‘Tis the season for many things. Family time, shopping, decorating, firing one or two of your vendors, and with this firing comes hiring and the search for a new vendor partner. When it comes to replacing a vendor partner, my experience in sales tells me that it generally isn’t a process that someone could consider… “jolly.” So let me do the work for you and give you some things that you should avoid when hiring a new vendor for a menagerie of services.

Because it’s the Christmas season and I forgot to reference Keanu in my last blog and who ties a tree to their Porsche?!

SEO And Who You Shouldn’t Hire

Remember that time you searched for the content on your site and saw that it pulled up many other websites on your current platform? I do too, since I see it everyday.

Is the company you are currently talking to (or even working with) using a template to optimize your website? Guess what? They’re doing it for every other client of theirs as well. Why is this bad? Easy. The first, and most important, problem with this is that your content is terrible and offers little to no (heavy on the NO) SEO value in search. That template also is only making your site as relevant as the other 1000 sites that might be using that template for their SEO. Please don’t take my word for it; copy a snippet of your content and search it on the ol’ Google machine to see what I’m talking about.

After that, search a few of the keywords that you are currently (over) optimized for and see if you rank for them. When you’re done with those two things, give me a call and we can talk about your next option (wink face). Let’s refer to this as “Reason One” why you shouldn’t hire that company.

Now I’m sure you’re thinking “wow, that seems really important. If that’s ‘Reason One,’ please Don, tell me more, tell me about ‘Reason Two.'” You’ve twisted my arm.

How about those guys that guaranteed your business Page One rankings in days? “Wow, that sounds pretty good, let me sign that contract.” Halt!! Sit back, put your pen down and take a deep breath because that company is full of it. Some of the things you want to consider when it comes to Page One rankings are:

  • How important are those keywords to your business?
  • How many of those keywords do you already rank for? (don’t let them take credit for your hard work!!)
  • What kind of strategies are they using? Anything “Black Hat” will eventually have a negative effect on your site

Ask any of these questions and I’m sure the answer you receive is going to be pretty vague.

Reason Three: Are you optimizing the entire website or just the homepage? Any company you work with should be optimizing every page they have access to, NOT just the homepage.

Is there a Reason Four? Of course there is, and it’s simple: does your current vendor talk to you? Are you more than just a support ticket? This is one of the biggest complaints I hear about when talking to a potential client or a current client working with multiple vendors. Let me tell you something, it breaks my heart sometimes, knowing that you aren’t as important to them as you are to me.

I Digress, What About That Paid Search Company?

So I was told today that a paid search company one of my clients was working with would not link their analytics account to their own Adwords account or show them data in a screen share because they did not want to give away their “secret Google recipe.” Well, shiver me timbers, isn’t that crap. Why would an agency not want to share that kind of data with their clients? Here’s a few reasons why:

  • The agency is jacking up your click costs to make sure they absorb any fee you might be spending with them.
  • Your ads aren’t converting (yes, I’ve seen this before)
  • Your ads have a lot of low-quality clicks

What does “quality over quantity” mean for paid search? Simple, the agency wants to spend your budget so they’re focused on keyword clicks even if that keyword doesn’t make sense or can convert. Do you want clicks and bounces or clicks and time on site? Don’t lie to me (or yourself).

What if I told you that there are strategies out there that will let your site see more traffic, better traffic and more leads with a lower budget? Is that something that you might be interested in? I already know your answer, so lets move on.

A lot of this related to your current vendor and issues that you might be having with them, so question what they’re doing, especially if kept in the dark when it comes to your spend and performance.

Socially Unacceptable Social Media

“Hey California Dealership Facebook page, I’m a New Jersey resident, let me like your page because I’m a fan of your business and shop there often.” “No you don’t buddy, how did you find me?!?”

So you got suckered into one of those companies promising you “likes” on Facebook, ask them how they could assume that Don in New Jersey is going to get his Wrangler serviced at your Los Angeles Jeep Dealer. If they tell you that they’re willing to fly that Don guy out, let me know, I’m always down for a free trip to California. If they tell you that “it’s just for branding,” or “it’s just to get more likes on your page,” tell them to take a hike, because let’s face it, your throwing away your money if you’re hiring a social media company because they promised you likes.

Are you staring at that social media company contract while reading my blog? Jaw hitting your desk because you were about to sign up because you wanted more likes? Are you wondering what else you can ask them when their sales guy follows up with you for the fifth time this week? Well here’s a few questions you can ask based off some common things I see:

  • How many time has one of those stupid cat pictures actually got some one interested in my company?
  • How much traffic does your evergreen posts send to my website?
  • Have your strategies helped prove any sort of ROI?

Let’s Spend a Few Minutes on Content Marketing

Does your current vendor even provide this for you? Are you aware of what that is? Don’t worry, I’ll explain.

How many model specific landing pages does your current website have? Do you develop strong content comparing your brand to another? Do you have someone blogging for your dealership? If your answer is no to any of these, you’re missing out on both content marketing and on the value this marketing brings to SEO. Any strong, reputable SEO campaign should include content marketing – a service that was included in your costs, not “at an extra fee.”

Quick and easy, right?

Long Read, But Clearly Worth It

Keanu Reeves Hardball Although only mentioned once, communication and transparency need to be key in any of these four types of  marketing campaigns. At the end of the day, your business is spending money and you  should know what  your results look like.  Don’t be afraid of asking the tough questions, play a little “Hardball” if you have to  (Keanu reference number two).

Are you currently in the market for a new vendor or want to get a good idea of what your current vendor is  doing for you? Reach out to us – there’s always someone at PCG willing to take a look at your current  strategies and help out anyway we can.