If your website is an important part of your business then you most likely have an in-house webmaster (or team of web developers) that attend religiously to your website. Because of the marketing nature of a website it's likely that the entire online strategy is handled by the marketing department. In that case, you are probably looking for a company that can develop the most suitable strategy for your business so that your own technical and marketing team can put it into practice.
If that is the case then it's crucial that the company you hire:
- Is able to communicate properly with your technicians and present issues and solutions in plain language.
- Offers training and guidance so that your staff can learn how to implement the SEO strategy and recommendations properly.
Bear in mind that the web designers only handle the visual image your company has on the web. While the SEO company has to be able to easily explain how to handle certain issues, you have to make sure that your technical team is in turn, receptive to new concepts and are able to accept changes required by the SEO campaign.
Varied Responsibility for Search Engine Marketing Companies
Consulting companies have a different responsibility to those that perform SEO in full. While the latter are bound by contract to produce results, the consulting companies have to produce reports and advice on how to best proceed with the SEO strategy. This can lead to limited responsibility on their part, as they are not directly involved in implementing changes in order to produce results. For some businesses this may not be acceptable as they need to be able to measure the value for money of the advice and training they receive.
Most reputable SEM companies have matured in time and have shifted from being directly involved in making changes to offering training and advice. This is because behind all the reports they produce there is an awful lot of research involved which is the basis of all their recommendations. It is less common to come a cross a consulting company that specialises in consulting that gives flawed advice whereas it is not at all uncommon to find many so called SEO specialists that often make dangerous changes to a web site and jeopardise its performance.
Overall, SEO consulting companies may have less of an obvious involvement as SEO companies who actually implement strategies, but the chances you are taking are often diminished as, these days, top rated SEO companies specialise in giving consultancy.
The Full Deal
If you've got a fairly modest online presence or if no one attends to your website on a regular basis, a SEO company that provides full services is probably the most suitable. This saves you from hiring and training extra staff to handle the new tasks and allows greater flexibility in the long term.
You will have to give the company access to the website so that they can do their job. You can relax and let them bring you traffic and sales but it's recommended that you keep an eye on them from time to time.
Choosing a Search Engine Optimisation Company
This article was first published on 12 August 2004 and does not necessarily match current events or the current opinions and views of bigmouthmedia ltd.
