There are some important steps you need to take in advance of optimizing the site that can help you quote accurately for the SEO project. Following are the points:
- What technology was used to build the site i.e. Flash, PHP, frames, Cold Fusion, JavaScript, Flat HTML etc.?
- What is the file extension of the pages i.e. .htm, .php, .cfm etc.?
- Does the site contain database driven content? If so, will the URLs contain query strings or does the site use parameter workarounds to remove the query strings?
- Are there at least 250 words of text on the home page and other pages to be optimized?
- How does the navigation work? Does it use text links or graphical links or JavaScript drop-down menus?
- Approximately how many pages does the site contain and how many of these will be optimized?
- Does the site have a site map or will it require one?
- Does the site have an XML sitemap submitted to Google Sitemaps?
- What is the current link popularity of the site?
- What is the approximate Google PageRank of the site?
- Do you have the ability to edit the source code directly or you need to hand-over the optimized code to programmers for integration?
- Do you have permission to alter the visible content of the site?
- What are the products/services that the site promotes?
- Are the Images already optimized for the targeted keywords?
- What are the site's geographical target markets; Are they global, Country specific, State specific or Town specific?
- What are the site's demographic target markets; young urban females, working mothers, single parents etc.?
- What are the earch keywords or phrases you need to target?
- Who are the major competitors online? What are their URLs? What keywords are they targeting?
- Do you have access to site traffic logs or statistics to track visitor activity during the campaign?
- What are your expectations for the optimization project? Are they realistic?
