If you’re a small business owner or an expanding SME, choosing web designers, web developers (they’re different), SEO’s, PPC managers, copywriters, etc, can be tough.

How do you know who to trust and who is actually being upfront and honest with you?

In fact, articles like I’m writing right now are one of the tactics a dodgy operator will use to make clients feel more at ease. Readers will think, “gee, if this guy is telling me how to choose a web designer, he must be one of the good guys”.

Articles like, “10 ways to spot a good SEO” will of course include every attribute the SEO wants to you to believe he or she possesses, while leaving out the important bits. I’m talking dodgy SEO’s of course… I’m perfectly fine with someone legitimately marketing themselves by putting their best foot forward (oh look another grey area!).

The crux of the problem is, online, its easy to look trustworthy.

How to Choose Online Services

So, you’ve got a problem, you have no expertise or related experience. You need to outsource to someone to help you but you don’t know who to trust, or who is going to give you what you need at a reasonable price (and maybe you don’t even know whats “reasonable”).

Here’s some tips on how to choose – from someone who’s been around long enough to be paranoid enough.

1. Choose a local provider. Just because you’re looking for a service that’s related to the internet doesn’t mean you have to hire someone from a different country, or even a different state. The best way to assess a person’s trustworthiness is face to face.

2. Choose based on a recommendation from someone you know in the “real world”. Not someone you met through a forum, but someone you’ve known personally and can trust.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/orinrobertjohn

3. Ask each service provider to show you at least 3 examples of work they’ve done… then, tell them you’d like to call one of those 3 businesses to see what they thought of your services. Don’t pre warn them you’re going to ask this. Just ask for their portfolio or for satisfied clients, and then ask for a phone number.

4. Obtain numerous quotes, talk to at least 3 different service providers and get quotes/hourly rates. If one business charges you $2,000 a month for a particular (well defined) service, and the next charges $300, you may want to investigate further.

As an example, some SEO services for large businesses might easily run into $4,000 a month for legitimate large scale link building campaigns (not 3rd world based spammers) and content creation. If you’re a SME getting quoted $4,000 a month for SEO, you better not be assigned to an account manager who works on your account, and 20 others… relegating you to getting 4 hours a month of SEO done on your site.

5. Don’t ever, EVER read & believe reviews of a product or service operator online unless you’re 99.99% sure this author is offering an unbiased opinion (no opinions are unbiased…). 99.99% of reviews online are written by someone putting a huge positive spin on something to get a cut of the sale.

Its called affiliate marketing.

Remember that whenever you type in “product/service name + review” into Google. Everything on the front page is written by an affiliate marketer looking for a cut. Seriously.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/myklroventine/

6. If you’re reading a sales letter in long form that has lots of big bright headlines and metaphors like “i unleashed a flood of business where before there was only a trickle” (vomit) then be wary. Of course, copywriters are probably going to have sales letters like this, but you shouldn’t read them, you should meet them in person, see their portfolio, and then call one of their clients and ask if the copywriter increased revenues. Then go and get 3 more quotes and repeat.

7. Lastly, be encouraged if you hear “I don’t know”. Or, “I’ll look into that for you”. If someone sounds like they have all the answers, they’re either the world’s best (get your wallet out), the world’s worst (they’re lying to you), or they’re trying to cover up a lack of knowledge. There’s nothing wrong with a service business that doesn’t have all the answers for you – take doctors for example. If a doctor consulted with another doctor on a particular case, you’d think it normal. Medicine is complex. The same is true for many disciplines – be encouraged if your provider tells you they will need to research something further or consult with a peer. At least you’ve found someone honest and willing to be upfront with you.

8. Learn more about the topic yourself if you can spare any time. For SEO I recommend reading Aaron Wall’s 7 day SEO primer (sign up on the right of the page), and SEOmoz.org’s beginner’s primer to SEO (you don’t need to join either to just get the basics down). For web development and design read w3schools.com and Smashing magazine. For PPC (pay per click advertising) Google’s own learning center is great. For copywriting I read copyblogger. I have never hired anyone from any of these websites, nor can I say they’re all 100% trustworthy, they’re just learning resources I recommend.

I hope some of my paranoia is rubbing off on you. Take it from an ex police officer turned marketer (could you possibly create a combination that makes someone more cynical?), the way to do business online today is to go local. Choose and meet with real (local!) people who have real clients who are open and happy to indulge your paranoia.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/leader_maximo/

On the other hand if you have completely trustworthy associates, mentors or friends who have had an excellent experience with someone from another country, go for it!

Disclaimer: I provide local SEO and web related services to local businesses and am highly biased.