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SEO Consulting – Outsourcing SEO Knowledge
By Jim Hedger, StepForth News Editor, StepForth Placement Inc.
March 28 2006
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A couple of days ago, I received a call from a west coast reader who
works as a corporate recruiter. She had been asked to find an in-house
SEO for one of her clients, a medium sized corporation. After recommending
a number of SEO/SEM related forums and Ed Lewis’ SEO
Consultants Directory, we started to talk about the cost/benefit of hiring an in-house
SEO and outsourcing the work to a consultant. As our conversation moved
from point to point, a number of issues surrounding hiring in-house
SEO talent emerged.
Today the trend leans towards hiring in-house. A quick glance at employment
websites such as Monster.com or Workopolis.ca shows a growing list of positions
for SEOs who have two or more years of experience. The demand for experienced
search marketers far outstrips the supply of really good practitioners,
a situation evidenced by SEO
salaries ranging from 30K at the low end to
over 100K at the top.
As a measure of the success of the industry, entry level positions paying
30K and up show how valuable skill-sets held by SEOs are on the open market.
Conversely, those figures might also indicate that the businesses hiring
in-house SEOs are, by and large, ignorant of what exactly SEO means to their
business.
Online businesses do know one thing with absolute certainty. The value
of strong search engine placements is obvious. Websites or documents that
enjoy prominent placement tend to make more money than sites lacking good
rankings do. Sites that rank well on search engines have a much better chance
of converting visitors to customers, simply because it is easier for those
visitors to find those sites.
The value of hiring an in-house SEO shouldn’t be underestimated,
even if that value appears to be inflated at this time. It all comes down
to trust. The services offered by a good SEO might be simple to outline
but are difficult to fully understand. The search marketing industry has,
unfortunately, been put in a position of ill repute by a small number of
unethical practitioners and a slightly larger number of uninformed mainstream
journalists. There is also the growing legion of new practitioners hanging
their virtual shingles without the requisite knowledge or background.
Given the perceptual environment, it is hard for business decision makers
to know whom to trust, especially after reading about or having bad experiences
with the SEO industry. Outsourcing search marketing, while successful for
the vast majority, has been disastrous for some. Those are the stories we
read about in the mainstream and tech media. Learning to trust someone is
much easier when you have the power to suspend his or her pay, as most employers
do.
Another good reason to hire in-house is the fact that all knowledge
gained during the SEO process and through the evolution of search marketing
remains under your roof. Hiring a SEO means buying their hard-earned
knowledge for the duration of their employment.
Though businesses might gain a measure of control by adding a SEO to their
staff, they are likely losing a number of less tangible resources, along
with the equivalent of a full time salary, the biggest losses being objectivity
and, ironically, honesty. Employees are often unable or unwilling to disagree
with a new employer or supervisor, even when the realities of the search
marketing arena are called into question. It is also a daunting experience
to tell your new co-workers that the site they have been working on for
months is less than useful for search marketing purposes. Most consultants
have no problems telling the truth about issues facing a site they are working
on. It is a consultant’s job to find fault. The more they find and
correct, the better the relationship with their client.
This note shifted the conversation towards the benefits and dangers, of
outsourcing over in-house hiring. The benefits continue to outweigh the
dangers by a wide margin, assuming the organization contracted is reputable
and communicative.
The primary benefit of outsourcing is that it is cost-effective. With most
large scale SEO projects, the most intense work is done in the first six
weeks. This is the time it takes to fully study a site, take it apart, and
put it back together again in the most search friendly way possible. This
is also the period most SEOs charge for. Though the expense might seem steep
when seen on a service contract, it is often far lower than the cost of
hiring and employing a dedicated staff person.
The next benefit of outsourcing to a SEO firm comes from harnessing the
collective knowledge of that firm’s staff. The majority of search
marketing shops have staff members who specialize in different areas of
the search marketing environment. Some are great technicians while others
write good site copy. Most established SEO firms have staff members who
have experienced several different aspects of the field and can call on
that experience to inform their advice and decisions.
Added to the benefit of collective knowledge comes the bonus of having
a larger brain trust to call upon. The field and practice of SEO is rapidly
evolving. Often, a technique that worked one year is not as useful the next.
Being able to draw on a group dedicated to learning and fully understanding
the environment is essential to staying ahead of the curve, and thus ahead
of competitors.
A third benefit comes from the professionalism with which an established
SEO shop conducts its business. Needing positive client testimonials and
surviving on recommendations, most established SEO shops present their information
in highly detailed, plain language reports. One of our internal sayings
is that we present our SEO consultation clients with a roadmap they can
follow, along with a live-guide to help them along.
The last benefit mentioned in the phone call was that of long-term relationships.
Most of our consultation clients retain our firm into the future. While
this retention is done by monthly fee, that fee is often much lower than
the cost of a full time employee.
Fostering and maintaining a long-term relationship between SEO consultant
and client benefits both. For the client, the relationship plants an outside
expert they can call on for an objective opinion firmly in their realm.
For the SEO consultant, the relationship builds business and helps hone
their constantly developing skills.
By the end of the conversation, we had settled on a compromise position
for her to take when recruiting an in-house SEO for her client, which has
a pre-existing IT department. The client is adamant about wanting to hire
in-house. She has, by now, likely placed an ad for a SEO with three or more
years of experience. When that person is hired, a professional outsourced
SEO consultant will also be contracted to monitor and advise for the first
year.
If the internal position works out, the client will have a well-trained
staff member capable of performing SEO services for the business site. The
business owner will have the knowledge that an objective (and honest) outsider
is watching over things and reporting to the site ownership. While it might
cost a bit more, the plan offers peace of mind for the owner.
If the internal position does not work out, a relationship with an outside
firm will have been established, and a sense of continuity in the site promotion
can be maintained without worry about starting back at square one.
This is the first year that in-house hiring of SEOs has been a big trend.
Taking a long-view of the situation, businesses thinking about employing
a skilled search marketer on staff might want to sit back and crunch their
numbers to see if the cost of hiring is dramatically lower than the cost
of outsourcing.
By the end of the first year, the business owner will know if hiring in
house was worth the expense or not. If, as we suspect, it was not worth
the expense, that outside agency will pick up a good contract. If, on the
other hand, the business owner finds the expense worth his or her money,
they know they have a better-trained staff member.
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