The importance of digital marketing cannot be understated. If a company or organization is not found on the first page of search results on major search engines, then it may as well not exist to the numbers of potential customers who need its goods or services.
This makes your choice of which digital marketing agency to go with one of the most important decisions you’ll ever make with regard to your businesses’ long-term survival prospects.
The following are some key points to consider when making your choice.
Do They Set an Example for Themselves in Being Good at SEO?
When you do a search for an “SEO agency” or a “digital marketing agency” in your state or locality, does the agency you are thinking of working with show up fairly high in the search results? If they don’t have themselves on the first page of Google search results, then why should you trust them to get you there?
When you search “SEO agency Bucks County, PA” or “digital marketing agency Bucks County, PA” our team at Planet 8 Digital is proud of the fact that we are in the first few organic search results that come up.
What Have Other Clients Said About Them?
Reading testimonials before going with a given company is hardly an original thought, but it’s still an important step that you should make sure not to leave out. You probably check Yelp or another review site before picking a place to dine or before choosing a dry cleaner. Why wouldn’t you check Google reviews and other review sites before doing something as important as signing with a particular digital marketing agency?
Not to brag but here is another area where our talented team at Planet 8 Digital shines. We have a solid 5-star rating on Google reviews from over 50 clients.
When It Comes to SEO, You Need Customized Solutions
When checking out any SEO company that you’re considering, look to see if they only offer inflexible packages of SEO services. Some companies may have various packages of services but do allow some customization within them and this can be acceptable as well. Your business is unique, and you need a digital marketing agency that will communicate this fact to potential customers.
A general rule, the more customization, and flexibility in an agency’s SEO campaign the more they will be tailored to specific needs. This can only increase effectiveness.
Agency Transparency Is Key
A good SEO agency will let you see how the dollars you give them are translating into dollars returned to you. A good ROI on marketing services is 5-10x’s investment. If they are giving you reports or analytics that are hard to interpret, this may be to cover up the fact that they are not delivering for you. There’s no good reason for an SEO agency to be withholding or obfuscating marketing data. Go in a different direction when seeing an agency doing this.
Planet 8 Digital clients get to see the same unfiltered and unaltered data and reports our digital marketing teams see. This means our customers are getting 100 percent transparency.
Do a Google Search to See if an Agency Has Legal Troubles
As a general rule, you want to stay away from so-called “black hat” SEO or digital marketing companies. These would be companies, or individuals posing as companies, who use techniques and strategies to quickly get someone on the search engines. These SEO’s will ultimately be penalized for by the search engines when being found out. There are some red flags that give these sorts of disreputable companies away.
One of these would be unrealistic promises to get you to the top of the Google search results in just a couple of weeks. Legitimate SEO strategies that are effective for your long-term rankings and growth will take a few months to start yielding maximum results.
Some of these companies might even be outright defrauding customers by promising certain results and then disappearing with the money after failing to deliver. If a company is this awful, chances are good that former clients have taken legal action against them.
You should do a Google search that includes both the name of any company you’re researching and the word “lawsuit.” The results may be surprising and help avoid any truly deceitful scam artists out there.
Final Thoughts
Following the above points should help you find an SEO agency that will work with you to achieve your goals in an open, realistic and cost-effective manner. At Planet 8 Digital, we know that a solid, reputable company will be a partner to your business in your marketing efforts because they know that they’ll only make money if they help you make money.
