For most businesses establishing a website is essential. However, once your website is up and running you can’t usually expect potential customers to “automagically” find you on the internet.
Once upon a time (not so very long ago), simply having a website might have been enough, but these days, with more and more business realising the benefits of the web, and far greater competition for top search rankings, most businesses are finding they also need to ensure their site has been optimised to be found easily ion search engines. The best way to do this is through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – which is not simply a matter of popping in the right key words. Keywords are a certainly an important part of it (and probably the place you should start), but there is a lot more that could (and should) be done to increase traffic to your website.
While SEO can be a full-time job (and is for me) the average small business (and many medium to large businesses as well) probably can’t justify a full time SEO on their payroll.
However, Businesses still have the option of handling SEO on a part-time basis, either in-house or outsourcing it. There are a number of issues that should be taken into consideration before deciding whether or not to outsource your SEO. I’ve outlined below, the main things to consider when planning to outsource your SEO or keep it in house.
When to Outsource SEO?
The main factors that might influence your decision to outsource SEO to an SEO professional or consultant are:
- Workload – If your staff are already flat out dealing with their normal day to day tasks, adding another task or responsibility may not be possible. Assigning another task to an already stretched role, is a great way to ensure that it is not done properly – and may also cause a distraction and impact on the effectiveness of tasks that are so far running smoothly. If you don’t have the man hours or staff available to allocate to your website’s SEO then outsourcing may be your only option. Because SEO is so important to the success of your website, and your business, you can’t afford to assign it to an employee and expect it to be done properly if they are making a half-hearted attempt at it in their “spare time”.
- Experience – If none of your staff knows the first thing about search engine optimisation, or only has limited experience, letting them “experiment” on your business website could be very risky. You are probably much better off getting a specialist SEO company or consultant to handle your website’s SEO needs. Search Engine Optimisation is a dynamic and constantly changing field, and learning and keeping up with what’s happening with SEO can be a lot of work. If your company doesn’t have anyone interested in keeping up to date with current SEO, trends and strategies, the optimisation of your website won’t be as effective as it otherwise might be.
- Tried and Failed – If you’ve already had a go at handling your company website’s SEO in house and you haven’t seen an increase in page ranking or traffic to the site, letting an outside company handle your SEO needs is probably your best option.
When NOT to outsource SEO
- Limited Budget – If you don’t have the money, you don’t have the money. While outsourcing your SEO doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive, it does cost money. SEO is rarely a “quick fix” and is likely to take some time to be effective. To ensure it is done properly, you will probably need to engage an SEO consultant for at least a few months while things are analysed and set up. If you are a medium to large sized company you may be able to re-prioritise, and rework your budget so that you can afford to hire an SEO consultant. But if you are a new or small business, you may not be able to justify, or afford it. If you really don’t think you can afford an SEO to do everything for you, you may be able to commission a consultant to provide some SEO training, or at least advice on what optimisation steps that you can afford to take, so it is probably worth at least talking to an SEO consultant to see what the options (and costs) might be.
- Inside SEO expertise – If you already have a staff member who understands SEO, enjoys it and keeps up to date on the changing dynamics, then there should be no need to outsource. Give them the time and tools that they need to keep up with the website’s SEO needs, make sure that they are monitoring, measuring and reporting on the outcomes of their activities, and you’re ready to go.
Brisbane SEO Consultants
WebConsulting provides a specialist SEO Consulting service to small medium and large businesses in Brisbane, South East Queensland and throughout Australia. We specialise in Search Engine Optimisation, Conversion Optimisation and Analytics Review, and can work with your existing team or provide training, analysis or advice to help optimise your business website – to improve rankings, traffic and increase your online sales or enquiries.
We don’t typically work on a monthly retainer basis, but provide consulting as and when required. This ensures that the most effective optimisation strategies can be provided when you need it, and you are not paying for any idle time.
If you’d like to discuss your SEO Consulting or Optimisation needs, please feel free to contact us to arrange an obligation free consultation.