When it comes to optimising your website for search engine ranking, the question is should you try to do it yourself, or pay someone else to do it for you? There are cases you can make for either method, but do-it-yourself DIY SEO might be easier than you think.
Outsourcing SEO
The advantage to using a professional company for your SEO needs is an obvious one: these companies know the ins and outs and keep up on the latest tools, tricks, and techniques.
Just do some research first to ensure that the firm you select can provide real results and can forward you a list of satisfied customers. There are too many charlatans invading the internet who promise everything for next-to-nothing and simply cannot deliver.
Of course the biggest disadvantage is the money factor. SEO professionals charge a good fee for their services – and they should provided they have received extensive, accredited training and can guarantee measurable results.
If your marketing budget is tight, you might consider hiring a professional to do some of the work, or to do what he or she can for a few months, then take over where they leave off. Once you’ve got your site performing well, upkeep is minimised.
DIY SEO
When you choose DIY SEO, you are undertaking a lengthy and time-consuming job. However, the benefits are many.
For one thing, you will learn a lot. You can take your newfound knowledge and apply it to any number of future ventures. The time it takes to learn these new skills is never a waste.
The more you research SEO and practise it, the better you will become. Just like anything you want to learn, it takes time and practical application for the lessons to sink in. If you own one or more ecommerce sites, you will have plenty of opportunity to practice and find out what particular techniques are providing the greatest benefit.
Resources for DIY SEO
If you decide you want to go the DIY SEO route to optimising your site, you will be pleased to know that there are many internet marketing programs available on the internet.
You may want to begin by poring over a dictionary-style list of the terms used in SEO and general internet marketing. Just like any other industry, each one has its own jargon. If you start reading articles on the subject without understanding the terms, it will do you little good.
Next, do a search on particular aspects of SEO. Perhaps you want to start with keywords. There are many good, free resources which will help you determine the best keywords for your particular site. Google Adwords is an excellent place to start, but you can delve further into the concepts behind keyword usage, saturation levels, long-tail keywords and much more by doing further research.
Investing in internet marketing education can provide a great return on investment. It is time and money well spent.
Whether you choose to optimise your site by hiring a professional or doing it yourself, it is a necessary step in order to complete in today’s cut-throat ecommerce arena.
See you at the top of Google!
Sean Rasmussen
SEO Australia Pacific
AussieSEO.com © 2007 - 2010
Hi Sean,
I think I prefer DIY SEO to outsourcing. I enjoy learning how to do search engine optimisation. I just need to be better at it so I can get better rankings.
I think that being able to do SEO effectively is a skill that I’m going to need as an internet marketer. Once I learn how to get that page one ranking once, I’ll always be able to do it.
If I outsource my SEO, I think it will end up being really expensive over time.
.-= Jazz Salinger´s last blog ..Learn and Earn Competition – This is It =-.
There’s no better way than to learn yourself in my opinion Jazz, it’s a very sought after skill to have
The other problem with outsourcing SEO is that you have no control over how and what they do – and many simply do PPC and not much else. Whereas, from Sean’s various blog articles on the subject there is oodles of tactics.
Also DIY means you are free to add content (with SEO) whenever you want to – and not be dependent on an outsourcee (if that is a word!) doing it when they have time.
Hi Sean
I don’t want to outsource for SEO as I know that the more I learn about it, the better I will become as an Internet Marketer.
I find the whole SEO research interesting and even though it may take me a long time to really understand it and become really cluey with it, I see it as a an absolute skill that will enhance all that I do in the internet marketing realm. Who knows, when I am SEO savvy, I might even start a blog or write an Ebook or run some courses…. hmmm, it’s worth pursuing.
And I really enjoyed this article thankyou Sean.
.-= Elly´s last blog .. =-.
When it comes to a decision between outsourcing vs DYI SEO then I strongly feel DIY wins hands down. It takes a bit of time and research but believe me, once you have mastered it there’s nothing like seeing the results of your efforts on the first page of the search engines. It makes you feel like you’ve actually accomplished something.
.-= Don White´s last blog ..I Learn to Play Guitar – Part 1 =-.
Hi Sean
To Outsource SEO is not an option I would consider as someone new to internet marketing, I feel I would benefit far more by DIY. I have to learn it all to understand what it is Iam doing and how I will structure the information I want to pass onto others.
DIY SEO is a far better option for those who are willing to learn how to do it for sure Rita
Good step Rita. Sean has so many tips and tactics for DIY SEO in this blog and on SeanSEO that there is little need for outsourcing, unless you want the PPC route which is costly.
Once you have had time to practice DIY SEO on your blog or website, it becomes 2nd nature and you remember to make sure you have done it.
It doesn’t take much to learn DIY SEO and although it does take time to implement it, it is much less costly than paying someone else.
A frined recently agreed to a compnay who said they would do SEO for her and get her on page 1.
They sure got her there – with PPC and it cost a lot until I closed them down. They did not even look at onpage SEO or any other tactics.
The irony was that the site was already on page 1 for the DIY SEO I had put in place and keep updated.
I guess paying to be listed via PPC is one way of getting top rankings. What a hide some of these SEO companies have
A hide indeed! They never told her it was PPC. I found out because I queried them as to what they were actually going to do – figured I might learn some tactics etc.