Have you been dealing with SEO for quite some time, only to discover that your site is still not ranking well? Does trying to optimize your website consume all of your time making other tasks pile up? It may be time for you to consider hiring a SEO company to do the work for you.

SEO can help your company grow by establishing your digital brand and developing your internet presence, but a lot of companies fail to harness the power of the internet because they lack the time, energy, or knowledge to take advantage of SEO capabilities.

What should you know about SEO? Having a basic knowledge of SEO will make your search easier, especially when you enter into negotiations with a potential SEO company. Becoming an SEO expert can be difficult, so don't focus of trying to learn everything. Start small and expand your knowledge by familiarizing yourself with the terminology first. After you get comfortable with terminology, begin to look into some of the technical aspects and processes of SEO. A Few need-to-know terms to get you started are:

• Keywords - keywords or keyword phrases, are words that are searched on a search engine by, well, everyone. Having relevant keywords that pertain to your business is key because they will drive targeted traffic to your website.
  
• SERP - SERP, or search engine results page, is the page you are directed to after entering keywords into a search engine. The ultimate goal of SEO is to improve your ranking on these results. 
• Title Tag - Title tags are important because this particular line of text will tell people and search engines what the page is about. 
• Meta Description - The meta description explains further and in greater detail what a particular web page is about. Although it doesn't directly affect search rankings, a good meta description can encourage people to click on your link.

Thinking long term goals is best for a SEO plan as it can take more than a couple of months to get results from your efforts. There is a large amount of competition in the digital marketing space, and search engines can take a long time to process all of that data.

A good SEO campaign should incorporate other digital marketing resources as well. Avenues like social media marketing, content marketing, email marketing, and mobile marketing can be beneficial to your SEO efforts. 

Decide why you need to hire a SEO company. Before you even start shopping around for a possible SEO firm that you trust, you need to have a clear understanding of why you need or want to hire a SEO company. You can do this by simply asking yourself a few quick questions: Do you have a website? Is your website not receiving any traffic? Is the traffic you are receiving not converting into leads? Is your website optimized for search engines or social media? Do you have a strong internet presence? Do you have a mobile market? If you answered no to any of these questions chances are you aren't maximizing your SEO usage, and may need a little help.

Get on the internet (it's where SEO companies live) and find a company that interests you. Finding a company that does SEO work shouldn't be hard, but weeding out the bad ones can be tedious. Once you find a company you feel comfortable with contact them and ask questions. Some questions you may want to ask are:

• Ask for a reference and check on them.
• Ask for a sample of their successful results.
• How long have they been in business for?
• How many pages are optimized for the set price?
• How do they monitor and maintain your SEO over time?
• What is their SEO strategy?

Learn to avoid certain companies. Not every company that claims to be a SEO consultant will be the real deal. It's important to know which companies are genuine. Here are some signs that you may want to refrain from working with a particular SEO company:

• Companies that promise you a number 1 position or first-page placement.
• Companies that offer you a quick fix. (adding meta tags doesn't fix everything)
• Companies that develop your site in frames.
• Companies that use hidden links to boost your keyword density. (search engines regard this as spam)
•  Companies that give you unrealistic expectations (SEO doesn't deliver on a deadline)
• Companies that change content on already strong performing, optimized pages without consulting you first.

Want to boost your SEO plan with email marketing? Get started with the help of our email marketing cheat sheet!