SEO In Spartanburg- What To Look For & What To Stay Away From!

I hear it all the time when speaking to new prospective clients! They are leery of hiring an SEO company because they have been burned in the past. You know what I mean? They promise you page 1 ranking, take your money every month, but you may see minimal movement in your ranks! You call them and ask them to add or change something, but you never get to speak with the person doing the work, and it takes days or weeks to see the changes! I had a large SEO company call me once, before I learned SEO, He told me he would get me page 1 ranking, I was sold! I paid that company for almost an entire year, and never got page 1! When I called and told them I was cancelling the service,the conversation went like this:

ME: You told me you'd get me page 1 ranking!

THEM: No we didn't!

ME: Excuse me? Yes you did, that's why I bought! 

THEM: We would never promise you page 1!

ME: Well you did, you said whatever would get you the sale! I'm done! Cancel me effective immediately!

THEM: Well, we can give you a discounted rate for 3 months if you stay!

ME: Why would I stay with a company that just told me a bold faced lie? Cancel it now!

Sound Familiar? So how do you avoid this same situation? I'm going to give you a few pointers on what to look for and what to stay away from!

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TIPS

• Look for an SEO company that is relatively small, but still knows what they're are doing! This will keep the relationship to a more personal business relationship, you won't be a number lost in the crowd.
• Go to their website, Google their business, do some due diligence to see if you can find evidence that backs up what they tell you!
• Look for someone that is willing to take the time to educate you on the process and why they do each task. If they can educate you on the process, it will help you determine if they know what they are talking about! So, even if it bores the daylights out of you, go along, it will help you in the long run. 
• Look at where they rank in their market. I mean if they know SEO, shouldn't they be ranking?
• Be very cautious if they PROMISE #1 in the map! Granted this can be done, but they don't own Google, and they can't control what Google does! 
• Be very cautious if they give you a short time-frame for ranking! SEO is not a fast process! There are black hat SEO methods that tend to have short term results or could get you penalized by Google, but will boost you rather quickly, and there are white hat SEO methods that tend to have long term results! A good rule of thumb is a 3-6 month window to see results. Depending on different variables such as niche, amount of competition, population of the market, etc., you may not be #1 in the map, but you should see consistent forward progress. Remember, slow & steady wins the race. I know as a business owner, you want that ROI (return on investment), but when it comes to SEO, patience is a virtue.
• Be cautious if they are a fast talker, are rushing you off the phone or are just anxious to get the credit card information.
• Finally, be cautious if the company or the person representing the company offers a very low price for service. The things that need to be done incur expenses! If they are offering you SEO service for $150-$250/mo., they either don't know what they are doing, or they will not get you the results! Expect a realistic price of $750+/mo. Remember, you get what you pay for!

So, I hope this post was helpful! If you need SEO or Web Design for you business in Spartanburg or anywhere for that matter, call Carpe DM Products, you'll be glad you did!