Q. How do I know half of SEO companies can’t be trusted?

A. Because the other half tell me so. . .

In fact I get told quite a lot by SEO companies so I thought I would attend Salford University’s SSMM course to help me make an informed decision when it comes to choosing a future SEO partner.   Previous to joining the course finding an SEO specialist wasn’t too difficult as there are not too many days go by when I don’t receive an email or a sales call from an SEO company.   They generally all start the same:

“Just been looking at your website, it’s really good but I couldn’t help noticing. . .”

At this point the pitch takes one of two approaches – either the use of vanity or fear to get my attention and the sale.

• Vanity in terms of getting my site onto page 1 of Google and ahead of my competitors. Because surely that’s where I’d like to be.
• Fear because apparently there are Panda’s and Penguin’s roaming the internet that are taking no-prisoners when it comes to poorly managed websites.

From here I’m told there are a lot of SEO companies that can’t deliver what they promise so I should be careful who I trust my business with.

I should explain . . .

Let me clear up one point I don’t work for large blue-chip organisation whose company logo would appear on an SEO companies website as sign of kudos and respectability.   The company I work for, Wray Bros www.wraybros.co.uk is good at what it does and I believe has an enviable reputation in the B2B janitorial sector.

Nevertheless, it isn’t a household name nor is it a company with a huge marketing budget.  So for all the courting I don’t kid myself we are a marquee signing.  As an aside, I’ve often wondered – As we have a limited budget does that mean I’ll always be fishing from a poorer quality pool of SEO specialists?

Or could the same observations be made with companies blessed with much larger marketing budgets and recognised brands? Perhaps someone from a blue chip company could shed some light whether all things are relative?

As mentioned the intention is to use the information gained from the SSMM course to build my knowledge to become more effective in my search for the right SEO partner and to become a more productive and contributing client.

The original plan

The plan was to review potential supplier websites to determine if they follow the best practices as highlighted on the course.  Some of the tools I was keen to use to compare SEO companies

• Google page Speed Insights: Google Page Speed Insights.  A higher score would tell me those sites that have invested time in making sure their site is running efficiently to enhance the user experience.
• To review their own company and staff blogs to see what makes them tick and what they’re passionate about.
• Use Open Site Explorer or Firefox SEO Book in order to benchmark across a number of potential suppliers to determine how they perform in regards the number of linking domains and their domain authority to see how they could rank against each other

A change of direction

However, the more I learned from the course and listening to guest experts talk in-depth about best practices for on-site optimisation and use of social media etc it dawned on me whatever quirks the SEO companies I have come into contact with may have a fair amount of the problems of unmet expectations have come from myself.  There you go, I’ve said it – I’m a customer who isn’t always right!

I have since come to realise whereas I thought when I employed an SEO specialist I was paying for knowledge and results, in-fact in now understand I am paying for knowledge and their time.  As I have a limited budget what can I realistically expect of someone to achieve with limited time.

Perhaps, if I think and act differently I can use that limited budget more effectively?

The new plan of action

Over the following months the intention is to differentiate the Wray Bros website from the many competitors within the janitorial supplies market.  The plan and the starting point is to get back to basics and ensure the redeveloped website foundations are sound before considering new activities such as proactive link building or using social media.

The first phase of the plan is not to get fixated by traffic volume but concentrate on the conversion rate.  This is to be achieved by becoming an authority in our field by developing unique and helpful content.

One aspect of the janitorial market is that the majority of distributors use the same images and copy supplied to them by the manufacturers without thought of its suitability for the web or the fact their own competitors are using exact same material.

First phase for redeveloped website is to improve the on-site optimisation

• Re-visit the product copy to make it engaging, keyword effective and more importantly original
• Develop supporting content that help a user make an informed decision, i.e. produce user guides COSHH risk assessment documents, dilution guides and best value guides, e.g. microfibre mops or traditional mops.
• Fully optimise the site’s 4000 product images through better constructed file names and alt attributes to help differentiate from the competition
• Re-visit the sites title tag structure and ensure I was targeting relevant keywords
• The urls have been improved by using hyphens and removing surplus or irrelevant terms and again using the relevant keywords.
• Whilst the approach has been to improve the content and visual appearance we have also been mindful not to impact on load times.
• From the first phase I want to create some meaningful metrics. I’m proposing to:
  • Monitor visitor duration and page views to determine if the content is making a difference.
  • As we sell consumables I’m interested in new sales. Yet the key metric will be the number of repeat purchasers.

Second phase activities include

• The same supporting content mentioned above will be used as the basis for creating a knowledge bank blog.  The intention is to provide free knowledge and advice on cleaning and hygiene issues in order to become a company worth knowing.
• Actively seek customer feedback and star reviews for the site to help build trust and credibility
• Build in time to commence a link building programme
• Review user behaviour and re-visit the site content to determine how to improve visitor numbers

Finally, what is my view on SEO companies and my limited budget?

The Salford University course has definitely provided me with some useful skills to be more self-reliant yet it has also made me realise the value of a good SEO specialist.   I believe I can use that limited budget more effectively with especially with specific targeted activities? So the next step is to find an SEO specialist and now I know that easily more than half of SEO companies CAN be trusted.

---