Tips on Choosing the Right Consultant
Tips on Choosing the Right Consultant
What can you do to prevent yourself from investment precious marketing dollars into un-qualified consultants? Well you'd be surprised how a little can go a long way.
For starters, here are some things to stay away from:
1. Do not go with flat rate consultants. Since every web site is dynamic and unique there is no 'one size fits all' approach to your web site. So-called SEO consultants try to lump low level strategies into packages in an attempt to maximize their turnaround time, saving them money, and accomplishing little for your web site.
2. Stay away from guarantees. This does not mean guarantees on your privacy or the necessity for clear and concise goals. However, consultants who guarantee placements in search engine rankings are too good to be true.
Sometimes the promise comes to pass, and you get lucky. Most of the time it doesn't and the only way to recover your initial investment is to go through the messy process of litigation.
3. Try to hire closer to home, or at least on the same continent. Many people want to save 50% off price points and hire in third world countries. There are many qualified and under-qualified consultants off-shore. Chances are you'll get the unqualified version for the bottom basement dollar price you want to pay. Trouble is, there is no way to hold the consultant responsible for their work when they are so far away.
Some tips to pick the right consultant.
1. Just like ANY new purchase you have to compare the service. That means yes, there is a process where you compare consultants by asking for references, calling references, looking at previous results, Googling the company.
2. Usually you will have a period before money changes hands. For exceptional consultants you may have a to pay up-front but they'll generally apply the prepayment to your initial invoice. Most of the time you can spend a few phone calls testing the consultant with your questions, asking them for a plan, and then discussing the proposal.
3. Make sure you have clear and concise goals. Goals are not guarantees but what they do accomplish is provide measurable benchmarks you're trying to attain. If you're way off the mark then you may try to find another consultant sooner rather than later.
4. Try to spread payments over longer periods of time. This means you can track success before releasing next payment.
5. Avoid long term contracts. Here is a secret: on-page SEO really should take a couple of weeks to complete and only needs to be done once (every six month-year). The rest is web promotion. (That's a general rule). Year long contracts may put you in a bind you don't want to be in.
So those are some really basic but necessary tools to apply when looking to hire an SEO consultant. It's really no different than any other large purchase. Just because you don't know much about the industry doesn't mean you have to hire blind. Apply some due diligence and reap the rewards of profitable consulting.
Tips on Choosing the Right Consultant - To learn more about this author, visit Barry Nagassar's Website.
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Regardless of the size of your web site you probably do not have adept knowledge about the web marketing industry. Some people do, and just require a consultants help because it saves them time. Others don't, and they need to hire someone who has the expertise to accomplish their online goals.
What can you do to prevent yourself from investment precious marketing dollars into un-qualified consultants? Well you'd be surprised how a little can go a long way.
For starters, here are some things to stay away from:
1. Do not go with flat rate consultants. Since every web site is dynamic and unique there is no 'one size fits all' approach to your web site. So-called SEO consultants try to lump low level strategies into packages in an attempt to maximize their turnaround time, saving them money, and accomplishing little for your web site.
2. Stay away from guarantees. This does not mean guarantees on your privacy or the necessity for clear and concise goals. However, consultants who guarantee placements in search engine rankings are too good to be true.
Sometimes the promise comes to pass, and you get lucky. Most of the time it doesn't and the only way to recover your initial investment is to go through the messy process of litigation.
3. Try to hire closer to home, or at least on the same continent. Many people want to save 50% off price points and hire in third world countries. There are many qualified and under-qualified consultants off-shore. Chances are you'll get the unqualified version for the bottom basement dollar price you want to pay. Trouble is, there is no way to hold the consultant responsible for their work when they are so far away.
Some tips to pick the right consultant.
1. Just like ANY new purchase you have to compare the service. That means yes, there is a process where you compare consultants by asking for references, calling references, looking at previous results, Googling the company.
2. Usually you will have a period before money changes hands. For exceptional consultants you may have a to pay up-front but they'll generally apply the prepayment to your initial invoice. Most of the time you can spend a few phone calls testing the consultant with your questions, asking them for a plan, and then discussing the proposal.
3. Make sure you have clear and concise goals. Goals are not guarantees but what they do accomplish is provide measurable benchmarks you're trying to attain. If you're way off the mark then you may try to find another consultant sooner rather than later.
4. Try to spread payments over longer periods of time. This means you can track success before releasing next payment.
5. Avoid long term contracts. Here is a secret: on-page SEO really should take a couple of weeks to complete and only needs to be done once (every six month-year). The rest is web promotion. (That's a general rule). Year long contracts may put you in a bind you don't want to be in.
So those are some really basic but necessary tools to apply when looking to hire an SEO consultant. It's really no different than any other large purchase. Just because you don't know much about the industry doesn't mean you have to hire blind. Apply some due diligence and reap the rewards of profitable consulting.
Tips on Choosing the Right Consultant - To learn more about this author, visit Barry Nagassar's Website.
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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