Choosing an SEO Firm? When to Walk Away

It’s impossible to get across in words just how monumentally important it is to choose the right SEO outsource partner first time around. The trouble with SEO comes in the way in which several weeks or months can pass before you have any idea whether the strategy is actually working. As such, by the time it becomes clear that your provider is bogus, you’ve wasted a hell of a lot of time and money you won’t get back. Worse still, your industry rivals have had plenty of time to get ahead and will have done exactly that.     Now, going down a list of everything an SEO partner needs to do would take forever. It’s therefore easier to look first at the danger signs to be aware of when it comes to knowing if you should walk away and try another provider. Most are easy to spot and could save you more than you realise – be aware of the following red flags and never fall foul of one:OTT PromisesIt’s easy for an SEO firm to promise you top-level rankings in the space of 24 hours – these are, after all, just words. As far as making good on such promises goes however, it is fundamentally impossible to rush SEO without breaking all the rules and there simply isn’t room at the top for everyone. So if a provider is promising to take everyone to the top and to do so in record-time, they aren’t being entirely honest to say the least. Sure, you want to see a note of confidence, but even more important than confidence are honesty and realism.Lack of PromisesAnd at the opposite end of the scale from the above, you need to at least be promised that a few weeks, months or years down the line, you will at least be in a better position you are now. If they can’t promise at least some improvement, why on Earth would you spend a penny on them?Unclear PricingSEO is on-going and needs change as time goes on, but this doesn’t mean you should be presented with a complex pricing structure you cannot make head nor tail of. Instead, you should know exactly how much you will be paying, how long you will be paying it for and when you will be expected to pay it. This should never be an afterthought.No ProofSimple – can they prove their abilities, and if not, then why not? They should have at least a decent list of clients they’ve already delivered excellent results for, so it’s in both of your interests to look into case studies, feedback and general client input to see how they get on in the real world.A Poor Website And finally, it’s safe to say with any online business service operating in the world today, it’s important that clients be won over immediately by the website they operate. After all – if they can’t keep their own website looking and functioning 100% flawlessly, what chance does your site have?