SEO: Do it myself or farm it out?
Should I take the time to learn how to do Search Engine Optimization myself or should I pay a service for this? If the latter, what is a reasonable amount to expect to spend and for how long? Also, what expectations can I reasonably have that this service will succeed in placing my business on the first page of a Google search, etc. assuming they know what they're doing?
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Jul 16, 2014
Do you know who to farm it out ?
Are you sure about his work ?
Best way is hire someone who your friend has already hired and have got the results .
Doing yourself , or outsourcing to a cheap company would/can negatively effect on your rankings .
LEAVE IT TO THE PROS . But finding a PRO is the real task !
Jul 10, 2014
David,
Lots of good answers here.
But how about this? A lot of SEO is tricky, or even about "tricks". Who wants to build a business on the shifting sands of tricks?
Either you have good content, well managed (that includes SEO) and well strategized, maybe even including fun things like "comments" and "video" etc. -- or you don't.
Content rules and the search engines are getting smarter all the time. Do you do all your own accounting and taxes? SEO is just one skill among several that your website manager (in-house or hired) needs to have.
Likely your ROI for SEO-by-yourself will be much lower than for whatever it is that you do as your main business.
Lastly, several commentators have hinted at the large amount of bad and out-of-date SEO information out there. This gets me back to the whole "tricks" business, which is not a way of building a business for the long term.
Jul 10, 2014
Yes sure you can learn seo yourself but it not easy to do it. it's hard work to build links and many other stufff. if you wish to discussion seo things contact us for more detail
Jul 2, 2014
Well, I don't think there is any need to pay for the SEO service take your time in understanding the SEO, you can take the reference from searchengingeland post. There is nothing much left in the Search Engine Optimization process whole SEO now is revolving around mostly Content, Link Building and influencing people by taking the help of Social media. Yes, you can take the help from professionals with the on-page thing but for off page I don't think there is any need.
Jul 2, 2014
Hello David,
SEO is a long and complex process. While it can be very helpful for you to know the basics and what results you can generally expect from this activity, SEO also involves many technicalities and it's a time consuming process, that is best left in the hands of specialists.
It implies both onsite and offsite SEO and lately, even social media activity seems to be included when it comes improving SEO rankings. Placing a business on the first page of Google, it is a process that can take even years, depending on how much competition there is in the domain that you are activating.
For a more accurate estimation of time and budget, you can request a SEO audit. You can request one here: http://us.nnc-services.com/seo-ppc-packages/
Hope this helps!
The NNC team
Jul 1, 2014
Your priority should be deciding what you want from your website, then hire a marketing agency to help you get this. With personalised search there is no such thing as 'placing a business on the first page of Google' as different people will see different results.
But WHY do you want to be top page? Being top page is not (usually) the end goal. Success is measured by traffic onto the website that converts into sales and leads.
Having successfully implemented "SEO" policies for twelve years, I find having to show top rankings on keywords is a distraction from generating huge increases in leads / sales from non paid search traffic. Of course you need reasonable rankings - but the aim is surely leads/sales.
Jun 28, 2014
You should do both, do a part yourself, do pass some work to people who understands it but noone can solve your problem, you need to be involved and push the team. http://www.techshu.com/blog/work-with-digital-marketing-companies
Execution is a global problem, you need to pay right and demand right. I will be at HP, training their team next week, I will also be sharing a part about how to work with a digital agency, will share more here.
Jun 27, 2014
There is no such as free trraffic. You either pay someone or you spend your time. Then Google changes their algorithum and you have to start all over again. Most of the successful online marketers pay for traffic so they can always control their outcome. Facebook ads is a great way right now to capitalize on paid traffic. You can spend alot of time or thousands of dollars for an outcome that is not guaranteed.
Jun 26, 2014
Hi, David. Whether you take the time to learn or outsource your SEO depends on the time you have and your marketing budget. There are a number of e-courses you can take - I have one that's 6 weeks, but covers pretty much everything to increase your visibility, readership, authority, and ranking.
When looking for a marketing service, check their Alexa.com rating. Search their name on Google. They should have a professional looking website. And, they should have fresh content on their site on a regular basis.
You should also read their About Page and Testimonials page to find out what actually qualifies that individual to teach SEO.
Another way is to ask people/businesses you trust for recommendations.
Hope this helped.
Jun 26, 2014
I run a marketing consulting company and we farm our SEO out - we used to do it ourselves - when we hired a professional our results increased by 10 fold. Lots of good advice on this thread.
When I evaluate whether we should do something in house or hire and expert - I compare the value of my time and how much revenue I can generate with the cost of the expert. Rarely does it make sense for me to do it myself.
I would also say that finding a real expert is a challenge - we actually use 2 different companies to help us - one focuses on overall ranking - the other is a specialist - like a surgeon so we use them for niches.
Lots of charlatans out there - like in any field before hiring anyone I would ask to speak to at least 5 clients and find out specifically what results were achieved