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About the Author
Mitch (@mitchellharper) is the co-founder and CEO of BigCommerce. Way back in 2007 he built what eventually became BigCommerce as you know it. Today he runs the company alongside Eddie and along with our 100+ team members, is passionate about helping businesses succeed with e-commerce. Mitch spends time between our Sydney and Austin offices and is giving the keynote at TechConnect 2012 in Sydney on April 19th. |
In this video I share 7 tips to help you find the right SEO consultant/company for your ecommerce business. The tips are:
- Price (generally) indicates quality. The idea here is that if someone quotes you $10 per hour for search engine optimization then their work wont be as effective as someone with a proven track record who values their time for what it’s worth.
. - Track record + still ranked? Make sure the consultant can demonstrate his track record of getting clients in a similarly competitive space ranked at the top of Google and the other search engines.
. - Give timeline = liar. If the consultant “promises” you’ll be ranked within a certain period of time then they’re generally being dishonest. There are too many outside factors which influence where you website ranks at a given time. Instead, they should go away and do some competitive analysis and come back to you with something like “We think we can get you ranking in the top 5 on Google and Yahoo for ‘red womens shoes’ within 4-6 months but we’ll do our best to get you ranking sooner”
. - Phone references. Get 3-5 references from current and past clients. Ask current clients how they are ranking, whether the SEO consultant was on time and on budget. Ask past clients why they left and if they’d use the same SEO consultant again.
. - Get opinion on current opportunities. Ask prospective SEO consultants what they think of your current website and rankings and what opportunities they see. If they can’t give you 30-60 minutes for a free analysis then it might be time to look elsewhere.
. - Get a list of “easy win” keywords. Ask them for 5-10 keywords which they think would be “easy wins” or low hanging fruit which they could go for if you were to bring them on board. Ask them how they found those keywords and why they think you should target them.
. - No contracts longer than 30 days. You’re a small business so you need to keep your budget in check. Plus if things don’t work out you don’t want to be stuck with an under performing SEO consultant for 3/6/12 months.
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Mitchell Harper Reply:
April 9th, 2010 at 12:46 am
Hi Stephen. I see your point but my video is biased towards the small business owners selling online with limited budgets, and not towards the SEO consultant, who if charging appropriately (i.e. $150+/hour for an expert with skin in the game) won’t have thin margins at all. They’d be quite healthy, in fact. It’s up to the SEO consultant to educate the small business owner that SEO takes time and that should be part of their pitch.
[Reply]
Callum Laird Reply:
April 9th, 2010 at 7:17 am
Hi,
Can you recommend any consultants? I have had hundreds try and talk me into it and making the decision is a difficult one…
[Reply]
Mitchell Harper Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 12:34 am
Hi Callum. Search Google for “SEO [your city]” such as “SEO new york” and call up the top 10 who rank in the organic results (not those who run ads alongside the SERPs). Run through the checklist in my video, check their references and you should be able to find one who can get the job done.