My friend Brian O’Connell is the president and founder of CPA Site Solutions, a company that provides websites for tax and accounting firms. We were discussing the SEO (Search Engine 
Optimization) and bemoaning the fact that $5 - $10K annually is simply out of reach for most small firms when he offered to share this article with my readers. It’s good stuff --- Thanks, Brian!!
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The best way to begin your search for a good SEO agency is to go to www.google.com and type in “search engine optimization” and “SEO”. Any result on the first 3 pages of either search is likely a great one. Anyone on the first 8 pages is darn good, and anyone on the first 15 can pretty much get the job done for a small local accounting firm.
Be careful when selecting your SEO. For every success story I could tell you about SEO, I can also tell you a horror story about fast-talking, wheeling & dealing, black hat search practitioners who promise high rankings but ultimately get sites removed from the major indexes altogether because of their shady methods.
Not all SEO techniques are safe. Some SEO’s specialize in ranking sites quickly and easily by deliberately breaking the rules. This is called “spamdexing”, ”black hat”, “gray hat” or “high-risk” SEO. If a site is discovered to be using these techniques your domain name can be banned from the search engines. The people who use these techniques are not always forthcoming about the risks. Most "Black Hatters" pose as "White Hat" firms. Some black hatters are honest about their methods, however, and the simple fact is that cheating works... until it's discovered.
Whatever hat you decide to wear it is your responsibility to make sure you're dealing with a reputable professional who is frank and open about their methods. You have to weigh any risks along with the potential benefits and hire a SEO willing and able to do the task according to your directives.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you consider your SEO options.
1. Don’t trust anyone who guarantees results. Nobody can guarantee position, especially for your competitive keywords like “accounting”.
2. Stay away from any company that markets by spam or cold calling. This is a huge red flag. Good SEO’s don’t need to drum up business. They have plenty of work.
3. Be wary of bargains. Most budget SEO firms are traffic mills that promise white hat SEO and then turn around and cheat assuming you lack the skills to call them on it.
4. Google does not certify SEO’s. The only certifications that Google offers are in regards to “Adwords”. Adwords is a paid advertising product and has nothing to do with SEO.
5. There are no companies with “special relationships” or “partnerships” with Google, Yahoo, MSN Live Search, or Bing.
6. Where possible avoid hiring SEO companies from out of state, and never hire a company overseas. An unscrupulous SEO can take you for a lot of money before deceitful/unethical/criminal behavior can be discovered. The further away the SEO is the harder it is to sue them.
7. Make sure that the SEO company you hire has done a good job getting their own site listed. If they aren't prominently listed on the search engines there’s no reason to expect them to be able to do it for your site.
8. It's generally better to work with established agencies with a track record of three years or longer.
9. As always… never trust anyone who can’t/won’t offer references.
10. SEO is hard work, there are no guarantees, no (ethical) shortcuts, and even the best SEO is going to need your help. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you a bill of goods.
Do an online search on your prospective SEO. While all SEO firms will have critics (many people have naive, unrealistic expectations when they try to optimize their first site) an online search may reveal real endemic problems.
Don’t expect fast results without cheating. The best "White Hat" SEO will need a couple months to get your site rankings to climb into a noticeable position.
SEO is also not a one time cost. The search engines are constantly changing the algorithms they use to determine your position in the search results. It's a dynamic (and essentially never-ending) process.
Your firm's website is an investment, and properly applied SEO can help increase the value of that investment. Taking the time to become an informed consumer and to understand the basics before selecting an outside SEO vendor can help ensure a positive outcome... and higher search ranking for your firm's website.
