There is much debate about whether to trust your in-house team with search engine optimization (SEO) consulting services or to outsource this task to an SEO agency. Deciding whether to hire and train in-house SEO experts or retain an SEO agency relates to your particular goals for the campaign. Both options offer advantages that lend themselves to different situations. Here are a few things to consider about each avenue before making your decision.
Benefits and Drawbacks of In-House SEO Consulting Services
Building an in-house team may seem like a good idea upon first glance. Your consultants will be on-site, you'll have full control over work performance, and you won't have to outsource this work to a third party agency. Yet looking at this option long-term reveals a few troubling problems. When you hire an employee for your SEO work, you have little to no assurance of eventual success (and returns on investment). You can spend tens of thousands of dollars hiring just one person and never receive a cent of it back.
Consider the financial toll that an internal SEO team will take on your business. For most, especially small businesses, the cost of a full-time, in-house SEO team is not worth the returns on investment. For example, an single SEO generalist with medium experience requires a minimum salary of approximately $60,000 to $100,000 and that doesn't include the workspace needs, benefits, etc. Hiring two or more will make this amount quickly escalate on the payroll. Hiring part-time contractors may save money in the short run, but, in most cases, it will lead to less work accomplished with lower quality.
Retaining an SEO agency can entail a fraction of these costs and more dependable results. Most agencies will offer discounted services or partial refunds if campaigns don't garner results. Agencies work with a team of specialists who get the job done on schedule and on budget. You don't carry any of the burdens of making sure your team stays on track. Working with a reputable business protects you from the potential inefficiency of creating your own. In general, an agency will get more work accomplished for a lower price – and with greater success rates. The right SEO agency can significantly improve your campaign and lead to better profitability.
Why Most Companies Do Better With an SEO Agency
Some large corporations may have the time, money, and resources to create in-house teams of SEO professionals, but most businesses do not. Entrepreneurs and small businesses do not have the capital or time to commit to the long-term business model of an in-house team – especially when returns on investment are not guaranteed. Retaining an agency, on the other hand, eliminates the effort and ensures success. A successful SEO campaign will ultimately return every cent the business owner spends in returns. Building an in-house team comes with no such investment protection.
From a cost perspective, an agency is going to be the better option in the majority of cases. SEO consulting services, however, are not just about the price tag. They're about the future of your business. SEO isn't going anywhere anytime soon. In fact, it's only growing in importance as more consumers take to the internet to shop. Trusting the future of your brand with a reputable SEO agency is a much safer – and often more rewarding – option than playing the stakes with an in-house team.
A real SEO agency will do so much more than tackle an SEO campaign. It will audit your site, fix technical issues, redesign your webpages, manage your local SEO, and take on a number of other lofty projects. You'll have a team of tried-and-true specialists at your fingertips, with resources that could take years for an internal team to gather. Plus, you can gain potentially access to connections and networking with prominent industry leaders like Google, Facebook, and Amazon. An agency can be your answer to all-in-one SEO implementation.
How to Make Your Decision
Every business owner agrees on the importance of search engine optimization. Yet there is still debate about which strategy for SEO campaign management is best. Doing it yourself and using your own resources poses certain risks that retaining an agency does not. However, optimizing your web presence on your own may be a better choice if you're a large-scale company with limitless resources. Deciding which choice works best for you takes an in-depth look at your budget and SEO campaign goals.
A free audit from an SEO agency could help you get started by showing you all the holes in your current efforts. You'll have an idea of how much work you need to do and whether you can create an in-house team capable of addressing all the problems. You may find that retaining an agency is the simplest, most cost-effective solution for your company at the moment. Adding your own in-house team can always be a goal you set for the future – once an agency has optimized your digital marketing and gotten the cash flowing.
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