two things -- key search phrases and visibility for those phrases. But it all starts with the phrases themselves. If an SEO company or consultant has trouble answering this question, or if they say, "Our clients usually handle that" ... then keep shopping. A good SEO company will get to know your company, your products or services, and your audience. And they will (or should) help connect these things by incorporating the right language into your website. 2. What kind of "black hat" techniques do you use? In the SEO industry, black hat techniques are those techniques that violate Google's guidelines for webmasters. They include such tactics as cloaking, domain masking, hidden text, and other attempts to trick search engines into thinking a site is larger or more relevant than it really is. Such techniques can get your website banned from Google. Yes, your website could actually be purged from Google's database. It happens every day. It happened to a European division of BMW, a major online printing company, and hundreds of others who thought they could outsmart the system. Just enter the phrase "banned from Google" into any major search engine and see what I mean. I know what you're thinking. "How can somebody who gets paid to improve search engine rankings afford to get clients banned from a search engine?" Easily. They do it until their reputation goes down the toilet. Then they close up shop and re-launch under a new name. Of course by then, Brand Your Name! EO company or consultant has trouble answering this question, or if they say, "Our clients usually handle that" ... then keep shopping.Have you ever thought about branding your name? Does the idea sound too egotistical for you or does it make good business sense? Let's examine personal name branding and how it can help you achieve the recognition you need for your business and put you quickly on the path to success!Promptly upon receiving my layoff notice from my position of nearly eleven years, I decided I needed to venture out on my own. I formed a limited liability company and named the concern after my name. Why? Because my name was more known than what I did. I possessed a lengthy work history as an accomplished technical writer but mostly everyone I dealt with in and out of my company knew me more by my name than by what I di A good SEO company will get to know your company, your products or services, and your audience. And they will (or should) help connect these things by incorporating the right language into your website. 2. What kind of "black hat" techniques do you use? In the SEO industry, black hat techniques are those techniques that violate Google's guidelines for webmasters. They include such tactics as cloaking, domain masking, hidden text, and other attempts to trick search engines into thinking a site is larger or more relevant than it really is. Such techniques can get your website banned from Google. Yes, your website could actually be purged from Google's database. It happens every day. It happened to a European division of BMW, a major online printing company, and hundreds of others who thought they could outsmart the system. Just enter the phrase "banned from Google" into any major search engine and see what I mean. I know what you're thinking. "How can somebody who gets paid to improve search engine rankings afford to get clients banned from a search engine?" Easily. They do it until their reputation goes down the toilet. Then they close up shop and re-launch under a new name. Of course by then, Just What is Content? hose techniques that violate Google's guidelines for webmasters. They include such tactics as cloaking, domain masking, hidden text, and other attempts to trick search engines into thinking a site is larger or more relevant than it really is.What is content? Web development involves two major components: mechanics and content. The mechanics should be seamless and transparent. The end user should never be aware of the mechanics, only dazzled by the effects or pleased by the simplicity of the page. A professional web design company will provide professional quality web development.If the mechanics of a web development are seamless and transparent, what does that make the content? The content is what gets the visitors involved in the website. The content is what brings them back, again and again. The content is a place where the visitor feels a measure of control, relief and ultimately, customer satisfaction.What comprises the content that a web dev Such techniques can get your website banned from Google. Yes, your website could actually be purged from Google's database. It happens every day. It happened to a European division of BMW, a major online printing company, and hundreds of others who thought they could outsmart the system. Just enter the phrase "banned from Google" into any major search engine and see what I mean. I know what you're thinking. "How can somebody who gets paid to improve search engine rankings afford to get clients banned from a search engine?" Easily. They do it until their reputation goes down the toilet. Then they close up shop and re-launch under a new name. Of course by then, For Financial Planners, Marketing and Publicity Is About You company, and hundreds of others who thought they could outsmart the system. Just enter the phrase "banned from Google" into any major search engine and see what I mean.For financial planners, getting publicity, in the end, isn’t about having contacts in the media.Or about writing a great press release.In the end, it’s about one thing: it’s about you.You, and the knowledge and expertise you share every day with your clients.The same knowledge that helps you recommend the right stocks, mutual funds, or municipal bonds.The same expertise that your clients seek out when they want to plan a savings account for their child's education, formulate a retirement plan, or protect the value of their estate.If you have any of that knowledge stuff (and you wouldn’t still be in business if you didn’t), you can get publicity. And you can use that publicity to bu I know what you're thinking. "How can somebody who gets paid to improve search engine rankings afford to get clients banned from a search engine?" Easily. They do it until their reputation goes down the toilet. Then they close up shop and re-launch under a new name. Of course by then, you're out thousands of dollars and your website is banned from Google. Ouch! Ask yourself this. Is manipulating your way to the top of the search engines worthwhile if you later lose your rankings entirely? Could you handle scrapping everything you've worked for and starting over again from scratch? Probably not. So if an SEO company gives you a list of the black hat techniques they use, tell them goodbye. 3. What SEO techniques do you use in general? If an SEO company tries to keep secrets from you, there's probably a reason. A search engine optimization company should be proud to talk about their SEO techniques. Unless, of course, their techniques have caused more harm than good (see question #2 above). "Sorry, but we don't disclose our techniques" can usually be translated as "We're ashamed to disclose our techniques." 4. Do you have a writer on staff? Many aspects of search engine optimization are technical in nature. But you must remember the audience you ultimately want to win over consists of people, not search engines. This is where writers come into the picture. All too often, I see Internet marketing managers and website owners develop SEO tunnel vision. These people become so concerned with "pleasing search engines" that it clouds their judgment. "Search engines will love this copy," the argument goes, despite the fact that the copy sounds like a four-year-old wrote it. (No offense to any literary prodigies out there.) Search engines are not your ultimate goal. They are only a path to your ultimate goal. For these reasons and many more, it's critical for an SEO company to have in-house writing talent. If an SEO company tells you they don't think copywriting is a big part of SEO ... then beware. Your web pages will likely be written for search engines
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