In today’s world, online business is perhaps one of the dominant business mediums to which a person can start their entrepreneurial endeavors in. There is very little doubt that the online world is very competitive.
Competitive because it (the online) allows for almost anyone who has the drive and determination to succeed in business and make it a possibility.
It is almost effortless to start a website. WordPress is a great example. Alternatively, Wix is not too bad in itself. Each of these offers something unique unto themselves.; so you may want to do a bit more research; it really depends on what your business is all about.
However, there is one thing that really does make running an online business a bit…challenging. I have chosen the word challenging over difficult because running an online business is neither hard or easy; it is as I have just mentioned…challenging.
What you need to know about running a website is that SEO matters.
What is SEO you may be wondering?
Well, that is precisely what you will learn in this article – as well as finding out what questions you need to ask your SEO consultant Los Angeles service if you so but happen to chose to work with one.
But to give you a quick summation of SEO; it is Search Engine Optimization. What this is in layman’s term is the ability to rank high on Search Engines. Hence the name Search Engine Optimization.
As mentioned before running an online business is not easy nor is it hard. It is challenging But heck as the saying goes, “if it were easy then everybody would do it.”
10 Things You Need To Ask Your SEO Consultant Los Angeles Services
# 1 – Request a List Of Past and Current Clients
Now, this may sound as if you are stepping over some toes, and for many people to dare to be questioned is a huge violation towards them.
“How dare you question me.”
However, it is salient to understand that when you are starting an online business that you NEED to make sure that you are getting what you are paying for. It is ridiculously easy to be scammed and to be swindle online.
Moreover, people, unfortunately, do not share the ethical business values that you may have. So it is crucial for you, especially if you do not have too many funds, to question and reach out to people and ask them about the service they received from that consultant agency.
The more questions you ask, the more transparent that consultant agency will become. You will not only make sure your money is being used correctly, but you will also make sure that you are dealing with people who can get you results.
And in the end, results are what you are after; not the drama and bull…you know.
# 2 – How Will They Help to Bolster Your Ranking Online
It is essential to know what marketing strategies they will be using to bolster your website ranking. What social media platform will they be using? This is especially important because all social media platforms have a different strategies about them that requires a different touch.
What may work on Facebook will not probably work on Twitter. What works on Twitter may not work on Instagram and so on and so on.
Ranking high on Google will take some time, and it is essential to understand that it will NOT happen overnight. However, when incorporating the right keywords and using the proper titles, you will be able to skyrocket your article and thus your website to a much higher page on Google search.
# 3 – Do They Adhere to The Search Engines’ Webmaster Guide
Google, Bing, and Yahoo have specific rule sand guideline that they want their websites owners to follow. There are 12 distinct common SEO tricks that Google, Yahoo, and Bing look out for. If your SEO consultant agency uses tricks to try and get your site to rank higher, then you might not want to work with them.
The reason for this is because Google will most likely block your website and all the time and effort that you put into the site will be for nothing.
# 4 – Can They Guarantee That You Will Rank High on Google, Bing, and Yahoo?
To piggyback off of the last entry, it is essential to know if they will be able to rank your website, article or landing page higher on the first page of Google and the other two major search engines? Well, that is where we start to step into murky waters.
Don’t get us wrong if they have the proof to back up their claim to rank you as number one on Google then great.
BUT…
If they are claiming they will place you on the first page then be weary beau only Google, Yahoo and Bing have the power to do that. SEO consultant DO NOT AND CANNOT RANK YOU ON FIRST PAGE OF THEIR OWN VOLITION.
Keep that in mind.
The purpose of hiring an SEO consultant is so that they will help to rank your page higher.
With there being so many websites out there and literally billions worth of content it can be a challenging endeavor to rank high. This is more the reason that you may want to consider hiring an SEO consultant and even more important to ask the right the questions.
# 5 – Can They Help In Improving Local Search Results?
Being able to rank high in local areas is a great way to bolster your ranking as well. Local SEO is as the name suggest, ranking higher in local areas. If you are able to rank higher in local areas, you not only get more traffic, but you will also be able to get that word of mouth to spread.
Sharing on social media platforms could prove incredibly valuable for your long-term mission of becoming an authority on search engines. Also, if that is not the mission, then you need to reevaluate your business model. As authority sites are the sites that rank the highest.
# 6 – Can They Share All The Changes Made To Your Website
Most likely they will have to change a great deal of your website so that you can rank a bit higher. HTML is something they may vary a bit as well as meta-tags.
Why you may want this information is so that you can see what they actually did and two you can learn what they did and incorporate it in another website you may have a desire to create.
The information that you will receive from them and see art they have done is going to show you your errors significantly.
# 7 – How Do They Measure The Success Of Their SEO Campaign
SEO consultants understand how to use Google Analytics to discover where the traffic is coming from and who the demographic is. The information that they will pull from Google analytics will be incredibly invaluable to you for your own marketing campaigns.
SEO campaigns are high because that is almost free trafficking. However, if you want to see more traffic come your way then paid advertisement is the way. The information that you can get from the SEO consultant, in regards of who the demographic is, will be of great assistance to you when you are trying to run your paid advertisement because you will know precisely WHO YOUR DEMOGRAPHIC is.
Facebook ads, Twitter ads, and other social media outlet advertisement will be that much more comfortable. When you have the right information, then the task of driving traffic to your website will become all the easier.
# 8 – How Will You and The SEO Consultant Agency Communicate
Communication is key to running a successful business. It would prove best for you to work out a way in which you will be able to communicate. Do you like to speak directly with someone? Then you may want to have Skype calls or Zoom calls.
Alternatively, maybe you like to email or text.
Whatever way to which you like to communicate with someone then use that way. However, it is overall essential that you have a system where you can communicate effectively to get what you want to be done.
Failure to communicate or miscommunication will be much more damaging in the end.
# 9 – What Are The Fees and The Payment?
Now we get to the make it or break it part. It is s important to talk about price upfront. As for how consultants get paid. Are they retainers? Is it hourly? Or maybe is it by the project?
How should you invoice them (assuming you are invoicing)? Every two weeks? 30 days? 60 days? Maybe even 90 days?
The more transparent you are about the payment, the more seamless and effortless it will be to complete the work and have a much more professional relationship.
Failure to correctly understand how payment will be is one of the primary reason that businesses fall apart.
# 10 – What Happens After You Part Ways
After you finished working with the consultant, you may want to inquire about the ownership of the website (yours) and the content in it. It is important to know that you own and have rights to everything on it.
You may also want to have it written in the contract that once you have finished that the consultant cannot change, charge or remove any of the content that is on the website and that it is yours.
Lately, you want to ask if they charge any termination fees for contracts.
The more questions you ask, the less stress you will have to deal with later on.
Business Is Challenging
Business can be rough. If you are starting your own online business, you probably don’t need me telling you that. However, the reality is that business is tough and it takes a lot of thought processing to run a successful business.
By asking the question, no matter how angry the person may get, you are saving yourself and your business from failing or being set up.
Questioning is incredibly crucial for your success to manifest and not to delve into an inspirational tone, but if you don’t dare to question in a world that would rather have you not, then you will get nowhere.
In business, not everyone shares the same ethical standard that you may have and as a result, if you aren’t cautious, then you will most definitely fall prey to many shady people. The more you question, the easier your task will be in growing and then scaling your business.
Won’t Happen Overnight
Understand that the SEO ranking is a tricky endeavor, and if you aren’t tech savvy, then there will be many mistakes and hiccups you will ultimately make whilst running an online business.
But heck, mistakes are some of the most excellent teachers alive.
Understand this…SEO takes a while.
So be patient. Make sure that you are getting as much information as you can weekly.
Read the information – because the more you start to see a trend, the more you can start catering to that particular demographic. Remember it is all about finding that pattern and finding that demographic and then after you ahem found them you can scale and grow your business at a much faster rate.
To run a successful online business doesn’t, initially, need you to find millions of people off the bat but just start out with a thousand, and then from there you can scale your business.
SEO, when done correctly, will help to bring you those millions of people to visit your website but only with time, frequency, following the search engine guidelines and use the right keywords.
Follow these steps, ask these questions, build a relationship with a good SEO consultant agency and your website, landing page, affiliate site, or whatever it is that you are trying to do will be able to get the traffic that you desired.