Here at Placester, we’ve written a lot about what you can do on your own to improve your search engine ranking, from choosing the right domain name to leveraging your social media presence. Nevertheless, SEO can be a complicated business, which is why there are firms and individuals out there specifically dedicated to the task of improving the visibility of your company in the Internet search space. Here are a few reasons to invest in their services.
Firms do it better, faster.
You may be pretty savvy when it comes to technology. But the best SEO firms have been at it for years, and have assembled a team of experts who know just how to approach your company and customer niche. They also don’t have to waste their time constantly putting things in laymen’s terms for their colleagues — after all, their colleagues aren’t laymen. It follows, then, that they’ll almost certainly produce the results you’re looking for much faster than you could on your own.
In addition to generally saving you time and money, this can also help you respond more quickly to events and developments in your industry. If a competitor suddenly outranks you due to a product launch or campaign targeted at your customer base, you need to be able to counter right away — otherwise, you risk losing your search spot permanently.
SEO is time-consuming.
The flip side of the previous point is that no matter what, an effective SEO strategy isn’t just about flipping a switch. It’s an ongoing process that takes a while to yield results, and must be maintained constantly. It’s also decidedly unglamorous, and often very tedious work. Consequently, when SEO is just one of the hats you’re wearing, it’s easy to get caught up in new projects, busy seasons, and product launches at the expense of the careful monitoring and good habits effective SEO requires. It’s also easy to forget the extended timeline of a good SEO campaign, interpreting a momentary upswing or plateau as permission to ease up or a sign to switch tactics, respectively. Outside firms and experts, on the other hand, don’t get distracted or impatient: SEO, after all, is their one and only concern.
This brings me to my last point …
SEO is not your business.
While you should be concerned about SEO, the fact is your business isn’t primarily about improving your search engine ranking: it’s about providing a superior product or service in your industry. While certain SEO tasks like content generation and social media are part and parcel of your marketing efforts (and therefore things you’ll be doing no matter what), other functions, like tracking the search engine industry and understanding Google’s algorithm changes, won’t help you with other aspects of your business — and, in fact, take away time you should be spending elsewhere. SEO or no, your primary concern should be dealing with existing customers and converting new ones, and hiring an outside company gives you more time to do just that.
Naturally, there are some pitfalls to hiring an outside SEO company — high prices, a lack of day-to-day transparency, the problem of knowing who to hire — but a good firm will work hard to address these issues and prove their value. Do your research and choose wisely, and before long, you’ll see the results.
