Ok, so I received an email with the following message (I’ll call the company Firm X, located in Arizona):

Your site is strong enough for top placement on Yahoo! and Google! Allow us to give you a free site review. If you want to be in the top three positions with page one exposure - we can show you at no charge how we can increase your online placement. Email us at (blank)@speedy.com.pe today and we will give you a free web site review. Our results are guaranteed. See how you can change the landscape of your online business. Remember to include all the site(s) you want us to look at and how you would like to be contacted

Sincerely,
Client Care

The funny thing about this is they’re an SEO firm sending this to me, someone that works at a utah seo company. They need to do their homework before spamming companies. The other funny thing is that my company is actually ranking on keywords while Firm X doesn’t rank on anything. (Or at least nothing worthwhile.) I googled Arizona Internet Marketing, and they didn’t show up on the first 3 pages, nor were they anywhere in the sponsored results.

I’ll use this as a word of warning to anyone searching for an internet marketing company. If an internet marketing firm “guarantees” their results - run. No reputable SEO firm will ever guarantee results because no one can predict what Google will do next, nor can they know what other SEO firms are doing to rank your competitors.

Also, see how well the firm is doing for their own website. Are their title tags well optimized? (Sorry, Firm X - another blunder you’re making.) What kind of a backlink profile do they have? What keywords do they rank on?

There are a lot of factors to consider when you’re picking an SEO firm, but do your homework so you’re not throwing your money away. There are a lot of good SEO companys out there, but there are also a lot of clowns straight out of clown college.