If you are looking to hire an SEO firm, here is some of what you want to look for in that firm.
Keyword Research and Copywriting Skills
Both SEO and search engine advertising require keyword research and copywriting skills.
With ad copy, writers deal with only a limited set of words, including:
1) Query Words
2) Unique Selling Propositions
3) Calls to Action
In Web Site pages (including landing pages), writers have much more to deal with like page titles, meta tags, headings, a higher word count, site navigation schemes, calls to action (above and below the fold), and cross-linking. Though some of these features should be available on ad landing pages, many of these landing pages aren’t an integral part of a site’s information architecture.
Many copywriters come from the print world or, advertising, or journalism background. These copywriters might not specialize in the Web and search engine copywriting. Search engine copywriters know how to write with keyword phrases and incorporate these phrases into sales copy without diluting either their brand or copy. Search engine friendly copy has a certain level of redundancy that most likely will not be acceptable in a print medium or for that English paper you wrote in college. So it is important to find search engine copywriters for web site work, otherwise inevidibly you will most likely have problems if you try to hire a print copywriter.
Web Site Design, and Interface Usability
Placing keyword-rich text on Web pages won’t increase search engine visibility unless crawler-based search engines can easily access that text. A site’s design, page layout, navigation scheme, and information architecture are just as important as search engine friendly copy. That’s why you will notice a site that is primarily designed in graphics will not rank well in the search engines.
Finding an SEO firm that specializes in search engine friendly design is difficult. Not only must this firm’s staff have design skills, their staff should have programming, marketing, Web analytics, and interface usability skills. Very few SEO firms have staff with technical and marketing skills.
Even if an SEO firm doesn’t have individual staffers with multiple talents, make sure it has staffers with these five skill sets: web design, programming, search, Web analytics, and interface usability.
Inbound and Outbound Link Development
Link development is often an ongoing process that goes far beyond site development completion. For a new site, link development often begins with directory paid inclusion. Since it’s very difficult to modify a directory listing, a search engine friendly copywriter should know how to research categories and write appropriate descriptions that will enhance a site’s overall search engine visibility and be an accurate directory description. Many Web content writers don’t understand directory submission. It’s a special skill.
Unfortunately, link development isn’t a skill PR firms currently provide. Link development requires search, publicity, and e-mail skills. For example, an article opportunity might arise in an online publication. A qualified link developer knows how to:
1.) E-mail a publication to pitch the article
2.)Write the article so keywords naturally appear in the copy
3.)Ensure the article links back to the Web site in a search-friendly way.
In Closing
Sometimes, SEO can be a simple process. Maybe the title tags need a little tweaking. Adding text links and a site map might solve the problem, or creating a URL structure the crawler-based search engines can follow. However, if you need to outsource or hire an SEO firm, make sure the firm has staff that specialize in search, copywriting, design, programming, marketing, and inbound link development.