Outsource SEO vs In-house SEO

							Title:
Outsource SEO vs In-house SEO

Word Count:
1037

Summary:
In marketing most focus on the pric
e involved verses looking at the tr
ue cost of marketing. Today we will
 focus on the cost of online market
ing in house versus hiring an outsi
de firm.


Keywords:
seo, marketing, online marketing, i
nternet marketing, sem, business ma
rketing, search engine optimization


Article Body:
SEO is becoming increasingly import
ant to all who look to do business
and use the Internet as a marketing
 tool. It is the path in which you
r market finds your offering.   It
has become almost a necessity for b
usinesses to incorporate SEO in to
their marketing plan. Many compani
es struggle with the decision on wh
ether to hire a firm or conduct the
ir SEO in-house. Unfortunately man
y companies lack the knowledge abou
t SEO and assume it will be cheaper
 for them in the long run to hire s
omeone "in-house". For some compani
es this may be efficient while othe
rs the overlooking the hiring of a
professional firm to SEO can be cos
tly. It is as critical to your bus
iness’ health as if you were to fee
l that you could heal a fatal disea
se yourself because you have access
 to the Internet and books instead
of going to a highly trained physic
ian. Now you laugh and say that wo
uld be absurd, but is the growth of
 your company worth the risk.

Knowledge Versus Cost Versus Time =
Your Success

SEO is an ever changing business. S
earch engines change their algorith
m frequently and new rules are put
into place. One has to have the re
sources to find this information an
d understand how to implement the c
hanges. An SEO firm is more likely
to be aware of changes to search en
gine optimization protocols than an
 in-house individual. Many in-house
 individual will focus on developin
g and implementing your SEO strateg
ies but typically remain in the dar
k about what goes on outside your o
rganization due to they do not work
 with other scenarios. Outsourced S
EO professionals must perform these
 same functions while constantly st
udying the industry, staying curren
t with changing trends and familiar
izing themselves with the latest SE
O techniques. It is a part of their
 day to day business and necessary
if they intend to compete in the ma
rketplace and wish to survive.

What about cost? Surely the cost of
 hiring an individual is substantia
lly less than the cost of hiring a
company, right? This is a common mi
sconception.   Let’s look at it thi
s way. You hire an E-Commerce Mark
eting Manager whose job is to devel
op and implements the strategic onl
ine marketing plan for an organizat
ion. Staying abreast of changes in
the online marketing environment to
 best serve the objectives of the o
rganization and adjusts plans accor
dingly. They may even be responsibl
e for overseeing other aspects of t
he website such as the advertising
and content components. In most ca
ses the individual will be wearing
many hats spreading them thin. His
 or her base salary according to Sa
lary.com on average would be $85,70
3. That is $7141.92 a month and ro
ughly $42 an hour. This is for one
 individual with hopes that they be
ar positive results. Let’s say the
y do not. It will take 3 to 6 mont
hs to start to truly see if the ind
ividual is an asset or not. That i
s $21,425.76 if you decide to let t
he individual go in just the third
month. Not to include cost of taxe
s and benefits. And if successful,
 your company just paid $85,703 per
 year for SEO.

The average SEO firm charges anywhe
re from $5500 to $35000 to perform
the same task with a staff of highl
y trained professionals in the area
 of link building, writing, optimiz
ing, web development etc. Even on
the high end you are getting a staf
f for the entire year for around wh
at it cost you to hire an individua
l in-house for a quarter. And if i
t does not bear positive results an
d you decide to terminate the relat
ionship you will only have lost les
s than $10,000 if prorated based on
 the $35000. in most cases you can
 even get some of that back. This
logistically saves you time and money.

Would you agree that having one ind
ividual do the job of five is rarel
y a good idea? Would you feel it c
ost effective?

Time is another concern with in-hou
se SEO. Will one individual be able
 to optimize multiple pages, write
content, tags, build links, run rep
orts and perform other SEO tasks in
 a timely fashion? One person can o
nly do so much. Would you agree tha
t time is money? Most SEO firms can
 do in a matter of days what might
take an individual weeks to do. Man
y companies who use in-house SEO pe
rsonnel spend more than necessary t
o get the same amount of work done
in a longer amount of time. Once a
gain you have one individual doing
many task versus many individuals d
oing one task effectively.
In any case, is outsourcing the rig
ht move for you or your company? Wh
ether you choose to outsource or no
t, here are a few things to keep in
 mind:

Do your research by performing a si
mple cost/benefit analysis on what
outsourcing versus in-house SEO wil
l cost. It cost twice as much when
you do it wrong the first time.

Results are all that matters. Top
rankings for phrases no one is sear
ching for means little, and shouldn
't be used as a guage of someone's
abilities.   Ensure they can provid
e you with keywords that work for y
our business as well as a diverse p
lan of action.

What do others say about the compan
y or individual? Ask for references
 and check them.   But even if they
 have limited or no reference don’t
 panic. They still may know what t
hey are doing. Just test them on a
 small project and see if they bear
 results for you. This is a true w
ay to measure if they work for you.
  There are many variables you may
not have privilege to in a referenc
e such as their personal relationsh
ip or if they were a part of a team
 that was successful but they contr
ibuted little.

Remember, SEO is important to your
business growth and time is money o
ne way or another. Do the math and
 ask yourself what makes sense for
you.

About the Author
Jeffery Beale, Jazar Dezign
jefferybeale@jazardezign.com
http://www.jazardezign.com

Jeff Beale is a marketing specialis
t that has worked with planning and
 implementing marketing strategies
for several businesses ranging from
 independently owner organizations
to government and corporate entitie
s. He is known for saving thousand
s in marketing budgets and increasi
ng growth with the utilization of a
 diverse online marketing strategy.