Hey Wesa,

I'm an SEO in Chicago (Chicago Style SEO) and we get a lot of clients who have been burned by non-local SEO companies. Of course, many of them have been burned by off-shore (do I need to spell out that the worst offenders are in the 2nd most populous country in the world that starts with an "I" and ends with "ndia?"). So...first thing I'd recommend is keep it local. Meet with the people who are going to play a huge part in your online reputation. We do have clients all over the US and the world, but 90% of them are in Chicago.

Second thing I'd recommend is to STAY AWAY from firms that put everything under their control, especially AdWords campaigns and Analytics accounts. The data in these accounts is extremely valuable to you...why would you give it to someone else to hold over your head and keep you from going somewhere else? Make sure that all of this is under an email account you control. We have a lot of clients come to us with no data from their past efforts because their previous company said the data was theirs, not the client's. Most scumbags who do this will tell you that it's to your benefit to have this all under their control, which is total BS. So...make sure you own your own data.

And as others have told you, ask for references and look at their track record. Ask about their methods. Stay clear of black hat stuff and make sure that they will not do any gray-hat without your express, written permission. Does their strategy make sense?

Lastly...will they allow you to help if you want to? We set up SEO plans for our clients and publish them in a shared Google spreadsheet—it acts as a project management tool. We then divide up the work with the client. Come clients do a lot of work...others do none. If they have a receptionist sitting looking at Reddit all day, that receptionist could instead be doing simple stuff like collecting local citations. You don't have to be paying me to do that kind of stuff when your $10/hour receptionist can do it for you.

Good luck!