~~~Search Engine Optimization~~~
Hello Heather and Jill,
I just finished reading your article on Clickz.com.
I have a question - Outsource or not to outsource an SEO campaign?
Who are the reputable SEO companies?
I am emphasizing Search Engine Optimization as a priority in my
company. Now I want to make sure that I make the right decisions in
beginning an SEO campaign.
Thanks for your advice.
Janet
~~~Jill's Response~~~
Hey Janet,
Thanks for your question! Since I run an SEO company, I would have
to say (with my tongue firmly implanted in my cheek) that outsourcing
your search engine optimization needs are *definitely* the way to go
(g)! After all, we SEO specialists are the only ones in the world
with the special magic wands and inside secrets to make it work.
Yup..uh huh...that's the ticket!
But seriously, in reality it depends upon your company's needs. Many
SEO "specialists" would try to scare you and tell you that search
engine optimization and or placement is oh-so-hard and you'll never be
able to do it correctly in-house. Don't believe them! Anyone can
optimize a Web site to rank high in the search engines if they have
the knowledge and skills. How does one obtain these? Reading,
reading, reading, and practicing, practicing, practicing!
I can confidently tell you that everything anyone would need to know
about how to properly optimize and submit a site to the search engines
and directories is freely available right now on the Rank Write Web
site. And for those that need more numbers and statistics when doing
an optimization (i.e., how long certain tags should be), Search Engine
Watch covers that kinda thing in
great detail.
However, it's important to remember that simply reading about how to
do everything does not suddenly create an expert. I'm always telling
people how easy it is to get Web sites to rank high, but that's
because I've been doing it for 6 years! Yeah, it IS easy for me, for
the most part. But when I first started doing it, I had to learn by
trial and error, just like most of you. I used to constantly study
the list of results that would come up in the various engines. I'd
look at the copy of the high ranked pages, and also of course, look at
their Titles and Meta tags. Then I'd go back and *tweak* my pages
accordingly, and wait to see what happened. This was something I
would do on a daily basis (okay nightly...I am usually up 'til the wee
hours of the morning!). The thing is, I was totally consumed with
doing that kind of thing. It became a real passion (obsession?) and a
sort of puzzle for me to try and figure out. I approached it as a
game that I simply had to win! And let me tell you...when you've
worked that hard and finally see the results that you wanted, there's
no better feeling in the world!
Nowadays, I rarely look at the list of results that come up in the
engines, nor try to figure out why they're there. I simply know what
works from having done it for so long. It's truly second nature to
me. But you know what? Every time I run a ranking report for a new
site we worked on, I still get that same old feeling of victory (and
even amazement!) when I see those top-10 results! And there's still
no better feeling in the world. (Well, okay, eating chocolate comes
pretty close!)
And once again, to those *specialists* out there that love to scare
people with the old, "Search engine optimization is constantly
changing so you must hire our company because we're the only ones in
the world who can keep up with it." I say, "Oh shut up already!"
Yeah, those algorithms change often. But the basic rules of fair play
haven't changed one iota since I started learning this way back in
'95. Anyone can get high rankings for Web sites and keep them there
for the long-term. Just have some faith and don't get scared when it
takes some time!
So what's this all got to do with whether or not you should outsource
your SEO campaign? Plenty! If you want to try and keep your SEO
campaign in-house, here's how I believe you should go about it:
* Don't pass off the search engine optimization duties to just
anyone.
If a current employee already has lots of other functions within the
company, don't throw the SEO duties at them also. This is especially
true if they've never done SEO before. If you want someone in your
company to learn SEO from scratch, then find that one person who is
interested in it, and make that be their sole duty within the company.
Give them time to read, read, read, and practice, practice, practice.
If there is someone who already has some knowledge of SEO and has
shown that they can get some results, then they *may* be able to also
handle some other functions within the company, but that would depend
on how extensive your SEO campaign was going to be. (e.g., Do you
have a huge site? Do you have zillions of phrases that are
appropriate for your site, etc.)
* Consider hiring someone new in-house who already has the experience.
If there's no one currently in your company that is interested in
concentrating full-time on the SEO for the Web site, consider hiring
an experienced specialist to come on board to work at your company
full-time. There are zillions of Web masters out in the world who
have taught themselves SEO by working on their own sites. There's no
reason why they couldn't translate their successes into successes for
your company. Having someone who already has the knowledge and the
skills will make things go a lot faster since you won't be dealing as
much with the learning curve.
* Don't forget that you will also need an excellent copywriter!
No matter who you have working in-house doing the SEO work, the
chances are that they are not a great copywriter. The two rarely go
hand-in-hand. As much as I fancy myself a writer, I'm no Heather
Lloyd-Martin! I recognized early on in my SEO career that when
working on client's sites, I really needed to hire out the copywriting
work to those in the know about copywriting. I always felt like I
*could* do the writing, but I was smart enough to know that the client
would be much better off with a professional writer. Now, if you
already have a great copywriter on staff, then you've got a good
start! If you bring on a somewhat experienced SEO person, they
should be able to work with your writer on how to weave those
keyphrases into the text. I'm afraid though, that if your SEO
person is just learning, they will not be qualified to also train a
writer in SEO writing. This will truly be an uphill battle for
everyone involved.
If all of the above sounds too daunting, or too time consuming, then
it's time to start looking at outsourcing. Remember, if you
outsource, you don't have any learning curve to worry about. You will
ideally be working with a company that knows exactly what to do to get
your site high rankings. Things should go much more quickly than if
you had to bring someone in. So if you need to get up and running
as quickly as possible, outsourcing is probably the way to go.
(Unless, of course, the person you hire is a true expert already.
But remember, there is a difference between an expert SEO specialist,
and one who dabbles in SEO.)
If you do decide to outsource, be very careful which company you
choose. There are zillions of so-called SEO firms out there, but many
of them simply do not get the necessary results that you'll want for
your company. Make sure that you get references and see actual
ranking reports. Another thing to keep in mind is that just because a
firm charges a ton of money, it doesn't mean that they're better than
the firm that doesn't charge a lot of money. I don't care what anyone
says, it doesn't have to (and shouldn't) cost $250k a year to get and
maintain high rankings. (In house or outsourced.)
If a small firm seems to be "giving away" their services, but has an
excellent track record, think seriously about hiring them. There have
been plenty of companies over the years that were smart enough to hire
me when my prices were low, and they got one heck of an excellent
deal! I used to charge very little for my services because to me
it was just *fun* and I was still learning. But some larger companies
were scared off by my low prices and figured that I must not be good.
Well, ha ha to them, because they lost out on getting top ten rankings
for a very low price. Now those same companies would be
thrilled to use my services simply because I charge big bucks.
My rankings are the same, but the prices are high. Go figure.
Hope this gives you all food for thought!
Jill
~~~Send Us Your Questions~~~
If you have questions about online copywriting or search engine optimization (or both!), just zip us an email to questions@rankwrite.com. We've had some folks ask if their question
was "too basic" to be printed - and you don't have to worry about
that! There are no "stupid" search engine optimization or copywriting
questions, so ask away!
