3 Things You Need to Know Before Contacting an SEO Company

Are you thinking about hiring an SEO professional to improve your search rankings, increase website traffic, and help you connect with more people online?

If an SEO company does their job well, they will ask you questions so they can recommend the SEO services that are the best fit for your organization.

Being prepared to answer these questions will help the conversation to go better and help you to get the information you need.

In this Search Engine Optimization Frequently Asked Questions (SEO FAQs) video blog, I address the question, What do I need to know before I contact an SEO company? 

(The article below is a summary of the video, but you’ll get more details and examples if you watch the video.)

3 Things You Need to Know Before Contacting an SEO Company

If you’re thinking about hiring an expert or a company for search engine optimization, you need to be prepared for that initial conversation. There are three essential things you should have in mind before reaching out.

1. SMART Goals

In the first phone consultation, every decent SEO agency is going to ask, “What do you hope to gain from working with us?”  In other words, what are your SEO goals?

Frankly, if they don’t ask you this question, hang up as soon as you can. If they don’t care to ask what your goals are, it means they are just trying to sell you services.

A quality SEO company, will want to understand your goals so they can recommend the services that will best help you achieve those goals.

Therefore, before you talk to an SEO expert, think through what you want to achieve through SEO. Vague goals like “I want to increase website traffic” are not all that helpful. The more specific the better.

Ideally, your goals should be S.M.A.R.T.:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-bound.

For example, your goal could be to “Increase revenue by 20% this year” or “10 new families visit our church in the next 12 months after finding us online.” Specific goals help you and your SEO professional set realistic expectations and customize their services accordingly.

2. Planned Changes

If you’re planning to make significant changes to your organization, the products or services it offers, your website, or any other marketing, it’s crucial to inform the SEO company.

This is especially true if you’re planning to redesign your website, add pages to your website, or remove pages. Making these changes after the SEO has started will lead to wasted time and resources. It’s best to coordinate with your SEO professional to ensure they optimize your site after these changes are implemented.

3. Your SEO Investment Budget

As we discussed in SEO FAQ 12, SEO is an investment.

Whether your focus is on growing your business or expanding your church’s reach, you need to allocate a budget for SEO. The size of your investment directly impacts the speed and scale of the results you can achieve. The more you invest, the bigger and faster your results are likely to be.

To sum it up…

Before you contact an SEO company, you should first determine your goals and budget for SEO. -Mark Steinbrueck

Schedule a complimentary SEO consultation

The first step we take with an organization is to do a free phone consultation. In that call, we get to know the organization – their history, their mission, their goals, and their budget – so we can help them determine if SEO will help them reach their goals, and if so, what’s the best SEO plan.

If you’d like to discuss church SEO or Christian SEO for your business, school or ministry, with one of our SEO experts, fill out the consultation request form below (mobile) or to the right (desktop).

Comment and Discuss…

• Is there anything you need to figure out before contacting a professional SEO?

Read or watch more SEO FAQ articles and videos!