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How to Hire Your Next SEO SEM Consultant

By Julie Ann Ross

Republish: EasyPublish™
Published: 03Mar2012
Word count: 528
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SEO SEM (search engine optimization and search engine marketing) can mean the difference between success and failure for a lot of online businesses, or businesses that rely on online traffic for a major part of their revenue. SEO SEM can mean the difference between a lot of traffic and no traffic. Between qualified leads and browsers. Between running in the black or sinking into the red.

SEO SEM is the idea that websites are not only optimized for search engines (SEO), but that online marketing professionals make a concerted effort to market via those same search engines (SEM). In other words, knowing how to position a website so it is easily found by the largest number of buyers.

But SEO SEM is not necessarily something companies want to take on by themselves, since it can involve a steep learning curve. While it makes some sense to have an internal employee handling the SEO SEM, keep in mind that this person will most likely have other responsibilities that distracts them from their original tasks. Also, hiring and training a new staffer can take months, which most companies do not have, especially if their search engine results are flagging. Lost positions means lost profits, and the longer a company waits, the lower they drop on the search engine results pages.

So companies should consider hiring an SEO SEM consultant to carry them forward. But what should they look for in that new consultant?

Ignore university degrees and accreditation. Look for experience instead. SEO SEM is fairly new as an academic study, and only now are some universities are offering classes on it. However, they are using old methods and old texts — techniques that became obsolete even six months ago. A real SEO SEM expert gains their knowledge from working in the industry and reading the latest blog posts and white papers, not sitting in a classroom.

Ask for examples of past work. This may be difficult, because many SEO SEM consultants have non-disclosures with their clients, but it is still worth asking for. But, they may be able to show analytics reports without disclosing client names or identities.

Check out their search engine rankings. Not only should a good SEO SEM consultant rank near the top of their chosen keywords and niches, they should be ranking well on local search results. The best consultants will not only understand general SEO techniques, but they will also know how to do local search as well. Also, do not just limit the check to Google; look at Yahoo and Bing too. A good consultant will focus on all the major search engines, not just the biggest. One day, the others may explode with growth, and companies that ignored them will be left behind.

Finding an SEO SEM consultant may be rather difficult for companies that do not know what to look for. But as long as they are armed with a few basic benchmarks and questions — like looking for years of experience, size of past campaigns, examples of work, trial performance, and search engine rankings — they can make a well-informed, educated decision.

With 20 years in marketing, advertising and 10 years in internet marketing,Rostin Ventures is on the cutting edge. Combining Social Media Optimization with more traditional SEO and SEM methods, RRS is a firm specializing in enhancing clients' online presence and managing their public relations online. SEO, SEM and ORM, Online Reputation Management, are combined. http://www.RostinVentures.com

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