You know the value to your business of using SEO (search engine optimisation) to generate new business prospects from your website, but you need to ramp it up so that it is always current to the latest Google and Bing search algorithms and SEO rules, always working for you and making sure that your business, services and products are ranked right up there in the Search Engine Report Pages (SERPs). We’re obviously slightly biased and think a specialist SEO agency is best, but we think that for very good and proven reasons.
The next, and a key, decision is: do you hire internally or do you outsource Search Engine Optimisation to a specialist agency?
The next, and a key, decision is: do you hire internally or do you outsource Search Engine Optimisation to a specialist agency?
What do you get when you hire an SEO agency?
You get instant expertise and SEO specialists with real business involvement
It’s there on tap and ready to go – a team of consultants that ‘do SEO’ every day, 365 days a year. No interviewing, no hiring, no waiting to see if they can do the job. Resources are there immediately to maximise what you have in place already and inject impetus, detailed expertise and to ramp up activity from day one.
Expertise, experience, and knowledge
Not only does your campaign get up and running quickly, but with an SEO agency there is also someone there to answer your questions. How many times have you looked at your website and wondered why, when you search (and more importantly your prospects search) your site doesn’t come up in the top results. There must be a reason and that’s where SEO agency consultants can pull on their experience and other online marketing techniques, client experiences and other members of the SEO team to not only answer your questions but quickly implement fixes.
Activity management made easy
SEO doesn’t clock-in and clock-off, it’s there 24x7x365. So your agency has to be always-on (or should be), ready and available to answer questions or to maximise opportunities for you. SEO can be confusing and having specialists at the end of a phone or email makes managing the SEO activity simplicity itself. Just point and click with reports that are easy to read in English, not SEO-speak. Leaving your SEO in the hands of proven and trusted SEO professionals is so much easier to manage. It leaves you to get on with your business while new business opportunities are handled for you.
Results focused
SEO agencies are focused on results for you. Because getting results means that you are happy, they are happy, and the business relationship continues. In this knowledge you can ensure that when you say jump, an agency will jump, it’s in everybody’s interest to succeed. This leads to increased performance amd better results. It’s that circle of activity that everybody just loves because it’s a perfect win-win scenario.
Sharing and collaboration
Working in a dedicated, specialised SEO team, with regular industry updates, seminar and conference guidance with daily interaction brings fast rewards to the agency’s clients. Even when making coffee in the kitchen, that client’s SEO challenge will still be at the forefront of the consultant’s brain, looking at all the angles and of course talking to other team members while they watch the kettle boil! Sounds crass but the right route to get SEO results can come at anytime and from talking to other consultants, when carrying out seemingly unrelated daily activities. It’s what being in a dedicated team is all about. That’s why no matter how good your internal staff, unless they are plugged into the daily SEO announcements, getting regular training and consulting with their peers, they will find it hard to continually keep on top. And with SEO it is a continual process to stay ahead. Working with other team members also opens the door to other activities that impact on SEO such as social media and blog article writing. Having access to these resources on tap adds additional power to your SEO campaigns.
Proven success
If you haven’t received one of those round-robin-emails promising #1 position in Google for a single payment of $99, then look out for them and get ready to hit delete. One hit SEO is not a reality and true SEO is based on continuing success, solid agency:client relationships and… RESULTS. RESULTS. RESULTS. Yes that is typed three times, because when you are looking for an SEO agency you need to see their past performances and talk to their clients. If they can’t provide this then you need to move on.
So… In-house or agency? How to analyse costs?
The choice of in-house or external has both business and financial implications. But the options are not mutually exclusive. You could opt to:
- Select an SEO agency
- Select an SEO agency + an internal resource
When you look at the costs, the obvious advantage of an external agency is the turn-it-on & -off ability. You have ultimate power to say how long an agency works with you and, ignoring the effect on SEO, turn them off if the business dictates. The costs are then in your full control. With internal resources the off switch normally comes with both a time delay, i.e. there is normally an exit period and an emotional effect, you feel bad terminating anyone and affecting their lives.
Then there’s hard cost.No matter what you pay an SEO person internally, you are paying the same for each and every SEO person so the cost just multiplies. With an agency you pay a single monthly cost and they can pull in any number of consultants and associated experience to tackle the challenges associated with gaining results.
SEO Agency – where to find out more?
For us it’s easy choose a specialist SEO agency, so next? Just email us or call us on 01344 578 104 (local call rate) and we can help you out, but as we said, we’re biased and believe that our route forward is the right route, but then so do our clients!
