How to Find the Best SEO Company for Your Small Business

As a small business owner, you’re busy running your business and trying to keep customers happy. Competition is fierce, and you’re looking for ways to attract and retain new business. In today’s world, one of the best ways to market your business is through your business website.

Maybe you’ve heard of search engine optimization (SEO). It’s an online marketing strategy that optimizes your website for search engines, making it easier for prospective customers to find you online. SEO is not something most business owners have the time for or the knowledge to do.
That’s why it’s important to hire the best SEO company for your small business. By partnering with the right SEO agency, you can turn your website into a business-generating machine. Today, we’ve put together some tips to help you find the right match.
Let’s get started.

Tip#1: Develop and Define Your Goals

Do you already have a website, but it’s slow, out of date, and hard to navigate? Then maybe you need a website redesign or a new SEO-friendly website so you can start with a clean slate. If you don’t have a website at all, you’ll need an SEO-friendly website to compete.
Do you want more traffic to your website? Do you want more conversions? Do you want to rank for certain keywords? Maybe you want all three. Be prepared to discuss your goals with prospective SEO companies.
Related Reading: Small Business SEO: A Beginner’s Guide

Tip #2: Develop a Budget

Determine how much you are willing to spend on the initial SEO efforts and on the monthly efforts. SEO is not a one-and-done proposition. It may include a website redesign of your current website, or building an SEO-friendly website if you don’t already have one. It may help to look at SEO as a capital investment in your business rather than a line-item expense.
You may be able to find some ballpark figures about what to expect to pay, but you may also need to wait until you meet with SEO agencies to develop a realistic budget that will help you reach your goals.

Tip #3: Find SEO Companies

Google “SEO company near me” or “SEO company my county” and check out the top 5 listings. If an SEO agency is listed, that means they are pretty good at SEO, since they got themselves up at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs). Call or fill out their contact forms to set up a free consultation, which can include an SEO analysis of your current website.
Read their reviews and pore through their website. Do their clients have good things to say about them? Do they communicate what they do in plain English? Look for firms that have been in business for 10+ years. That shows they have a rate of success, or they wouldn’t still be in business.
You can also ask business associates (not your competitors) if they can recommend an SEO company they work with. Ask them what they like about the company, how their business has increased, and what they would do differently.

Tip #4: Set Up Interviews

After the SEO companies get back to you after your initial contact, set up interviews. These can be in-person or virtual, depending on what you’ve decided will work for you. Each company will chat with you, and make recommendations and a pitch as to why you should hire them.
Have a list of questions of your own to ask if they don’t answer them in their presentation. For example:
What will they do and when will they do it? Have them explain clearly.
How will they communicate? In-person, written reports via email?
What are the costs involved? Any hidden costs?
Evaluate each company and compare their answers. Who seemed to be a good fit?

Tip #5: Watch Out for Red Flags

While you’re in the interview process, listen to what each company representative has to say, and watch out for red flags. These can include:
They guarantee results. Back away from a company that says they will have you in the #1 spot within so many weeks. SEO is a science and can take time to implement and provide benefits.
They use Black Hat techniques. Google will penalize your website for using black hat techniques such as buying backlinks, keyword stuffing, hidden content, etc.
They outsource work to non-native English speakers. It’s totally acceptable for an SEO company to outsource work to local experts. But it’s not OK to outsource work to India – imagine what your content would look and sound like!
Related Reading: SEO Terms Business Owners Need to Know
In Conclusion
Finding the best SEO company for your small business is a serious matter and will take some effort. But once you find a reputable company that communicates clearly and helps you achieve your goals, you’ll wonder why you didn’t optimize your website sooner!
Contact Us for a FREE Small Business SEO Analysis
Coastal Web Marketing has provided small business SEO services to Harford County, Cecil County, and Baltimore County in Maryland since 2008. We know the area, and we know SEO. If you’re looking for a local SEO company with proven success, we would be happy to provide you with a FREE SEO analysis of your website and make our
recommendations.
We also serve clients outside of Maryland, since most of the work we do is online and virtual meetings are so easy these days. If you need SEO or web design services for your small business, just call us at 410-420-9390 or use our contact form to get started.
Coastal Web was been fantastic. Mike Parr personally met with me for our company’s web page design. We are a small HVAC company and it is hard to compete with the larger companies with huge marketing budgets. Our phone started ringing right away. We were very pleased with our web page! We have worked with many other companies for SEO rankings. We spent huge amounts of money with no results. Mike contacted me to see if we were interested in his help. Mike discussed what he could do to help and within a very reasonable budget. Mike and his staff are always available for any questions or concerns. I highly recommend Coastal Web and will never use anyone else.Kymberly GriffinGriff’s Heating and Air