What an SEO proposal should include

A special report from SEO-Web-Marketing.com

1. A website analysis, to evaluate the site content, layout, linking structure and to begin keyword selection and research.
2. A competitive research stage, to evaluate what competitive sites enjoy high rankings on the top three search engines, and to focus on 3-5 of those top competitors.
3. Finalization of keyword selection.
4. A benchmark positioning report that demonstrates current position and how many pages are listed in each search engine.
5. Inbound link assessment that counts up the total sites that can be tracked back to your site.
6. Link assessment that counts up the average and weighted inbound links to competiting websites.
7. Is this engagement intended to increase sales on a commerce sites?
8. Is this engagement intented to generate leads on a services site?
9. Inform consumers about products and/or events?
10. Target audience

Depending on scope of services, not all items may be needed. However, it should include how many hours it will take and estimated time of delivery. This phase if fairly finite. Restrictive measures could include no of pages, number of sites, etc.

B) Company methodology (no secrets).

Actual work, tools and techniques for much SEO work is available on the Internet today. An SEO firm should reveal how the work will get done, what is involved, etc. However, it's important that once you agree on a proposal, you comply with the approach and techniques. A summary example:

1. How are pages optimized?
1. This will include the standard on-page factors like TITLE, META, ALT, H1, bolding, etc.
2. Internal linking structure should be revealed and discussed
3. Review the SEO vendor's website for "eat your own techniques" approach
2. How are code changes applied and managed?
1. Outline of how code changes will be implemented and tracked (versioning systems are normally implemented for larger systems)
2. How do programmers apply the changes
3. Team breakdown (SEO agency and Client)
3. Quality Assurances
1. Project plan should include not only the implementation schedule, but reviews of text, tags and any custom programming (javascript, flash)
2. Spell checking
3. Nothing is in the wrong place and tracking for changes
4. Advanced Issues
1. Flash, javascript, frames, dynamic URL's and other SEO challenges should be addressed before work commences.
2. Large sites with content driven from a database infrastructure, e-commerce systems and similar - should have lineitems for how to address. This includes URL-rewriting, site moves, domain management and more
5. Submission to search engines
1. How are they handled (manual or auto-pilot?)
2. Any additional fees (ex: Yahoo's paid inclusion, and others) should be mentioned
3. Detailed examples of building inbound links are often presented, but not required
6. Results Tracking
1. Reporting on progress and stats are an important item to any SEO project.
2. Metrics from ranking in the top 10, to shopping cart conversions, traffic volumes and increases and type of reports (online, excel, customer viewers) should be disclosed
3. Ask for a sample report, and how customizable reports could be made, and how often they are presented. Weekly and Monthly are normal.
7. Client involvement
1. The client is ultimately responsible for complying with the requests and direction as they come in. The SEO Vendor should have full access to information as it relates to his/her search marketing duties.
2. Logs, history, traffic, email marketing campaigns, others - these items must be agreed to beforehand.

C) Costs.

Any SEO project should include total costs for the work, including breakdown as indicated above, hours and expectations. Complex websites will naturally have a more customized solution applied, and since the advanced solution will have a number of sub-components, and overall presentation may do to get started.

Unlike a more standard applications development project, where technical and business requirements documents can be broken down to manageable, trackable tasks, an SEO vendor may turn you down for small Search engine optimization projects. It's simply not worth their time for anything less than $2,500.00. A good rule is to get as much itemized as you can, and trust that you have found a formidable SEO vendor that can truly help you.

Any SEO company that is interested in doing business with you, will have spent not only time up front with you, but done some internal checks (many free tools exist for this) and this can help mature the relationship as well. Concrete examples shows that the SEO vendor has done their homework, and is ready to help you.