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How to Select a Qualified Web Design Firm That Can Really Help Your Business Succeed Online

proweb365 — Sat, 11 May 2013 02:03:40 +0000

As a business owner, you may be relatively “green” when it comes to online marketing. You will want to know the costs of establishing a professional website and running an internet marketing/Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign. Ultimately, you want know what your provider can guarantee in terms of their SEO service so you can have a better idea of what your return on investment (ROI) will be. With so many web design providers out there, it is very hard to find a qualified web design firm who can address both creating a professional website, and providing strong SEO services. In this article, I will share how to look for a qualified provider to get the most bang for your buck. Let’s get started.

One, to make things easy for yourself, you’ll want to look for web design companies that provide full web services, including: web design, web hosting, online marketing/SEO, and website maintenance. This means that one company will be responsible for all of your website needs so you don’t have to be the “middle person” trying to communicate between multiple providers every time you need a change made to your website. With your time always at a premium, consolidating your web services with one provider is a smart move that will save you time and headaches in the long run. Full service web providers often have well-assembled teams who can deliver your projects and results on time. They also often provide faster and more reliable IT support, which is very important, because in today’s environment, slow IT support is an opportunity killer.

Two, find a web design provider who specializes in custom website design. Today, many business owners often make the mistake of going with a provider who simply re-sells cheap website templates (which have been duplicated and resold thousands of times online). This means their website looks very similar to others. When a business owner founds a company, they try to come up with a unique name for their business, so when it comes time to showcase themselves and communicate with their customers online, their website should be attractive and original. Your website is the first thing customers will learn about you — so creating a site that’s similar to thousands of others is not a good move.Show more Show less

Although a custom designed website often costs more than templates one, it will generate better response from customers. If you want your website to help your business make a good first impression with potential customers and build solid brand-name recognition, having a custom-designed website is key. Furthermore, to keep your initial costs low, you may be able to work out a repayment plan with your provider. Another option is you could possibly start out with a small website (2-5 pages) first and then as you gain more clients (and revenues/profits) you can grow your website. Again, your website is the first thing customers will learn about you, and customers’ first impression of you can make the difference between gaining new leads, or not; you want to start out your internet presence on the right foot.

Three, look for web design provider that not only are knowledgeable about custom website design, but also about business development, management, and marketing. This knowledge will enable your provider to quickly learn about your business model, operation, and needs in order to come up with a smart strategy for success.

In today’s competitive market, a custom-designed, beautiful website is not enough to optimize your website for maximum results. Just like in a car race, a beautiful looking race car will not provide a greater chance of winning a race; it’s the car that is well-optimized for performance (aerodynamics, engine, tires, driver, etc.) that has the best chance to win. Therefore, it is important to find a well-rounded provider with knowledge and experience that can look at your business from different angles, fully understand it, and come up with an optimal solution for success. When it comes to ensuring that your business stands out optimally online and among your competitors, there should be no cookie cutter approaches, but rather innovative and out-of-the-box thinking.

Four, search for strong internet marketing companies that not only specialize in custom website design, but also in internet marketing/search engine optimization (SEO). Strong internet marketing companies are often those whose own websites are ranked in the top ten of a Google organic search for a number of competitive keywords like: Internet Marketing, Web Design Prices, Minnesota Web Design, Search Engine Optimization, etc.

After you’ve narrowed down to a few providers that meet these criteria, ask them how long their SEO campaign will take, and what results they can guarantee to you. A skillful and knowledgeable SEO firm would know their competency, after researching the keywords for which you want to ranked in the top 10. They should be able to give you a certain guarantee for your SEO project – usually between 60-80%. This means if they SEO 10 optimal keywords for you, they could guarantee that 6-8 keywords will rank top 10 in a Google organic search, and they should only charge for the keywords that they successfully get into the top 10 for you when the deadline comes. The competitiveness of your selected keywords, age of your website, and other factors will determine how long it takes for the SEO provider to push your keywords into a top 10 ranking. On average, it usually takes providers between four and six months to get a SEO project done. It’s important to make sure your provider puts their guarantee in the contract for you from the beginning. If the provider is in another country, you should find out how the contract will hold up for you in case things don’t pan out well. If any provider doesn’t have a contract for you and cannot guarantee SEO performance for your project, run… don’t walk, away.

As business owners and marketers, you want to know the cost of establishing a professional website, and market it effectively. Above are four important steps that will guide you while you compare qualified web design and SEO providers.

Source: ProWeb365.com

ProWeb365 is a Minneapolis web design company in Minnesota that provides affordable website design and internet marketing services to businesses and organizations. We are always upfront about web design costs by listing our prices right on the site (ProWeb365.com) for clients to see and compare. For our Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services, we only bill clients for results that we successfully deliver.

Beyond being knowledgeable about web design and Internet marketing, we are also knowledgeable about business; this helps us solve some pretty difficult problems for our clients. To establish a strong web presence online for your business and market it effectively to your target customers, contact ProWeb365 today at info@ProWeb365.com or (612) 590-8080.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Made Easy…to Understand

ProWeb365 — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 04:35:35 +0000

When clients come to us for website design and Internet marketing services, a common question they ask is: “What is SEO?”

Answering this question thoroughly takes time, because there are many technical terms in SEO like: Title tags, Meta tags, Description tags, On-page Optimization, Off-page SEO, Anchor Text Links, Back Links, Content Marketing, and more.

In this article I will use an analogy to help those of you who know little or nothing about SEO. I want to help you understand what it is, how it works, and why it’s important. My goal is to help you understand SEO in as simple and fundamental a way as possible. Let’s get started.

1. What do the letters SEO stand for, and what is the purpose of SEO?

SEO is short for Search Engine Optimization. SEO involves improving likelihood that your website will show up high on the list when users do a search on a site like Google.com, Yahoo.com or Bing.com.

2. What is a Keyword?

A keyword is not what it sounds like. It’s usually not a single word. A keyword is a search term. “Minneapolis Web Design” is a keyword. “Video Producer Minnesota” is another keyword. People search for things most often using two or more words, or a phrase like “Pet Stores MN,” or “Affordable Auto Repair Iowa.”

3. What is a Google Organic (or “Natural”) Search?

A Google organic search is the type of search you likely do often. You go to site like Google.com, and you type in a search term (a keyword), for example: “Minneapolis cleaning service.” These are the results of your Google Organic Search at one given time.

4. What are On-page and Off-page SEO?

To have a better chance of being listed in the top 10 of a Google organic search, you need smart On-page and Off-page SEO strategies. Imagine a live, professional car race where the majority of people only pay attention to the cars in the top 10 positions, and you want to be in those top 10 positions among your competitors. You need to optimize everything from your tires to your driver’s performance (On-page SEO) and you must assess the race conditions; things like the track temperature and wind levels (Off-page SEO) so you can implement smart racing strategies prior to (and during) the race. Smart and skillful race teams (SEO teams) are those who optimize their vehicles well (On-page SEO) and keep a close pulse on the weather, track conditions, and racing rules (Google’s Algorithm updates).

5. What are a few elements of On-Page SEO?

In addition to your website’s “people audience,” search engine spiders are a second audience that crawls (or scans) your website regularly to index it into certain categories for search engine users. Optimizing your On-page SEO is to fine-tune different parts of your site to make it easier for both people, and spiders, to understand. On-page SEO includes fine tuning your website’s content, Title tags, Meta tags, Description tags, Anchor text links, Code, etc…Show more Show less

6. What are a website’s Title tags, Meta tags, Description tags, Anchor text links, Code, etc.?

Think of these as parts of your race car. Your Title tags are your engine’s horse power, Meta tags are your turbo boost, your Description is your transmission fluid. Your Code is the car’s body. Most importantly, the content of your webpage is your engine. This does NOT mean that the more content on your site, the better your motor will perform. The quality of your content and how you distribute it on your webpages are what determine the performance of your car’s engine.

7. What are a few elements of Off-page SEO?

I would say almost anything that you do to promote your site online that does not take place on your website (or On-page SEO) can be considered Off-page SEO. Given some recent Google Algorithm updates [as of April 2013], there are a few Off-page SEO elements which are critical. These are: content marketing (for both on and off-page), social media marketing, and backlinks from reputable sites and sites that are related or complimentary to your business.

8. What are backlinks in Off-page SEO? What are Black-hat and White-hat SEO?

Backlinks are an SEO tactic. The goal is to get other websites to post links back to yours, especially sites that are related or complimentary to your business. You can think of developing backlinks as choosing the lanes you will drive on during your car race. Smart and knowledgeable drivers will select lanes (or streets) which will help them race more efficiently while also following the race rules (search engine’s rules) to avoid being penalized. This is where Black-hat SEO and White-hat SEO come in. An SEO specialist who uses Black-hat SEO statics is like a reckless driver who bends the rules and regularly gets penalized or gets knocked out of the top 10 positions (similar to getting a de-graded ranking in a Google organic search).

9. Why is one Keyword more expensive to get ranked in the Top 10, than another?

Think of keywords like specific races. It’s more expensive to get your car into the Daytona 500 than a small-time race early in the racing season, because the stakes (the racing prize) are much higher. Some keywords are highly coveted, because they lead the most buyers to click and visit sellers’ websites. For example, if you are a video production company located in Madison, Wisconsin – the keywords “Video Production Madison” are likely going to be very high-stakes keywords for you – and words that you’ll want your company to show up under when people search for them.

10. Once my site rises into the Top 10 in a Google organic search, why should I pay a retaining fee to my provider to keep my site in the top 10?

Since there are only 10 positions in a Google page-one organic search, competitors are constantly working to push you out of the top 10. If you stop paying your pit crew to keep up with maintenance of your vehicle and keep it running well, soon your competition will pass you by. Remember, this is an on-going race and your one-time payment to your pit crew is to get you into the top 10, not to keep you there forever. It takes work to stay on top, to stay competitive. The retaining fee is paid to your pit crew and driver to both keep your car in top shape, and to keep your driver focused on staying in the top 10 positions.

11. How do I know which keywords are the ones that customers will use to search for businesses like mine?

You know your business and your customers better than anyone else. So place yourself in your customer’s shoes, and try to think of the keywords they would use to find your business. These are the keywords you should share with your SEO provider. After that, your provider should research to see how many people are searching for those keywords, locally and globally. In addition, a good SEO provider may also find additional, high-yield keywords that your competitors are using. Their SEO report will give you a clear picture of how competitive specific keywords are and how much it will cost to push your ranking into the top 10 for those keywords. You can then decide which keywords you want to pay to get ranked for, based on your customer demographics, marketing strategy, and budget.

12. How long does it take to push 5-10 keywords for my website into the top 10 in Google organic searches?

It depends. The competitiveness of your keywords, the condition of your current website, and other factors will determine how long it will take. Imagine yourself approaching a professional race driver with YOUR vehicle and asking him how long he would take to get your car into the top 10 positions in a race. The driver has to look at the condition of your vehicle first. If you’ve got a great car (website) already, it may not take that long to get into the top 10. But if you’re driving a clunker, you may need to completely rebuild your car (website) prior to starting the race. The driver will also need to know which race (which keywords) you want him to compete in, the Daytona 500, or the Kobalt Tools 400. These together with other factors will help your pit crew to provide you with a price quote. But you can expect it to take a professional SEO company 4-6 months to get 5-10 keywords into the top 10 for you.

I hope you find this article helpful and understand how important SEO is to website marketing success. If you have any ideas for how I could make this SEO/Racing Analogy clearer, please let me know at info@ProWeb365.com.

Source: ProWeb365.com

ProWeb365 is a Minneapolis web design firm, specializing in web design and development, Internet marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). We are a results & relationship-driven company. Every day we strive to meet and exceed our clients’ expectations while only charging for results that we successfully deliver. For web design prices or to see what Internet marketing success looks like for your business, contact us today at (612) 590-8080.

Seven Popular Home-based Businesses to Start at Low Cost

proweb365 — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 18:46:57 +0000

Today, the Internet has made it much more affordable for individuals to start home-based businesses. But success isn’t just about the ease of the start-up. Successful entrepreneurs are usually the ones who start their businesses based on their passions or hobbies, so if you want to have a better chance of succeeding in a home-based business, you should find something you really enjoy doing, something you’re passionate about. Are any of these 7 popular trades a passion of yours?

1. Freelance copy writing: This is one of the most popular home-based businesses nowadays. If you have a communications or English degree and want to run your own show instead of working for a newspaper or publishing agency; being a freelance copy writer may be a great path for you. The cost required to setup this home-base business is very low. You just need a computer (ideally a laptop), web access, a simple informational website that you can update yourself, a couple hundred business cards and you are ready to go.

2. Social media marketing/management: This is another popular and low cost business you can establish out of your home. To start this business, you first need a laptop computer, web access, a smartphone, a couple hundred business cards, and social media webpages for your business on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. As your business grows, establishing a customized, content management system (CMS) website for your own business is another wise investment. A CMS website allows you to update and change your business easily, so that as your business grows, you can update your site to reflect your growth. Having a professional website is very important in a field like social media, because it allows you to better present yourself to potential customers, and also to build lots of social share links back to your website. Over time, this “organic link building” will help you create a large network of links back to your website, which are valuable because your potential clients are online and many will run into those links, and your website.Show more Show less

3. Promotional video productions: Leveraging YouTube and other social video sharing channels, this trade is another attractive business in today’s market. You can help your customers promote their businesses effectively with promotional videos via viral marketing such as social media, websites, email, video sharing channels, etc. And of course, you can establish this business from home.

4. E-commerce store: This is another business trend growing quite a bit in popularity today. With the ability to compete with big box retail stores on a level playing field while keeping overhead costs low, E-commerce business owners are enjoying the flexibility the Internet has to offer. For more information on how to build and manage an E-Commerce website intelligently for better results, see How to Customize and Manage Your E-commerce Website for Maximum Results.

5. Business consultant: If you have quite a bit of knowledge (a degree) and experience in small business development and want to be your own boss while consulting small businesses and helping owners write their business plans, this may be for you. Often, small businesses, especially startups, do not have the budget to afford big consulting firms. Your lower overhead costs allow you to offer a more affordable rate and capture this market segment.

6. Music lessons: This trade is flexible to establish as a home-base business. You can use your basement as your teaching studio or use it as your business office while renting public studios close by on an as-needed basis. This allows you to keep your operating costs low and enables you to work your business schedule around your personal life.

7. Wedding/Event planner: In addition to consulting services, you can keep your operating costs low by partnering and contracting with businesses such as restaurants, entertainers, hair stylists, etc. on an as-needed basis. The wider the network of partners and contractors you have, the more clients you can serve in a wider geographic area.

Although many of us want to be our own boss and run our own show, operating your own business is not easy. It requires a lot of ongoing effort and hard work. Business owners who survive and thrive often are those who started out their business as they explored their passion. A few notable examples are: Michael Dell of DELL computer, Lawrence “Larry” Page of Google, and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. To give yourself a better chance of succeeding in running your own business, you should find something that you really enjoy doing, something you’re truly passionate about, and see if you can make that your business.

Source: ProWeb365

ProWeb365 is a Minneapolis web design firm in Minnesota offering affordable website design. We list our web design prices right on the website for customers to see and compare. For further assistance, please contact us at info@ProWeb365.com or (612) 590-8080.

Seven Tips to Help Non-Profits Raise Funds — Faster, Easier, Better!

ProWeb365 — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 06:35:34 +0000

Nonprofits tackle society’s toughest tasks. They save sick children and help them to learn. They march for cures, preserve the planet and build homes for the homeless, not to make a buck but to make a difference.

But since most of their resources go into leveraging change rather than piling up profits, there is often little left over in their slender budgets to market themselves effectively to the world — especially to potential donors. Yet nonprofits rely on public donations and government funding; an effective and professional presentation of their services and activities is therefore of paramount importance.

In this Internet age, your nonprofit’s primary point of contact with people is your website.

Let me share with you 7 Simple Keys for effective communications Online.

1. Your website is your online presence. Be sure it’s well-designed and tailored to your nonprofit’s mission and message, not some outdated, cookie-cutter template that makes you look like everybody else. You never get a second chance to make a first impression; the first few seconds a potential donor’s eyes land on your site will determine whether he reads on or clicks to another site.

2. Check your site’s loading speed. No one wants to wait for a website that takes forever to come up onscreen. Many nonprofits use Shared Host to run their websites; this can cause very slow loading, particularly during high-traffic hours on the Internet. This is a dubious economy, since you could easily miss donor inquiries because they just couldn’t get through to you.Show more Show less

3. Make giving via your website as easy as 1-2-3. Donors should be able to give using just three clicks of the mouse. Clicking on a Donate Now button should take them directly to a simple form where they can enter their vital information — including the amount they want to give — and an interactive email or message box for any comments. They next click Submit, which takes them directly to a PayPal page to enter their credit card information. When they click Donate, an automatic email thanking them for their generosity should be on its way.

4. Make your website user-friendly. Websites that are confusing to navigate — too much information, getting lost toggling back and forth between pages — are frustrating to users. Most people won’t put up with this; they will move on. Smart navigation structure that keeps web pages simple and easy to use is the key to attracting and retaining new visitors to your website, which translates into more new and repeat donations.

5. Make your website easy to edit and update. If you are using old HTML code or a non-CMS platform, it’s time to upgrade because you can’t easily change or add new information to your site as it occurs. Content Management System (CMS) is the most popular platform and widely used today because it’s scalable and adaptable as the website grows. It is more cost-effective to start out with one of the widely-used CMS platforms, like Drupal, Joomla, Magento and WordPress.

6. Keep your content current. You must maintain your website with content and features that are timely and up-to-date, keeping pace with changing trends and circumstances. This may be challenging for nonprofits, whose budgets may not accommodate professional IT supports. But here’s the good news: there’s an inexpensive way to do it.

Nonprofits can ask businesses in their area to sponsor the website maintenance fee in return for a banner ad on their website. This is both an opportunity and a tax write-off: a win-win situation for nonprofit and business.

7. Use social media — it’s free marketing! Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest — such outlets are expanding, and are excellent ways to spread the word about your programs and activities.

Our Minnesota web design firm has served many nonprofit organizations and take pride in helping them to stand out professionally while telling their unique stories to the Web-viewing public. If you are a non-profit seeking to enhance your public image and jump-start your fund-raising capabilities, contact our Minneapolis web design team at info@ProWeb365.com or at 612-590-8080.

Source: ProWeb365.com

Terms of Service

We ask for a small banner advertisement, near the bottom of your website, that states “Free Web Design for Non-Profits” and is linked to ProWeb365.com. This will help make other non-profits aware of our supports for them.

Your Non-profit is required to host its website with us for the first two years. After that you can move your web hosting to any company you wish. We would like to see that you use our website design work/support for the right purpose and to make sure you get a chance to experience our stress free service for at least two years, through our outstanding web design and tech support team.

Because we are donating our website design services, we require non-profits to provide enough information, quickly, in order for us to complete their website in a timely manner. If this doesn’t happen it can lead to projects dragging on for far too long.

To encourage punctuality during the process, we require non-profits to make a deposit for their website design up front. Then once the organization meets the project’s timeline requirements – at the time of the completion of the website – we return the deposit in full.

This is how the process works: first we provide you with a timeline to complete your project. If you do not provide enough information, in a timely manner, for us to complete your website on time, we will treat your project as those of our regular business clients. This means, we will not refund your initial payment deposit. Here’s an example: If we promise your project will be done in 6 weeks. During these 6 weeks we ask for your information (content, graphic files) to put onto your website. You are responsible for getting that information to us, in a timely manner, in order to complete your website at the end of 6 weeks. If the website cannot be completed on time because you did not provide us all information, in a timely manner, then there would be no refund of your initial deposit. At this point we would give you another 2 weeks to send all necessary information to complete your site. If after that 2 weeks you still have yet provide us the information, we reserve the right to cancel the whole project and no refund will be given.

8 Reasons That Make an E-Commerce Website The Most Attractive Business

proweb365 — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 01:28:48 +0000

Today, consumers access the Internet more often than ever before, either through their smartphones, smart-pads, or computers. And here are three market trends that contribute to this behavior among the consumers: Free public Wi-Fi networks, more affordable laptop/desktop computers, and a growing usage and demand for mobile devices and apps.

These market trends make it more attractive and affordable for consumers to own these devices. With the ability to access the internet from their devices anywhere, anytime, consumers are enjoying their convenience. This is growing web traffic, and quickly, which gives rise to an ever expanding market opportunity on the Internet. The companies that have seen the biggest gains out of this opportunity are E-commerce businesses. Here are 8 facts about E-commerce websites that make them competitive, profitable and affordable for small businesses in today’s environment:

First, you would have to put up tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, to set up a traditional, brick-and-mortar store. With E-commerce store, you only need a small fraction of that, which makes it more feasible for you to test out your business idea at a much lower cost.

Second, you can maintain a low overhead cost with an E-commerce store by avoiding large expenses like office space, electricity, etc. This is a huge cost reduction for small businesses.

Third, it is easy to manage your E-commerce store with remote internet access. The flexibility of the online store allows you to get things done at your own pace and on your own time so you can spend more time with family, or travel with your loved ones.

Fourth, since many consumers today are using the internet to find products and services they need before making the purchase at the store or online, consumers’ transactions are moving more and more toward the web. This is great news for E-commerce stores because they can now compete with brick and mortar stores on a level playing field, at a much lower cost.Show more Show less

Fifth, having a large inventory is often a headache for many managers and business owners in retail industries. With an E-commerce website, you can keep your inventory low or even at zero. If you are a retailer, you can order the products from your vendors after customers have placed their order on your website. You can also sell a wider variety of products, from different vendors. These are popular approaches many E-commerce businesses today often take to maintain a strong cash flow, to increase revenue, and to respond fast to the changes in the market environment.

Sixth, you can sell banner ads on your site to businesses that sell products related to yours. For example, if you sell ink cartridges, you can also sell banner ads on your site to companies that sell printers such as HP, Canon, Brother, Lexmark, etc. These banner ads create another revenue stream for your business.

Seventh, with an E-commerce store, you can grow at your own pace, and the sky is the limit. You can choose to grow locally, nationally or internationally. Here are a few businesses that have yielded significant success with their online store: Versare.com, NewEgg.com, and the most well-known, Dell.com.

Eighth, and my favorite fact of all, you can keep your store open online store 24-7, so while you are sleeping, your website is still making money for you.

E-commerce stores are getting more and more popular among retailers today because they are helping businesses capture a growing market share during our current period of explosive growth in Internet usage spawned by mobile devices. Even big box retail stores like BestBuy, Target and Walgreens have established E-commerce stores to stay competitive with their primary brick-and-mortar competitors and other, smaller E-commerce retail stores. With the affordability, flexibility and profitability that an online store can provide, E-commerce website will continue to lead the way in today’s business landscape.

Source: ProWeb365

ProWeb365 is a Minnesota web design firm that offers compelling, affordable web design. Our web design prices are listed right on the website for customers to see and compare. For further assistance, please contact ProWeb365 at info@ProWeb365.com or (612) 590-8080.

6 Tips to Make Sure You’re Hiring the Right SEO Provider

proweb365 — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 02:20:02 +0000

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the sum total of everything done organically to, for and about your business’ website SO THAT WHEN PEOPLE use SEARCH engines to find businesses like yours, THEY FIND YOU. In many cases, they either find you, or they find someone else – so the stakes couldn’t be higher. SEO may sound simple enough, and it doesn’t have to be complicated – but when you’re looking to choose the right SEO provider, there are several key things to keep in mind.

Starting off, you’ll want to know what each of these terms mean: Keywords, Google’s Page-One ranking (organically), and Conversion Rate:

Keywords are the words or phrases used by people when they search for businesses like yours on search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Thus, choosing the most appropriate and frequently used keywords (by your targeted customers) is extremely important.

Google’s Page-One ranking means that when people search using your business’ keywords, your name will come up in the top 10 organic search listings. If your name doesn’t show up until the second page of a Google search, it’s not much good, because most people won’t go to the second page, and so your keywords probably won’t lead to a very high conversion rate.

Conversion Rate is the rate at which people who pull your business up on a search ALSO CLICK TO GO TO YOUR WEBSITE and GO TO YOUR CONTACT US PAGE. The importance of this is, obviously, paramount.

Google Page-One ranking is only one key factor that determines a good conversion rate; the quality of keyword is also critical. For example, if you own an auto repair shop in Minneapolis, Minnesota and you intend to serve customers in the Twin Cities – a few cost effective keywords for you would be “Auto Repair Minneapolis”, “Car Repair Minneapolis”, “St. Paul Auto Repair” and “Twin Cities Auto Repair.” These keywords should be optimized for your site, because people who live in and near your Minneapolis auto repair shop will likely use their city’s name (Minneapolis, St. Paul or Twin Cities, for example) in their search. On the other hand, our research has shown us that the keyword “Twin Cities Car Repair” might not be the best choice to invest in because local customers do not use this keyword much to search for local auto repair services.Show more Show less

Understanding these terms will help you in your very important quest to select an SEO company that delivers high-quality, and highly effective, SEO work. Here are 6 THINGS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER WHEN CHOOSING A PROFESSIONAL SEO COMPANY:

FIRST, look for a company that COMES UP PROMINENTLY when you Google search for SEO companies in your area. How an SEO company fares in the SEO of its own company will tell you quite a bit (though not everything) about the SEO skill and strength of that company. Watching for this will also help you filter out brokers who simply slap together quick websites and contract-out to third-party SEO companies to provide you the service.

SECOND, ask the company if they write up contracts for their SEO services. This is a great way to verify if they intend to deliver on their promises.

THIRD, ask them what kind of guarantee they offer for their service. If they SEO 10 keywords for you, how many keywords can they guarantee to rank in the top 10 for you on Google’s organic search? No one can guarantee 100% of all keyword rankings, but a knowledgable and skillful SEO company can deliver up to 80% of keywords; in this case 8 out of ten keywords might get ranked. And remember, make sure that this guarantee is explicitly listed in their contract.

FOURTH, ask how long (months) it will take them to get your keywords ranked where you want. SEO companies typically promise somewhere between 3-6 months. Also, ask them what the fee will be to maintain your keywords’ rankings, after your keywords are ranked. The competitiveness of each keyword will determine the rate to maintain its’ ranking. The average fee to maintain a keyword is usually around 15%-30% of the initial cost to rank the keyword in the top 10 or top 5.

FIFTH, request that they provide you with a monthly SEO progress report. This is standard procedure. Most professional SEO firms provide it, and they also follow up regularly with their clients.

SIXTH, if an SEO company requests that you to pay 100% of the SEO project fee up front, but has no written contract for the service, and/or cannot guarantee you a percentage of keyword rankings; run, don’t walk. A knowledgeable, experienced and professional SEO company should know fairly well the chances that it can get at least some of their clients’ keywords ranked in the top 10, and they should be able to stand behind their work. A fair proposal might be to accept 50% of the project fee up front (with a signed contract) and the rest once the SEO project’s specifics are successfully delivered.

These six tips will help you to identify and recognize which are the professional, high-quality, and experienced SEO companies. This should also help you to better compare services between providers before deciding which company to go with. Our Minneapolis SEO company provides everything we mentioned above, and more. If you’d like to see an excellent return on your investment when it comes to search engine optimization (SEO), give our Minneapolis web design firm a call at 612.590.8080 or email us at info@proweb365.com.

Source: ProWeb365.com