- If SEO isn't your area of expertise,
maybe it's time to consider hiring someone else
to do it for you.
That's what we're talking about today on "The Journey."
You could have the most beautiful relevant website,
but if it's not optimized and optimized correctly,
then it might as well not even exist.
Sam, think about when was the last time
you bought something online?
- Just recently.
- Exactly, all the time nowadays
and 81% of consumers are looking at research online
before ever deciding where they're spending their money.
- And as they do that research,
they're not going to page two.
Less than 10% of people actually go beyond
the first page on Google.
when they're looking for some product online.
- Anything beyond page one is like the unknown.
- Doesn't exist.
- Your business needs to have a strong
online presence these days.
If you can't be found,
then it's essentially like your business doesn't exist.
So that makes having SEO a necessity as well.
- And as a business owner,
you are busy running your business and I get it.
It's a little complicated to know all the SEO in and outs.
So don't worry about it.
You can actually find someone else to do it.
So how do you know when it's time to hire an SEO company?
How do you know when you've hired the right one
and how do you know how much it's going to cost?
- Yeah. And unfortunately, there's a lot of people out there
who are taking advantage of that lack of knowledge.
So you want to make sure
you go into this decision really educated.
There are three different routes
you can take when hiring someone to handle your SEO.
First, you can hire an individual SEO consultant.
This is like a freelancer
who really specializes in SEO.
Or two, you can hire an SEO company or agency.
This is where they have a standardized process.
And typically they work with decent sized businesses
who are willing to spend
at least a few thousand a month on SEO.
- Or if you're an established company,
you can actually hire someone on staff
to actually run your SEO.
You can create your own team.
Now, if you don't have too much expertise around it
and know what to look for,
get an SEO consultant in-house
that can actually build your team for you.
- Now lets talk about what you should actually look
for whenever hiring a consultant or an SEO company.
The first thing is, of course
they need to have that skillset of actually knowing SEO.
But beyond that. here are a couple of things
that you should definitely look for,
for traits when hiring someone.
- They have an established process.
Now, if this SEO consultant doesn't want to tell you
what they're doing, Eh it could be a red flag
or they could be potentially just putting out spam
and that's not going to look good for your reputation
or at the end of the day,
they could be doing absolutely nothing,
just collecting checks from you.
Again, that's not what you want.
- The biggest red flag
is when someone says they guarantee results
or Oh, Google won't catch it.
Those are huge areas of concern
probably run the opposite direction
because you're talking to the wrong company.
There are two main reasons that you can't predict rankings.
First, Google and these search engines can always change.
They're always adapting.
So there's no way you can predict that.
And two, your competition can always change.
So, if they don't know what your competition is going to do
then they can't anticipate that. There's nothing
that they can actually set in stone
as far as guaranteed rankings.
- So, the next quality to look for,
are they providing monthly reports or progress updates?
That is so important because everyone wants that ROI.
You want a return on what you're putting into this.
In my current role, I know we are specific.
And when we tell our clients, Hey,
after 90 days, we're going to have a performance kit
that we're going to send to you.
So, it tells you where we are right now, what we've done.
And so that we can plan for the future.
That SEO consultant should have the same kind
of game plan for you.
Check-ins on a monthly basis,
letting you know what has been done
and what can we can do to actually make things go better
in the future.
- Yeah. Things like detailed traffic stats
and conversion analytics.
Those are going to be really important
with helping you see
whether or not their SEO efforts are actually paying off.
- So the next quality, they provide training for your team.
Now it's important for you to know that everyone
is on the same page.
So, everyone in your organization can get some training
from this SEO consultant.
Also, you get to learn more about your SEO consultant
in that way.
Now I know for me, in my role as an account manager
many business owners,
they just want to know more about social media.
So, I give them as much education as they would like.
On your end, maybe you want to know more about SEO
and your team, so that potentially down the line,
you might be able to do this on your own.
So having that SEO consultant
provide that education can be really beneficial
for your whole entire organization.
- They should also provide a list
of people who will be working
on your website with each role outlined.
It's important to know who's actually
going to be doing this work and what's their expertise.
You want to make sure that you're not hiring a company
that's just going to rely on some junior roles
to actually handle your account
just to save money for them.
And just because this person has some time on their hands.
- So they also have reviews.
It's super easy to just get your friend, family members
to leave reviews but these should be credible people
that have used the service, they're excited about it
and they left some positive feedback about the service.
So, make sure to do your due diligence.
Make sure you get names, titles, business names
of these people who have left these reviews.
And if you're still not sure,
go the extra mile and look them up on LinkedIn.
So you can actually find if these are actual people.
- The last thing to consider,
is take a look at their website and their SEO experience.
Is that something that you would be proud to have?
- And it's important to know
that these people are doing for their own business
what they say that they can do for yours.
- All right, So how do you know
when to actually hire someone to handle your SEO?
We know it can be a challenge.
So, we've come up with a couple of questions
you should ask yourself in order to find out
if it is the right time.
- So for the first thing to consider,
do you want to use SEO for the long-term to generate revenue?
If the answer to that question is yes,
then partnering with an SEO company
can help you generate that ROI over time.
- The next question to ask yourself is,
are you using other digital marketing strategies?
I tell my clients this all the time.
It does not matter if you're being found
if you're not going to be chosen.
You have to make sure that your pages are set up properly,
your website looks great.
Consumers are really smart.
They're going to do their research.
They're not, they're not going to just pick someone
because they're at the top of the list.
They're going to start comparing businesses side by side
and you have to make sure
that your presence looks really great
so that you're not just being found,
but you're being chosen.
- So if you're not using digital marketing tools,
then SEO may not just be
the one end all to be all that you want to have.
But on the flip side,
if you are using other digital marketing tools,
then SEO is a great compliment to add to that
as Alex was saying,
and make sure
that you have a very well-rounded digital footprint.
The next point to consider,
is your current SEO strategy under delivering?
Now, if yes, then it could be time
to call in the people with the know-how,
the SEO company that they can take it to the next level.
Now, if the answer is no, then keep doing what you're doing.
If it's not broke, don't try to fix it.
It does take time for your SEO strategy
to actually show a return on investments,
several months, maybe six.
So stick with it.
- Also ask yourself, can you do this yourself?
Why pay someone else to do something that you can do?
It's your business, save your money where you can.
But at the same time, from talent to technology,
SEO can definitely be a challenge.
So, if it's not something you can do yourself,
it's totally okay to outsource.
- So for our last question to ask yourself,
do you have the budget?
Now? If yes, then go with it, it's a no brainer.
You know all the benefits
that we've already spoken about with SEO.
Now, if you don't have the budget,
you may want to reconsider.
Think about some things that you could do In-house
to actually maximize what you have on hand.
- And Sam, that leads us to our next point.
Which is probably what's been on your mind
this whole video.
How much is this actually going to cost?
- Now, I'm all about getting a bargain
but it's really important to know you get what you pay for.
So, if you think that you're going
to pay someone 100 to $400 to do your whole SEO strategy,
you may want to rethink that
because you will get what you pay for.
The typical per hour for an SEO consultant.
Now it can vary by country,
but it can be anywhere from 76 to $200 an hour.
Now by the project base,
it could be anywhere from 1500 to $7,500.
So you may want to take all that
into account when you're getting your budget together
to pay for their SEO service.
- Exactly. The last thing you want to do
is hire some company
that's going to damage your reputation
with not only the search engines,
but also users.
I mean, once you damage that reputation,
it's really hard to come back from and it can take years.
This is something that requires a lot
of investment of time and money.
- So if you try to bargain shop
and you get the SEO company that's just going
to be spamming all the time,
that's not what you want
because like Alex said,
you'll be in a situation where your reputation will be harmed.
- And this isn't something you should start
and stop along the way.
This is something that requires a lot
of commitment and that comes from a reputable
and knowledgeable SEO company.
- SEO is a very important part
to your online digital marketing success.
Also, if you're going to partner with an SEO company
to take it on,
make sure that they're reputable
and they're actually going to be able to do what they say
they're going to do.
- You just learned everything you need to know
about hiring a company to handle your SEO.
Be sure to like this video and comment down below.
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This is the journey.
See you next time.