If you’re new to ranking web pages, you’re probably wondering whether you should do it yourself or hire an Internet marketing specialist to do it for you.
An essential technique for any online business. SEO is the single most effective way to get your brand out there, so it’s really not a question of whether it’s necessary. The question is whether to hire a company or Do It Yourself.
Weighing Your Options
There are so many pros and cons of DIY vs. professional that making a decision can be quite difficult. Here’s a run down of the advantages and disadvantages of each option:
DIY
This means that you’re going to launch your campaign all on your own, without the aid of an expert. It can really be done independently, but is it worth it? To help you decide, here’s a list of some pros and cons to consider.
Pros:
- Running a campaign yourself is low cost. If you choose to do it for your brand without professional help, it won’t require you to spend a lot of money upfront.
- You are totally in control of your brand. You decide where, when, and how to put the practices in place, giving you a better grasp on your business branding.
- You learn in the process. It is an ever evolving industry, so if you choose to do your own work, you can be sure to learn a lot.
Cons:
- It is very time consuming – look into how much time you have. If you’re going to spend most of your time on your online marketing techniques instead of developing your product or engaging with customers, then maybe this is not for you.
- You might not know right away if your efforts are effective. Many newbies don’t have any idea how to gauge their efforts’ effectiveness, making DIY a big risk. If you can’t determine the effectiveness of your methods, you won’t know how and when to adjust. This may lead to a lot of time lost in pursuing a technique that hasn’t been working in months.
- A worst case scenario can be being penalized by Google or other search engines for over optimizing or doing too much of one thing that doesn’t look realistic. These penalties are in place so that the search engines can ensure top ranking sites are good quality ones. Optimisation experts know the latest changes in these guidelines and make sure your site is not going to be penalized and even taken out of the rankings.
Hiring a Professional
Before you decide on whether to skip the do it yourself approach entirely and just go for a professional company who specialise in Search Engine Rankings , you should also know the pros and cons of this method. With that, you can consider the following.
Pros:
- You get to take the load off your hands. By hiring someone else to do the SEO work for you, you save yourself a lot of time and effort that you can use for other things that could improve and promote your business.
- You can be guaranteed that your efforts are all up to date, provided you pick a reputable company. With a pro, there’s no more wasting time on age old techniques as they should know the latest trends and this will ensure that you are doing everything possible to promote your brand.
- Results are faster with a professional company. As these agencies devote their time on your brand, you can expect results faster with their help. How? With their knowledge and tools of the trade, they can assess their efforts’ efficiency and effectiveness immediately, allowing them to be more flexible and respond quicker to the changes your brand need.
- Risks are minimized. With professional firms, you can minimize your risks of making a mistake online, which, in turn, can be costly for your brand.
Cons:
- Using a professional service can be costly. You’ll need to spend some money in order to hire a firm.
- Not all professionals are made equally. As more and more people turn to professionals to help them launch their businesses online, a lot of unscrupulous vendors have popped up as well. This makes it a bit more difficult to find a reliable service provider for less.
The Bottom Line
Should I do it myself? The choice between professional SEO or DIY depends on your specific situation. Do you have the time to implement your strategies? Are you willing to learn? Can you risk making expensive mistakes or lose valuable opportunities while you test various techniques to find the ones that work? If you answer ‘No’ to any of these questions, you may be better off hiring a professional in the industry.