I have just joined these forums since I had some questions. Not sure if this is the right place to ask them.

We have a very newly established IT recruitment firm based in Australia. I am currently negotiating with some companies to do a website for me. Since SEO is an important part and I want our website to show up first against most searches I am also looking to get good SEO ratings.

Some people suggest to get the same company to do the SEO and website together since a part of the SEO will depend on the way the website is coded.

Some others suggest to get a really good SEO strategist who only specializes in the SEO area (to get better results) first develop our SEO strategy and then get them to recommend a web developer to do the website which means two different companies would be working on this.

Which is the better approach and why?

Also when negotiating with a SEO/ Web development company what are some of the questions I should ask them to make sure they don't make empty promises?

What are some of the characteristics of a good SEO strategist/web development company?

What is the best way to negotiate with them?

Any detailed response is appreciated.