Odds are at this point you’ve realized that a “do-it-yourself website” will either not be feasible due to not being able to dedicate enough time or simply it will not cut it for you or your company’s needs. So you’ve moved onto looking for a qualified local web designer that knows the SEO business. But how do you weed-out the ever-growing crop of “churn & burn scam artists” in the SEO and web design business out of the mix? This article is here to help.
Today there is a growing number of fly by night “companies” looking to scam people. Happy to create a lackluster website that “fits the bill” but is underperforming and will never be found on any search engine. I’d say more than half of my current clients come to me with underperforming websites that can’t even be remotely found on google. Most are currently using some sort of Pay Per Click ad campaign to receive the majority of their website’s traffic. Most are beginning to realize that paper click ads are nothing but an ongoing treadmill, spending on average $300-500 per month. They’ve realized the only way to get off of it is with optimizing their website to perform better in search engines. This one time cost can and will save them hundreds in the near future. Businesses came come and go almost overnight in this industry so watch out for the churn and burn “kids” who promise the world but only want your money.
Pick a Web Design company that know SEO!
SEO (Search engine optimization) has become increasingly important to websites owners over time. The average person can no longer create a website and expect it to be found on the major search engines. To find the right website design company that knows SEO, I recommend googling a combination of two phrases put together. The first being the location where you are and the second “website designer” or “search engine optimization” or “SEO”. For example: “Washington, Iowa website design and SEO” this will bring up the results for someone that knows how to target longtail keywords and a specific region.
I tend to recommend that companies choose one of the first nonpaid results. Other words, I would avoid the pay per click ads that you see at the top of Google for any of your choices. It’s the old saying… “If it’s yellow, let it mellow”. Granted it used to be the saying for not flushing the toilet when water wasn’t readily available, now it’s been adapted for choosing the right website designer and site optimizer. Companies had to buy those ads (in yellow) because their website is underperforming and doesn’t rank high enough.
The view there previous client’s portfolio:
A huge red flag when hiring an SEO company is the lack of portfolio of past/ former clients. You should see at least a small list of websites that are performing at the top of the SERP on both Google and Bing. If it doesn’t, its more than likely a fly-by-night spam email “company” or “firm” that is just out to get your money.
Make sure you verify that they are there websites that they did. The name of the website design and SEO company is usually listed at the bottom of at least the main homepage, but more than likely the bottom of every page on the site. Take a look at the SEO infused websites by klygo that outperform their competition.
View the companies’ portfolio of websites:
View their portfolio of previously made websites. Ask yourself do you like the way that they look? Even more important do you like the way that they perform on Google and Bing? How do you check to see how well they perform on Google and Bing? Think to yourself what you would Google and see if one of those websites come up on Google’s SERP. If the keywords or terminology that you think would bring that one of their portfolio pieces up, I would recommend that you continue to look elsewhere.
After all if one of their so-called “portfolio pieces” aren’t showing up on Google’s SERP results, then you should probably keep looking for another company. Most SEO firms will not post underperforming websites in their portfolio. Take Klygo for example. If you search “sell arcade game” you will notice that webuypinball.com shows up on that first page. This is a sign that that company (klygo) knows what they are doing if they know how to search engine optimize a website to have it perform well. After all who wants to spend money on a website if you can’t be found on the Internet?
Run a WHOIS:
Run a whois on the potential web design and SEO Company website. This looks up how old their website domain name. Plus usually the owner’s contact information. A sign of a fly-by-night company is one where there personal/owners information blocked.
Google them:
I recommend doing a Google search on the company’s name. Even better Google the company name and the word “scam” simultaneously. I’m often quite shocked at what comes up when I search that combination, especially for competitors!
Online reviews:
Unfortunately, unscrupulous competitors can and often do tamper with online reviews. So we usually recommend taking them with a grain of salt. However, I still recommend looking at and seeing if lots of people have made the same comments. If there is an ongoing trend, I would deathly recommend you stay away! There are plenty of other website design firms out there that maybe A little bit more expensive but will get the job done and done right the first time. Far too many of our clients are gone with the wrong person initially. This is not the most cost-effective way of doing it.
