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We all probably know someone with a horror story of poorly done SEO, link farms, being held to ransom by an SEO firm, not having any work done or getting banned as a result of SEO work. In this session, Judith Lewis looks at what questions you should ask, how to understand the answers, what to look for in a pitch/proposal, how to read and understand reports, how to spot danger and also how to be a good client. This is a must-attend session for any individual or business thinking of oursourcing any search work.
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How To Choose An Agency
And avoid the coming zombie apocalypse
Who Am I? I do work at an agency (but I am not a zombie) Got on the Internet in 1986 at my school lab Working online with search since 1996 Paid & Natural Search – all aspects Worked in-house within e-Commerce, Publishing & High Tech At i-level worked with Orange, COI, NatWest/RBS, National Gallery,
CIPD, Fidelity, GalaCoral, NBC Universal, Readers Digest, Bayer & more
At Beyond have worked with Virgin Trains, Family Search, Amadeus, AMD, AmEx & more
Chosen as a founding Modern Muse, contributed to a book on promoting websites, top finalist “Female Social Media Guru” (not yet awarded)
One of the SEO Chicks...and I blog at MostlyAboutChocolate.com
How to Start...
http://www.buyzombie.com/2007/06/12/zombie-clothing/zombie-shirts/zombie-pwnage-t-shirt/
How to Start...
Establish what your goals are What level of help do you need How much do you know about search What is your budget and is the ROI worth it What level of competition is there Are your goals realistic given your budget Is there an internal champion for the work? Co-ordination between all agencies is a must
Guarantees – We Haz Sum
Credit: Declan McCullagh
Guarantees – We Haz Sum
No guarantees possible in natural search No “special relationship” possible for most
search engines esp. Google Paid search can cost more than expected Paid Placement in Yahoo not a guarantee Social media exposure and fans no
guarantee of conversion Yes, the DDA is important
What *IS* Possible Then?
Adjusting on-site elements Keyword analysis/research Technical audit Competitor/Gap/SWOT analysis etc
Link building through on-site baiting, competitions, advertorials/advertising, etc.
Analytics-based intelligence & adjustments Lots... Just not special secret relationships
Link Farms
http://www.macworld.com/appguide/app.html?id=400446&expand=false http://www.flickr.com/photos/fifikins/4719789589/
Link Farms
Links built on farms are artificial Built too quickly results in penalty Profiling results in penalty Wrong kind of link results in a penalty This kind of building requires an extremely
expert hand – look for recommendations from people already using service (i.e. LinkFish existing customers)
Expectations
http://io9.com/5080787/harold-and-kumar-director-takes-a-bite-out-of-corporate-zombies
Expectations
What the agency might do What reports you can expect Link-buying issues Analytics Analysis Link analysis & reports – what you can do
to check
How To Check An Agency Out
NewMediaAgehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/44124466908@N01/3971755099/
How To Check An Agency Out
Paid Search? Member of IAB, Google AdWords certification
No official SEO industry body but do have SEMPO membership (voluntary)
Check search results on name & social media on name
Companies House in the UK, other business registration services through government elsewhere
Due diligence Professional Indemnity Insurance Non-disclosure agreements Ask: Number of years in business, company
turnover, staff levels, staff split, awards, etc
How To Check An Agency Out
Case Studies Public visibility of staff Question methodology – not always possible to be
transparent but lots Things like level of reporting
Client levels – do they have lots or few & are any long-term
Escape clause – make sure you have one Input – if it is a retainer establish exactly what you
are getting for your money Excellent resource from the IAB -
http://www.iabuk.net/media/images/IABSearchAgencySelectionChecklist-UK-Final_2956.pdf
What Can I do If They Screw Up?
http://zombietools.net/
What Can I do If They Screw Up? How have they done so Can it be specifically traced to a change they
made and Can it be rolled back and if so does it fix the
“penalty”? If not, and it is traced to a specific change they
made, and you can prove it, that’s what PI insurance is for
Fraud = police involvement
But Remember...
http://newmediapop.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/zombie.jpg
QUESTIONS?
Judith LewisHead of SearchBeyond
[email protected]/JudithLewis
www.bynd.comwww.SEO-Chicks.com
MostlyAboutChocolate.com
