Are SEO Companies Near Me Worth It or a Waste of Money?
If you’ve attempted to optimize your website for search engines, you probably quickly realized that it isn’t easy. It can feel like Google and other major search engines change their rules every day. Actually, that’s not far from the truth. Search engines change their rules (otherwise known as the algorithm) regularly. It is often easier for a busy small business owner to hire one of the SEO companies near me to keep up with the trends and do the optimization work. Here at conversionMOXY, we have experience helping a wide range of local and national businesses with their search engine optimization, or SEO.
But how do you really know that your SEO is working? Is hiring an SEO company worth it? Or are you just throwing away your money?
Not all SEO companies do a good job. Here’s what you need to know about hiring the best SEO team for your business.
First… What is “SEO” Anyway?
We like to start every new client meeting with a little information about what SEO is and why it is crucial to most businesses. If you’ve ever used Google or another search engine to find information, SEO has become part of your life!
An SEO expert is someone who can make sure that Google and other search engines show your website to potential customers who are interested in your products or services. This is key…attracting visitors to your website who aren’t in the market for your products or services is a waste of your marketing budget.
The goal of any search engine is to show you the best results at the top of the list. They do this by ranking websites based on many factors such as:
- Whether the search term you used is present on the website
- The date you last updated your webpage
- If the text on the page also contains related terms
- Are there incoming, internal and external links on your website
- Is the website mobile-responsive
- Does the website load quickly
- Do you have content that is informative about your type of business
This is just a small list of how search engines decide what to show the person entering a search. In reality, Google uses over 200 “ranking factors” every time you search! This list changes frequently, which is why many business owners find it frustrating to optimize their websites without help. You can read more here about how Google’s search algorithms work.
We’ll Start by Understanding Your Current Traffic, Challenges, and Goals
Before we help you optimize your website for search engines, we want to look at your current data. Even if you haven’t consciously been optimizing your website, you probably are getting at least a little search engine traffic. Our goal is to increase this traffic. To do that, we have to know your starting point.
We’ll look at a few different data points, but here are some of the most important in terms of your website:
- Overall Traffic – how many people come to your website from search engines every month?
- Bounce Rate – how many people leave your website immediately versus clicking around to a few different pages?
- Time on Website – are people looking around your website and considering your business, or are they leaving quickly?
- Popular Pages – which pages on your website are the most popular?
If you don’t have a website, no problem! In this case, we know we are starting from scratch.
We’ll also look at other important metrics and start tracking so you can see growth. Our data analytics are what separate us from SEO companies that charge you a large fee every month, but never show you independent data to prove that they are getting results for your business.
Next, We’ll Improve Your Traffic (the RIGHT Way!)
When you work with an SEO specialist on the conversionMOXY team, we have one ultimate goal: increasing your sales.
At the end of the day, website traffic is nice, but you can’t pay the bills with pageviews or even social media likes. You have to actually convert that traffic to sales.
We do this in two ways.
First, we’ll work on overall traffic improvement. The more people who see your website, the more chances you have to make a sale.
However, second and more importantly, we’ll help you get the right kind of traffic. For example, if you are a contractor in North Carolina, website traffic from other states or even countries will not help you. In this case, we’ll work on your local SEO (more on that in a bit).
Location isn’t the only thing that matters. You also need to attract your target market in terms of both demographics and needs. For example, if you sell high-end flooring, you probably want to attract homeowners, not renters. As another example, if you have a family-friendly pizza restaurant, you don’t want your website traffic to be mainly people looking for a fine dining experience.
Our SEO strategy varies based on each client’s needs. However, in all cases, we’ll sit down with you to learn more about your services or products and your target market. Then, we’ll develop a web design, content marketing plan, and link-building strategy that meets your needs.
(Not sure about your target market? We can help in that area as well!)
Content Marketing for SEO
After we understand your target market, we’ll use content to start attracting those customers. Our team writes content in a specific way to help you show up in search engine results. You might think your current website is easy to read and understand. But is anyone actually reading it?
Having a website is fine, but it doesn’t help your business, if no one sees it.
We use professional tools to help us optimize every paragraph. Yet, our website content doesn’t sound like it’s written by a robot. After all, once people come to your website from search engines, the content has to be engaging, right?
Great content doesn’t stop with your main website’s pages. We can also help you create a blog for ongoing lead generation. Our SEO team does all the keyword research, writing, optimization, editing, and uploading. All you have to do is sit back and watch the customers come to you.
Link Building for an SEO Boost
As we mentioned, search engines care about your website links. When other sites link to you, it is an indication that these website owners think you have content worth sharing. It also indicates that you may be an expert on a certain topic.
Getting backlinks isn’t easy. You have to reach out to other website owners to promote your own website. There are also a lot of rules about links, since people try to scam the system. It’s a job best left to an SEO professional. Otherwise, you could do more harm than good. Luckily, when you work with conversionMOXY, you have a team of link-building experts on your side.
Web Design – A Forgotten Piece of the SEO Puzzle
Many SEO teams and digital marketing experts focus purely on content and backlinks to increase your traffic. They are missing a huge opportunity. Search engines also care about web design.
Think about it. When you visit a website, what is the number one thing you notice? You notice the site’s speed and usability. Well, you really notice these things if they are wrong! If a website loads quickly and you can easily navigate it, you probably don’t notice at all. This is a good thing!
We’ve all experienced websites that are slow and hard to use. It is super frustrating to say the least. Search engines don’t want to send their users to websites that are frustrating. This is a piece of the search engine pie you just can’t ignore.
Additionally, there are some back-end things we can do to improve how search engines view your website. This will not change or effect how your websites look to visitors. It will improve your SEO, though!
Any SEO agency that does not care about your website design is doing you a disservice. Yes, content and links are important, but so are the nuts and bolts of the website. That’s why we have a dedicated web design team made up of SEO strategy experts.
Local SEO Services
If you do have a location-based business, don’t worry. We can help you get more website traffic from local customers.
First, when we write content, we’ll specifically target local readers. We do this by researching the keywords local customers are using to search. Often, this includes naming local towns/cities and referencing local regional names.
We can also help you pursue link-building with local resources and outlets. If other websites link back to your website, this tells Google you are an authority on the topic at hand. You’ll get the most benefit if these links are from well-respected local-based news sites, blogs, etc. After all, these links aren’t just good for SEO. They are also good for organic traffic.
Our team can help you set up geofencing as well, which works hand-in-hand with SEO. With geofencing, you can send offers when a person with a mobile device is near your location. It’s a great marketing tool to help you increase your sales.
If you’re looking for a local SEO company, we’d love to speak with you more about our SEO service.
Local SEO; Even if Your Business is Not Local
Local SEO isn’t just for service-based businesses that have only local clients. Every business can benefit from local SEO.
Over 90% of customers do their shopping within 20 miles of home. The internet has exploded as a resource for shoppers, but many people still like to spend their money locally. Even if they buy online, they seek out local businesses.
We know this because we can see how many people are searching for places “near me.”
When you search for something “near me” or name a certain city, Google typically shows you a map. Try searching, “hair salons near me” for example. Or, search for something less location-based, such as “home décor near me.”
You may even be reading this right now because you searched for “SEO companies near me” originally! We are the SEO firm that you found and that you need, whether you are looking for local business or a nationwide SEO campaign.
The point is, instead of seeing normal, generic search results, you’ll see a list of local businesses. Google determines these listing based on how well you have optimized your website.
We have a proven track record of helping our clients get into the top of the first page of search results. The higher you are on the list, the more likely someone will click through to your website. An SEO specialist from our team will work with you to hit that goal.
Measuring Your SEO Success Over Time
After our SEO team reviews your current traffic and goals, we’ll begin working to improve your traffic. Of course, you’ll want to measure your optimization success based on our activity. The ultimate measure of success is lead generation and sales for your business. Our digital marketing agency focuses on your company’s growth. Even if you have a very specialized company in the manufacturing, medical or scientific community, we have the professionals to handle your site and your technical SEO campaign.
However, it’s important to keep two things in mind:
1. Website traffic typically doesn’t change with the snap of your fingers. Search engines take some time to “catch up” when you make positive changes.
2. SEO isn’t a “set it and forget it” type of strategy. You need to work on your SEO continuously to stay relevant. Search engines care about when you last updated your site. Additionally, the algorithm changes all the time. You have to work on it to stay relevant. We can set you up for success going forward, since we have monthly SEO packages to help you continuously update your content and improve your SEO.
Over time, we’ll tweak your SEO strategy based on your results. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to SEO. Some SEO companies near me try to use templates for their clients. Simply put, this doesn’t work. Visitors become bored with a site, when it looks the same as many others. Our team creates custom, engaging strategies, using colors, placement and visually attractive graphics to keep the visitor on your site. We do know that some general SEO marketing tactics are more effective than others. However, we will build our solution around your business.
If you aren’t tracking your results, you could be missing major opportunities. You might also be working with an ineffective SEO team. Regular audits are important.
Stop Searching for SEO Companies Near Me and Schedule Your Free Consultation with Our Team!
If you are ready to see how conversionMOXY can help you, we’d love to sit down for a free consultation. An SEO specialist from our team will discuss your goals, so we can customize the perfect SEO strategy for your brand. Click the “Request a Quote” link above to begin. Or, give our experts a call at 336-245-1640.