As the owner of an SEO company it is somewhat contradicting to write such an article. However, there are many times when a company or business simply does not need to hire an SEO company.
While I hate to turn away business, I rather turn the business away now then face future hassles down the line. There are certain websites and people that are simply better off without a search engine marketing firm. Here are those that I find to be the most common.
Expect Everything Immediately
People and companies that fall into this category know who they are. White-hat search engine optimization takes time, effort, and patience. Understanding this is essential and those who do not have no business hiring an SEO company. Make no mistake that there are plenty of sales people that will likely promise instantaneous results in order to gain a company’s business. However there is no magic to SEO and a professional company often rather not take customers with unrealistic expectations.
I Can Do It Myself
It is a fruitless effort to convince people they are not capable of achieving their desired results without alienating them to a certain extent. While it is possible, typically it is not worth the effort.
Those who have managed their own website for years will want to keep managing it for years. It might not have anything to do with search results for some. Many people enjoy trying to beat their competitors all by themselves. I also know few people who enjoy having their ego stomped on.
Cannot Make a Decision
Hiring any SEO company involves a certain degree of risk and trust with the people associated with the firm. Companies have to trust their website to people they may not ever meet in person. This is a huge leap of faith. When a company approaches an SEO firm and make a comment such as, “We have tried for years to find a company that can deliver”; take it as a warning sign.
Certainly there is a level of interest or the company never would have contacted yours, but be careful not to put your SEM firm on a pedestal. Chances are if a firm has not selected an SEO company after years of research, they are not suddenly going to hire your company.
This is by no means an all inclusive list. However, in the increasingly saturated field of search engine optimization companies can save themselves an enormous amount of time by not spending it with prospects that are unlikely to hire an SEO company. On the flipside of the coin, those individuals and companies who fall into the categories above can also save themselves time by simply realizing they do not want to hire an SEO company.
As the president of Agilis Marketing, Brent Yorzinski has assisted numerous firms achieve top rankings on Google, Yahoo, and the other major search engines.
