If you are in the market to hire a search engine optimization (SEO) firm, selecting the right vendor can be a daunting task. In recent years, SEO has gained immense fame and acceptance as a formidable marketing technique, so it should come as no surprise that SEO firms are popping up in various shapes and sizes: one-person SEO consultancies, SEO-only firms, combined SEO/Development firms, traditional ad agencies offering SEO, and even offshore SEO enterprises. But which of these options will deliver the best results for your business? Which can you trust to suggest – and possibly implement – changes to your site? The fact is that true Web marketing success requires knowing the web business inside-out, including programming, design, usability, and SEO. Here are four reasons to hire a firm that offers both SEO and Web development: 1. Get a truly search friendly site. SEO-only firms tend to be focused on top rankings. While rankings are significant, they won’t mean much if your site’s design and functionality aren’t appealing to your visitors. Even if a site gets heavy traffic, what’s the point if visitors rapidly leave and don’t convert? When selecting a SEO firm, ask yourself these questions: • Can this seller optimize a site’s code, images and programming? • Can they uncover design and programming issues? • Do they understand Web usability and its effect on conversions? SEO is about more than just getting – or manipulating the search engines to get – high rankings. It’s about implementing strategies that create an outstanding user experience, resulting in increased traffic, leads, and, most importantly, sales. After all, why go to the trouble and expense of obtaining high rankings if it doesn’t add to your bottom line? 2. Get an SEO team who understands how sites are built. From time to time the search engines need a little help “seeing” your site, especially if you have a dynamic or e-commerce site. Search-friendly sites have properly written URLs which avoid characters like a question mark, ampersand or equals sign in the URL since these can make roadblocks for search engine spiders. SEO-friendly URLs are built to eliminate these roadblocks, and as a bonus, a creative programmer can actually incorporate keywords within the URL. If you want to learn more about Search Engine Optimization, you can read through the following articles: Internet Search Engine Optimization For Your Success, SEO Best Assessment On Google Top No-No’s, Your Way To Wealth Mentors Explain How TO Select The Ideal SEO Training Classes