Does Your Online Marketing Agency Pass The Sniff Test?

So you’re looking to hire an online marketing agency, but you’re unsure whether or not they’re actually any good. Here are 5 quick “sniff tests” that can help you figure out whether you’re hiring a professional or a snake oil salesman.

1. Look At Their Website

• Does their website reflect a company that has put care and attention into their online presence? If not, how can you be sure they’ll put it into yours?
• Does their copywriting read naturally? Does it engage you? Or is it long, awkward and written for search engines instead of people?
• Do all of their pages serve a useful purpose? Is the site easy to navigate? Or are they building out doorway pages with ugly content for the sake of getting rankings?

2. Check Out Their Clients

• Do their client’s websites look professional? Does their copy read naturally?
• How do their clients rank for the important phrases in that niche?
• Don’t be afraid to call a client and ask them whether or not they’re happy. Go to the source!
• Keep in mind that what they do (or don’t do) for their clients, they’ll do for you!

3. Ask About Their Reporting

• Ask to see an example of a monthly report. If they won’t give you one, don’t work with them.
• How frequent are their reports? Are they keeping clients in the loop?
• What key metrics do they report on? What is reported on is what is managed. 
• Do they explain what they’re doing and why? Don’t accept smoke and mirrors. You deserve to be communicated with in plain English, not techspeak.

5. Evaluate Their Sales Pitch

• Look at their track record – not their promises. 
• Anyone who “guarantees” a top 10 ranking or a specific traffic volume is lying. This can never be guaranteed. Look instead for a history of getting sites ranked for words that convert and reasonable traffic estimates.
• Beware of unrealistic time lines. For example, offering to get you “2000 Twitter Followers in a week” or “#1 rankings in a month!” means something sketchy is going on behind the scenes. 
• Be very skeptical of anything that sounds too good to be true. It probably is.