All too often SEO agencies are worrying about how to act when it comes to clients-what questions should you ask and how should you ask them, what should you do if the client backs out, how to act if the client doesn't agree with you, etc. However, there isn't too much advice out there that prepares a small business owner for interactions with an SEO agency. After all, there is quite a bit to know about how to manage a successful relationship. Half of making that happen is the small business owner. If you are about to enter into a partnership with an SEO agency, you have to ask yourself: What will help me help this partnership be successful?
Tips and Tricks to Working with an SEO Agency
In general, an SEO agency isn't going to be upset if you're unsure what questions to ask or unsure how the process works. The agency is there to help you, and it isn't completely necessary to understand every aspect of the partnership and how it works (you have other business matters to attend to). However, having a little bit of background information can help the partnership become successful and get things off to a good and faster start.
A few tips to working with an SEO agency:
- Revisit Plans. If an SEO agency wants to do something major (such as a redesign or an unknown link building tactic), let them know that you are going to think about it for one night and get back to them tomorrow. You don't want to do this with everything the agency suggests (see point two), but do so with major decisions. This will give you time to understand what it is they explained to you and formulate questions that may hit you later in the night.
- Have Trust. It's important that you trust your SEO agency, which is why it's important that you put a lot of thought into who you choose to work with. Conduct many different interviews with many different agencies to make sure you're making the best choice. Once you make that choice, trust what the agency says. Expect constant communication and reports, but don't continually pester them about their work. This will not lead to a good partnership, and it's just not worth it.
- Ask Questions. This is a fairly obvious point, but important nonetheless. Always ask your SEO agency questions if you have them. This will give you the answers you need and help let your agency know that you're happy.
- Offer to Help. Part of creating a great relationship is offering to help your agency. There are certain SEO tactics that might be more successful with the help of the company (passwords, community outreach, etc.), so make sure you're ready and willing to do what you can.
In the end, working with an SEO agency is all about asking questions. Test them and make sure that they know their stuff, and ask them specific questions about your business. You have to remember that you're in control here, and the better and more open relationship you have with your agency, the more successful you will be.
Have you ever worked with an SEO agency in the past? What did you do to help make sure that you created a successful partnership?
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