Internet marketing isn’t easy to do on your own. That’s why so many companies hire a professional services company to help. If you’re looking at your options for Internet marketing help, there are a lot of companies out there offering a wide range of services. But not all of them are skilled, professional, and ethical companies and not all of them are going to be ideal in helping you reach your goals.
Red Flag #1: Unrealistic Guarantees
When you’re looking at a sales pitch for a company who promises to help you get more traffic, increase your revenue, attain more search engine results, and help you rule the internet for your niche carefully review the language they use. If you’re promised unrealistic guarantees, think twice.
Search engines are unpredictable. Promises are helpful but very specific promises need to be looked at cautiously. If someone is promising you spot #1 for a specific key phrase in a matter of days, this is unrealistic. If a company promises to help you improve traffic levels and to help you improve your rankings, this is something that is believable. If the language sounds way too good to be true, it probably is.
Red Flag #2: They’re too Vague
If a company offers to build 1000 backlinks, are they specific about the types of links you’ll get? Are they going to provide you with proof that what you paid for has been done? Not all links are equal and massive submissions to useless directories or a campaign to spam a bunch of irrelevant blogs with comments isn’t going to be helpful to your efforts or your online reputation. You’ll also want to be sure that you’re well aware of how progress will be measured and what sort of follow-up the Internet marketing company will provide to ensure they’re helping you reach your goals. If the internet marketing company doesn’t give you information about how they’ll help you succeed and what you can expect from them, you can’t be sure they aren’t using unethical methods that could get your site banned from search engines. If you’re being given vague promises or only a very vague idea of how the Internet marketing company achieves results, consider this a warning sign and ask for more info before signing on any dotted line.
Red Flag #3: Unrealistic Pricing
Everyone loves a good deal but if the company offers really low pricing, this could be a red flag. Or, if their pricing is substantially more than everyone else, this is something to investigate further, as well. You might find steep differences when comparing several quotes so be sure you understand exactly what’s included in a quote so you can compare apples to apples. Knowing what’s included will also help you be sure you’re dealing with an experienced internet marketing company that can help you reach your online goals.
Sharon Hurley Hall writes for Jenkinson and Associates, an ethical and results-oriented Internet marketing company that helps websites reach their goals.
Feature image provided courtesy of rmgimages
