The question comes up often. Many people have been burned by S.E.O Services, but many have also been rewarded by S.E.O Services. Like any business transaction or purchase you should only spend your money when you feel comfortable. Your comfort zone should pull from various dependencies, such as how well do you know this business, how long have you been doing business with this person or entity, what is your first impression, how do you personally feel about this person or entity ability to provide this service, and how well have you done your homework. The truth about S.E.O services is that it is normally not hard work, but that doesn't mean its easy. It still takes time, dedication, effort, strategy, technique, method, skill, and experience to perform quality S.E.O services. Anyone can use S.E.O services because it is within your reach to learn, but not everyone can apply sensible strategy to make S.E.O work. That is why S.E.O engineers are needed to accomplish the almost impossible, but the question is how do you know you are making the right choice and not overpaying for S.E.O services? I can honestly say for the most part S.E.O service providers are on the up and up who want nothing more than to do professional business and provide quality S.E.O services. Identifying every shady S.E.O service may not be possible, but I have some recommended advice which should help anyone get a fair and quality rate for S.E.O services. - Set yourself a "realistic" marketing budget and goal - Shop around - Don't buy until you feel comfortable - Remember "cheap does not always mean better" - Ask for references / referrals / portfolio - Verify references / referrals / portfolio - Ask for statistical growth and progress reports Set Yourself a Realistic Marketing Budget and Goal This simply mean do not kid yourself and think you can pay $200 and overnight you will make thousands. Instead, create a budget depending on your marketing needs, competitive industry, projected outcome, and length of time. If you are looking for your website to rank in the Top 10 search engine result page for a particular keyword or keywords then expect to pay in the thousands, often times tens of thousands, for quality, professional, and reliable S.E.O services, almost always depending on the competitiveness of the keyword. If you want to rank in the top 10 for the keyword "Google", this in most cases impossible, but I am sure there are some S.E.O companies who will accept the challenge, but will charge in the thousands if not millions to attempt this insane marketing goal. Shop Around Find the most appealing S.E.O services and compare those to other competitive S.E.O services. Don't settle for "cheap" or "inexpensive", but settle for "effective" and "strategy". Anyone can do S.E.O work, but not everyone can improve results using S.E.O services. This is because, S.E.O is about technique and strategy. It's not about just throwing thousands a links around the web and sitting back waiting for the explosion. Its actually a lot more complicated than that, as it is about having strategy, technique, and competitive edge. You must find S.E.O services which live by this principle and can offer you the strategic roadmap you need for success. Don't Buy Until You Feel Comfortable You should always feel comfortable with entrusting your money into an S.E.O service provider paws. If you have special needs such as you want to sign a contract, you want a specific pay schedule, or you have any questions, make sure you get answers and are comfortable with the projected outcome then move forward. I personally suggest getting a contract which outlines the projected outcome and any other bullet points, then also exploring the consequences or possibilities if the projected outcome is not met. Remember "Cheap Does Not Always Mean Better" This is a buyer beware notice. When someone offers $20 S.E.O services or even $200 S.E.O services, I would say "buyer beware". There may be a handful of highly skilled S.E.O providers who can offer you S.E.O services at a discount or for extremely low rates, but most of the time these providers either do not know their service worth or know exactly what they are doing, but may have had a lucky streak. You will have to pay top dollar or aggressively, yet still affordable for quality, strategic, and experienced S.E.O services. S.E.O engineers is what I like to call them. These are S.E.O 's who understand the S.E.O concept, who pioneer S.E.O methods, and who don't always follow the trend, but know the trends. Most of the S.E.O engineers are not going to be cheap, but well worth every dollar spent. If you take into consideration other marketing and advertising platforms, such as television broadcast advertising, print advertising, large tradeshow/fair booth advertising, etc. internet marketing and search engine optimization cost peanuts compared to these other advertising methods and have a farther audience reach. S.E.O services can easily cost between $5,000-$25,000, it can even be much more than this, depending on your needs, but this is far more inexpensive and cheaper than other advertising platforms. So, next time you think that S.E.O service cost too much, think about the other methods of advertising and their rates, along with return on investment (ROI). S.E.O services come out on top every time when compared against these other advertising platforms. Ask for References / Referrals / Portfolio Any S.E.O service provider should be able to point you to their qualifying work. S.E.O service providers should be able to present you with affectionate websites which they have performed S.E.O work on. This can even be the S.E.O service provider personal website, they should be able to point you to their rankings in the search engine as well as some result driven S.E.O work within the site or across the web. Verify References / Referrals / Portfolio Verifying information is not always easy or accomplishable. You should attempt to reach out and verify what you can. If a shady S.E.O business was going to scam, then I am sure this is where they would start, with testimonials. I suggest verifying what you can, but don't get overwhelmed with referrals because it may be the shady S.E.O business giving self praise. I actually have some good verification tips, but that's another article all within itself. Ask for Statistical Growth & Progress Reports The S.E.O service campaign should include periodic progress/performance reports so you can track your website progress. Tracking your website progress is important in many ways. First, it tells if the S.E.O engineer is doing their job. Second, it tells you if the S.E.O methods, strategy, and technique is working or not. Third, it tells you how well the search engines are reciprocating your S.E.O efforts. And lastly, it tells you how much progress is being made and at what rate. All of this advanced reporting information and trend tracking can give you an overview of your website potential while giving you the opportunity to design or redesign your landing pages to increase your return on investment (ROI). Okay, to wrap it up, just be sure you stay out of shabby internet neighborhoods and when making any online transaction, do your homework first. Also, remember "cheap does not equal better". Think about it, would you rather pay in the thousands to one S.E.O company for quality S.E.O work, which will produce results and increase your website overall performance or would you rather pay cheap $200 to many different S.E.O 's who don't ever really give you the results you deserve. If an S.E.O engineer can increase your website sales and exposure by 80% without your site ever reaching the top 10 search results then you still got a good deal. This is the effect of skilled and experienced SEO services. The only difference between your website and the websites in the top 10, is those websites have S.E.O engineers working for them who understand S.E.O