infaweb - mobile internet, search engine optimisation

What makes a good SEO Consultant?

The purpose of this article is to discuss the following about an SEO Consultants;

They can only do so much
They don't have control over the search engines
You pay for experience

It is important to pick the correct SEO consultant for your business and that may mean getting a freelance SEO expert to work with you rather than paying just for consultation.

An SEO consultant can only do so much

Consultation is about guidance, education and a steer in the right direction; it is not about making physical changes or building links. When you start an SEO campaign it is important to think about what you want the SEO expert to do and what you want to do internally. What skill sets do you have in your organisation that allows you to do work and not pay and SEO consultant to do?

The reason I say this is because with SEO comes lots of work; content writing, analysis, research, onsite optimisation changes, social media set up, social media maintenance, blogging, article creation, link building and reporting. The purpose of an SEO consultant is to guide you in all these activities, not to necessarily do them. If you don't have the resources to do all these tasks then you need to look at who will do these tasks, a typical solution is to hire a freelance SEO expert for so many days per month. At Infaweb we offer both solutions depending on your needs and requirements.

No SEO expert works for the main search engines

Some claim to and once the search engines find out they soon black list their websites from the search engines. A consultant in this field uses experience and knowledge to give you consultation and help you progress online, not the inside knowledge from working for them. (I suppose this is technically incorrect as the search engines have SEO experts working for them but they do not offer their services to other companies.)

Why does the charge differ so much in the industry?

There are four main reasons are;

Experience - the more experience and proven results the more a consultant can charge
Spam companies charging very little for doing very little - some companies charge low amounts of money, say £30 per month, and for that you get a report. No action and guidance, just a status report. This will not help you progress!
Like any industry some companies over charge and some undercharge, the competition is high.
Package offers - in most cases these are based on 12 months work (or an estimated time span) and the charge for the work is spread over a monthly payment. Normally you don't have to sign a 12 month contract the companies hope that the monthly increase in traffic is enough to keep you paying. The net result is you pay the same over the time period as you would have done for consultation and link building but you get the advantage of knowing what the bill will be every month.
SEO Software - as a general rule this is seen as a huge no no from the search engines. There are two types of SEO software, the first is automated SEO software that generates links and generates content. This type is really bad and should not be used. The second type of tools are to help with analysis, these types of software are aids rather than automation. These are designed to help and can be really useful to any SEO project. Be careful and don't fall for the "buy this software and don't worry about your SEO" type slogans.

In conclusion SEO consultation comes down to trust and you gain the trust in the expert by the experience they have and the relationship you build with them. As an SEO expert I personally try to educate my clients as the project develops so they understand everything and I find this is the most effective way of the client gaining confidence in the process.