How Important is it to Choose the Right SEO Partner for Your Business?

Search Engine Optimisation is a constantly evolving, fluid and important part of your online presence that should remain an organic part of the marketing plan for any business. Many of us already know this and take on an SEO partner to handle this side of things, so that we can focus on running the business itself.

However, the success of your optimisation relies on choosing the right SEO partner for the job. Because SEO is a complex and often expensive undertaking, businesses need transparency, updates, reports and consistent reassurance that what is being put out there is working. Without this level of transparency, there is only trust that you are getting good value for your money.

When businesses are spending marketing budgets on SEO with the wrong partner, there is potential for big losses – money, time and lost opportunities. Some SEO agencies charge hundreds of pounds in hourly rates and if these are the wrong SEO partners for your business, you can find yourself parting with huge sums for very little return.

But as business owners with little or no knowledge of SEO, and no inclination to start spending valuable business time in learning algorithms and best practices, how can you be sure you’re choosing the right SEO partner? We’ve come up with a list of tips to help you decide.

Agencies offering a digital marketing analysis

A full-service digital marketing agency who know their stuff will first offer you an analysis of your current position. This is vital in the early stages of planning a marketing program that is most likely to deliver results. An SEO partner that wants to know all about you, your industry sector and your competitors is going to be taking a comprehensive view and this is what you want to hear.

Data management and campaign tracking

The best SEO partner will make sure that everything they do for you online as a part of a planned strategy is justified. They will determine this through the initial and ongoing marketing analysis and continue to monitor, manage and track every part of the plan to ensure good performance.

SEO agencies that do this will react accordingly to performance, either changing low performing campaigns or cementing good ones with further work in this area. When SEO partners are on the ball in this way, you can be reassured that you won’t be wasting money on low performing content month after month. Reporting should be a big part of your expectations from the right SEO partner – on both the good stuff and the poor.

Think about budget – compare cost-value

Budgeting for your SEO plan should be clear and realistic. Don’t allow an SEO agency to run away with your entire marketing budget unless they can demonstrate the cost-value ratio. A good SEO partner will discuss your budget with you and determine a plan that can deliver your goals – and the right SEO partner will also tell you what those goals are. Whether you’re going to need a completely fresh, new design for a website, a new app developed, or some content refreshed and redistributed, a cost-value ratio is an important factor to know.

Although any good marketing plan includes some paid advertising, the right SEO partner will be able to plan and execute a well-rounded strategy that incorporates strong organic reach too.

Be realistic about timescales – too good to be true? it probably is

Some SEO agencies will promise the world – for a fee. It is critical that business owners remain realistic and understand that SEO fluidity relies on consistent, regular, long-term steps to reach the business marketing goals. The search engines will not rocket your offerings to the top of Google overnight – fact!

Don’t fall for empty promises and ask to see a portfolio of results from some of their other clients to give you a realistic picture of the reality of search engine ranking.

Don’t restrict the search to local agencies

There are hundreds of thousands of SEO partners around the world, all clamouring for your business. There may be one right around the corner from where you live. The right SEO partner for you may well be right around the corner, but don’t be afraid to stray out of your area to find your ideal partner – or even out of your country!

Remote SEO agencies are often very reliably connected and can work out of any office in the world. Talk to them and apply all the principles we’ve talked about, relying on the feedback you get to help you make your decision. Finding the right SEO partner for you could make or break your business marketing strategy – don’t rush into anything but do your research first.

J&L work closely with our clients and associates to make sure we can clearly define your business marketing strategy. We take time to understand your business, your industry sector and the performance of historic marketing campaigns, including those of your main competitors to fully appreciate the direction your strategy must take to meet your business aims and goals.

Talk to us today and let’s find out if we are the right SEO partner for your business.

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