Search engine marketing is big business now, as more and more dollars move online instead of being spent in physical stores, and companies expand their online offering. There are literally hundreds of search engine marketing and optimization companies - and if you know little about the web, all you probably notice is the price difference. Unfortunately, some out there are less than honest - we teach you how to spot them. Stay away from … secretive companies Of course, some things are industry or trade secrets - your search engine marketing firms doesn't need to name names and give you timelines of their operations. But if they can’t provide a basic explanation of what they are doing, they may be using black hat tactics that will eventually see you penalized. Stay away from … niche tactics Sometimes having a niche is good. But if an SEO company you are considering is only using one or event two tactics to build up your website's rankings and traffic counts, it just isn’t going to work. Your money will be wasted. Stay away from … spam emails and telemarketing offers Legitimate companies with a good reputation have their customers come to them - they don't need to telemarket or spam people to build their business. They should appear near the top of the results themselves if you do a search for their main keywords, and should definitely come up top for their own business name. Stay away from … companies with BBB complaints! This is an obvious point, but one many people forget to check. Look for complaints about the company you are considering on the BBB, and ask them to explain any stories that appear there. You will also be able to see if they are a BBB accredited business - a great indicator of trustworthiness. Stay away from … companies with no samples Ask a company about their success stories - they should be able to give you details of how they achieved particular search engine marketing rankings for a company.
Article Source: http://bizymoms.com/business
Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Learn more about Search Engine Marketing.