Usually, as a general rule of thumb, you have to be very careful when you're negotiating the contract. A well drawn contract can save you from a miserable experience in any business situation. in search engine optimisation, there can be several reasons why you'd want to terminate your contract:
- The search engine optimisation company did not live up to their promises.
- You were subject to some sort of scam - being sold irrelevant traffic, optimised for obscure keywords etc.
- You paid them up front and they performed none of the agreed services.
- The SEO employed unethical methods on your site.
As soon as you realise that you're in less than fortunate situation, terminate the contract and regain full control of your website. If you've got the original version of the site then put it up temporarily if SEOs have altered your site without complying with quality guidelines.
Remember that a contract is the only thing that can get your money back and the best thing to do is talk to a solicitor. Does the contract specify anything regarding a money back guarantee? Does it say under what conditions the contract is terminated and what happens if the SEO company don't achieve the objectives they promised you? Who owns copyright on copy, code and adjustments?
Unfortunately, if you're not backed up properly by a contract, there is little chance that you'll recover your money. However, one word of advice, don't let this put you off completely of search engine optimisation. It's a wonderful opportunity to increase your revenue, provided you work with professional consultants. There are many optimisers out there who are completely ethical and will put their knowledge at use for your website. Take this experience for what it is, learn from it and move on. You will know a lot better how to choose a SEO and what to steer clear of.
One thing you could do is prevent other business owners from going through the same unfortunate experience. There are specialised SEO forums, discussion lists and associations who will be interested in knowing whether a company is ethical or not. There are also Better Business and Fair Trading associations in every country you can report the company to.
Help with unethical search engine optimisation companies
This article was first published on 27 August 2004 and does not necessarily match current events or the current opinions and views of bigmouthmedia ltd.
