The main role of your website is attract targeted visitors that are then converted into customers. If you have a fantastic looking site but it is not bringing in customers, then your site is not doing what it should. In such cases, you will do well to bring in an expert in SEO. This is a person who is qualified, has the required expertise and is experienced in this area. An expert will review your website, talk to you about your target visitors and business goals and then create SEO strategies that will improve page views and rankings on search engines. If you are looking to hire an SEO expert, you should consider the following qualities:
- Experience – Since there are so many little things to be considered in order to come up with a great SEO strategy, your expert needs to have plenty of experience in order to know what will work and what won’t. It is not a one-size-fits-all scenario where SEO is concerned. Each website must be reviewed individually and the strategy customized for it. In order to know what is needed, one must have sufficient experience in SEO.
- See the big picture – It is important that your SEO specialist have a goal in mind. The goal in most cases should be to increase your conversions so that you can see a boost in revenue. He or she should not just be focusing on improving your rank, even though with better rankings your chances of making more conversions are high.
- Understanding SEO levels – There are three levels to SEO and an experienced person will be conversant with all three.
- Technical – He should be able to understand site structure because this determines just how difficult or easy it is for crawlers to index the content that you have on there.
- Off-page optimization – This includes such things as link building and site promotion.
- On-page optimization – This includes the use of HTLM tags, keywords and the like which help you increase organic traffic to your website.
By maximizing all three tiers, your expert will be able to improve your chances of success. If he or she is one-dimensional, then he is definitely not the best option for you. It is important that you engage a person who understands the technical issues and limitations of search engines so that you can make the most of website development.
- Proven track record –Don’t just take the person’s word for it; speak to current references and find out how the SEO Expert has helped them gain success in their business. Speak to at least 3 references and ask specific questions that will give you the information that you are looking for.
- Excellent execution – You should look for a person who is efficient. This kind of person will do all it takes to get around roadblocks and challenges along the way. You should also be committed to enabling progress so as not to impede the work that the expert is doing. People who are passionate about efficient execution will do a great job for you.
- Knowledgeable about marketing – Once the expert has guided you through the technical issues that go with SEO, he or she should look beyond that to content. Your content will need to written so that it outlines the various benefits the user will gain, while at the same time edging them towards making a purchase. All of this must be done so that the people who read your content find it appealing enough to contact you or make that purchase.
- Outstanding communication skills – This is very important because the expert needs to effectively communicate the various changes to be made and why they are important. The language used should be easy for all involved to understand. Since they will be liaising with the IT team and even the marketing team, being able to communicate effectively is very important.
- Fits into your corporate culture – The expert you engage must fit in and work well with a variety of teams in the business. They must be able to work well with the marketing, analytics, sales, IT and customer service teams. The better the interaction, the more information they are likely to gather from these team They can then leverage the information they gather to enhance their SEO efforts.
