Picture this. You are an Edmonton law firm or dental office. But, your company website never appears on the first page of Google. Presumably, you’ll want to boost your ranking, for most visibility among people seeking your services. So what do you need to do to fix this?
Let us suggest finding an expert. Digital marketing covers various services, from search engine optimization (SEO) to website design to social media. If you struggle to grow your traffic and following, outsourcing your efforts towards online marketing in Edmonton can get you there.
Before you choose just any digital marketing agency in Edmonton, we’d like to give you a few tips. These come straight from our own experience working with our clients and will offer some insight into your upcoming decision.
Tip #1 – Understand your goals
While not necessarily key in helping you find an agency – it is key for helping you through those first discovery calls.
Look inward first. Determine what your wish list is when starting your digital marketing journey. Are you looking for better search engine rankings? To grow your social media following? Improve your website design? Boost conversions?
Knowing the specifics to these questions will help frame your initial meetings with prospects, as some agencies will have more content marketing experience vs. design experience.
Tip #2 – Look for an agency that can show proven results
You’d want to look over someone’s resume before you hire them. Online marketing in Edmonton is no different. You’ll want to see evidence from your prospective agency that they can do what they say they do.
Ask them to demonstrate their value through the results they’ve achieved for other clients. Have them walk you through some recent examples that they can back up with hard data.
Part of the beauty of digital marketing is that everything can be measured! This data can speak volumes about a company’s expertise and track record.
Tip #3 – Look for more than just technical SEO
Some digital marketers focus on providing a single service, such as technical SEO. Yet, there is so much more to quality SEO than just a few backend tweaks and keyword suggestions.
When you look at it broadly, how well SEO works is dependent upon a wide variety of services. Think content creation, website development, social media, and more. They all directly and indirectly influence the other.
A good example of an indirect service that influences SEO would be Project Management. If your prospective agency has an intuitive PM that keeps things flowing, it’s all the more seamless for you.
An agency that is equipped with all of this expertise in-house ensures the marketing strategy is robust, cohesive, and properly executed.
Tip #4 – Want to market locally? Shop locally.
If you want to improve your local SEO, it’s worthy to source a local SEO expert.
Someone overseas won’t have the regional understanding to tell their Amblesides from their Summersides. Online marketing in Edmonton needs local intel.
Tip #5 – Look for effective communicators
In this industry, communication is key. While chatting every day isn’t necessary, regular check-ins, updates, and strategy meetings are.
Yet it’s more than just a monthly chat, it’s about whether they’ll be able to pick up the phone if your site is down or if you need their advice.
A company’s customer service is a true testament to its trustworthiness. If communication is a struggle from the beginning, it may be an indicator of problems to come.
Tip #6 – Look for visual appeal
This is a simple gut check but an important one. Shopping around for an online marketer is the one scenario where judging a book by its cover makes sense.
Whichever company you go with, they should, at the very least, have a website and online presence that is visually stunning. How can you expect them to market your company well if they can’t market their own?
Plus, if we may say, we think our site is a gorgeous piece of work. Go on, check it out here!
Tip #7 – Look for realistic results – no grandstanding!
Trust us. SEO takes time. We mentioned data a few tips back – this is important. A good agency will recognize that data takes effort to build and should reflect that in their discussion with you.
If anyone tells you they can get you to rank on the first page within a few weeks, they might be overselling themselves. Online marketing in Edmonton and elsewhere takes patience. The same holds for social media marketing — organic growth needs time to build.
You’ll want to find a marketing agency that ensures realistic achievements through a time-tested long-term strategy. We’ll be the first to say that SEO is not a quick fix. But when done right, it is the magic sauce that supports high-value organic traffic.
Tip #8 – Ask lots of questions
Our final tip on hiring an online marketing company is to ask a lot of questions.
Digital marketing is a big complicated industry, filled with industry-specific vocabulary, check-in meetings, and spreadsheets.
Not everyone is familiar with terms like referring domains, SERPs, and alt-image tags. If you don’t understand something, ask! Whoever you choose to work with should always take the time to explain.
Connect with Get Social YEG!
Want to learn more about what we do? In a nutshell, we’re an SEO agency in Edmonton. We help our clients organically grow their online presence using the power of social media and a highly targeted content strategy.
We love to talk – reach out to our team today!
