The next step is to interview them (either by email or skype) and then decide which one to hire. During the interview process, you can ask them these questions:<\/p>\n
Question 1: What is their online experience<\/b><\/h3>\n
How many years have they been working online? Is it a new company or established (and for how long) and who are the SEO experts<\/strong><\/a> behind it.<\/p>\n You need this information so as to understand their background, experience and most importantly who is going to be responsible for your website\u2019s SEO.<\/p>\n Hiring the wrong people can sometimes be catastrophic (meaning that it can damage your rankings, domain reputation and Google trust).<\/p>\n Once you get their response check their website, social media pages and blog.<\/p>\n It is a common practice for agencies and SEO professionals to have an active blog and social media presence.<\/p>\n This is a good indication that they are up-to-date with latest changes in the SEO industry and have something to share (from their working experience) with other people (mainly through blogging).<\/p>\n While we are talking about SEO services<\/strong><\/a> in reality what you want is an agency (or digital marketing manager<\/b><\/a>) that can offer you a full range of digital marketing services<\/b><\/a>.<\/p>\n The reasons are a lot but the most important is for SEO to really work, you also need content marketing<\/b><\/a>, social media marketing, email marketing, mobile marketing, ppc marketing<\/b><\/a> in order to utilize all possible ways of promoting your brand or business online.<\/p>\n If you can get all these services under one roof you gain a number of benefits related to uniformity of work, having common goals and lower prices.<\/p>\n It will also be easier for you management wise since you will have a single point of contact for all services without having to deal with many people or companies.<\/p>\n One easy way to understand more information about a company is to look at their client portfolio.<\/p>\n If they don\u2019t have a portfolio on their website then ask for it.<\/p>\n Browse through the list and visit some of the mentioned websites to get an idea of what other companies are already using their services.<\/p>\n It\u2019s good (but not necessary) to hire an SEO company that has prior experience related to your niche or industry or at least to related areas.<\/p>\n For example if you are an online retailer it is better to hire someone that has worked with ecommerce before.<\/p>\n Besides the client portfolio is also nice to get some feedback from their existing or past clients.<\/p>\n Ask for testimonials and a list of persons (with their contact details) that you can speak to.<\/p>\n You call optionally email or call them and ask them about their feedback.<\/p>\n Basically what you want to find out at this stage is whether they have a list of people you can talk to.<\/p>\n If they are in business for a long time they will probably have, if not then this is something you should consider in your final decision.<\/p>\n Another element you can consider is case studies and success stories.<\/p>\n While in most cases companies cannot easily share information without the client\u2019s approval (and many clients don\u2019t like to share their success stories with others and especially competitors), they should be able to show you examples where their methods and techniques were successful.<\/p>\n The way search engines work (especially Google) allow for practices that can temporarily manipulate rankings.<\/p>\n In other words some SEO\u2019s use tactics that can create an increase in organic traffic but this is only temporary until search engines refresh their algorithms.<\/p>\n What you are looking for is companies who use Google best standards and practices<\/b><\/a> and techniques that will gradually increase your traffic without taking any risks and without putting your business in any kind of trouble.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why it is important to look at their client portfolio and talk with their existing clients to make sure that their practices are ethical and according to best standards.<\/p>\n You can also ask them for a draft outline on how they plan to increase your traffic so as to get a better idea on what to expect for the first months of your co-operation.<\/p>\n SEO (and digital marketing<\/strong><\/a>) is not a low cost solution. Most SEO consultants or agencies charge $50 to $125 per hour for digital marketing services.<\/p>\n The truth is that in order to get good results you have to invest in quality services.<\/p>\n If you think about it, one of the goals of SEO is to generate more traffic and money for your business and this naturally comes at a price.<\/p>\n When interviewing your potential SEO partner you need to make sure that you understand how their pricing works.<\/p>\n How do they charge you for their work? Is it per project, per hour, monthly? How much you will have to pay and when? Do they provide a detail report of the tasks performed and related costs?<\/p>\n It is better if they accept to get paid after the completion of their work (for example at the end of each month) rather than getting paid in advance.<\/p>\n Fortunately there are many SEO metrics<\/b><\/a> that can be used to measure progress of an SEO campaign<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\nQuestion 2: What kind of services they offer?<\/b><\/h3>\n
![\"Digital](\"https:\/\/www.reliablesoft.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/digital-marketing.gif.png\")
Question 3: Do they have a client portfolio?<\/b><\/h3>\n
Question 4: Any success stories \/ Testimonials \/ case studies to share?<\/b><\/h3>\n
Question 5: Ask them about their SEO practices. How do they plan to increase your website\u2019s organic traffic.<\/b><\/h3>\n
Question 6: How pricing works?<\/b><\/h3>\n
Question 7: How do they measure progress \/ success of an SEO campaign<\/b><\/h3>\n