Recently, A Realtor came to me for some SEO advise because she felt like she was getting taken advantage of by a company she was using for SEO services.  And even worse, she said this was the second company that ripped her off over the last 6 months.

This is a local Realtor with little budget and she was made to believe that should could get good leads or quality Internet marketing services for $80 to $100 a month. The first time she was taken advantage of she paid $79 a month and the second time it happen she paid $99 month; both times she got no return on investment and a bad taste in her mouth for SEO experts.

I’m glad she came to me because professional SEO’s provide arguably the best return on investment for your marketing dollars. I wanted her to leave my office without thinking that all SEO’s are thief’s.

This is what the falsely proclaimed SEO’s were doing to her to take advantage of her and by no surprise both companies were doing the same thing.  They promised her she would rank #1 in Google for a term like “Rockaway homes for sale in NJ” that drove no traffic and had no competition in ranking so it made it very easy to rank number one for.

Most people don’t understand SEO, so they claimed they were providing SEO services and she didn’t know the difference. What they were actually providing was Pay Per Click services.

Here’s how they stole her money. They simply bid on a term that was around .05 cents per click that no one ever clicked on because it was not being searched for. So what happened was every time she would search that term in Google she would come up #1 and be confused on why she wasn’t getting traffic and most importantly leads.  Sadly, in the end the companies delivered what they promised; #1 ranking and she got nothing but emptier pockets.

Here are some fundamental tips to watch for when looking for an SEO provider:

1. Make sure the provider’s focus is on driving visitors and conversions to your website. Remember that ranking well for a term only matters if that term drives traffic and conversions.

2. SEO services are not cheap. SEO takes time and a good SEO professional charges anywhere from $100 -$1000 hourly.

3. Ask for references and ask the references to talk about the results.

4. Lastly, listen to your gut. It knows the truth.