How to OutSource the Entire SEO Process?

SEO can also be called search engine optimization. It has to do with enhancing your brand’s exposure as well as the amount and quality of site traffic via organic or non-paid search engine results. Let’s go in depth of how to OutSource SEO and achieve a best results.

SEO has a lot to do with people and understanding the things they search for on the web, the words they are utilizing, the solutions they seek, and the kind of content they want. When you know the answers to these questions, you will be able to create connections with individuals who are in search of the solutions you provide online.

Understanding the intention of your audience is one aspect of SEO, and providing it in a method that is easy for search engine crawlers to locate and understand is another aspect.

The Key Parts of SEO

SEO contains some key aspects which include the following:

• Keywords
  Previously, keywords were the only fundamental techniques in SEO. Now, even though they are still crucial, it is vital that they are selected with care. You have to research them properly and incorporate them into your content wisely so that they will have the effect you desire.

  Keywords are phrases and words that your targets utilize in locating content online. Brands can also use these keywords in connecting with targets who are in search of their services and products. You can utilize keywords in optimizing your URLs and titles among others.

• Content
  This is another crucial aspect of SEO because it is what helps you get to your audience and engage them. For example, if you run an agency and need to enhance your reach and visibility, you can publish a range of blogs that have to do with choosing the right digital marketing agency. State the reason why your agency is the right one, the services you offer, and the benefits among many others.

  When an individual looking for a digital marketing agency runs a search for this information, your blog will show up in the results, and from there, you will be able to develop a relationship with that potential client because you have offered significant information. If at any moment the prospect is ready to choose a digital marketing agency for his or her needs, your agency will be one of the first to come to mind.

  When you create content, it needs to be relevant, informational, educational, sharable, and engaging. Content comes in a lot of forms, which include the following:

  • web page content
  • infographics
  • podcasts
  • social media posts
  • blogs
  • videos
  • e-books and whitepapers
• Off-Page SEO
  Off-page SEO has to do with optimization practices that do not take place on the website of your agency. The major strategy utilized for this is the building of backlinks. This is because when you build backlinks from other reputable websites to yours, it will inform search engines that your site is valuable and of high quality. This can help in building your authority.
• Local SEO
  The importance of local SEO is on the rise as an increasing number of individuals utilize mobile devices for searching. Now, 57% of every search takes place on smartphones and tablets, and most of these searches have local intent (Sterling, 2017).

  If you run an agency, for example, local SEO will make sure that when individuals close to you went searching for the top digital marketing agencies in town, your site will come up in the results. Aside from local keywords, some best SEO practices include adding your business to Google My Business, Google Maps, and claiming directory listings among many others.

• Search Engine Marketing
  Search engine marketing (SEM) has to do with the marketing efforts you pay for. It also consists of things like pay-per-click, social media ads, display ads, Google AdWords, and many others.

  SEM usually is not a core aspect of an elaborate SEO strategy; however, it is useful because it can aid you in reaching highly targeted and new audiences.

Why Is SEO Important to Your Digital Marketing Agency?

SEO is vital to your digital marketing agency or any business for a host of reasons, which include the following:

• It Enhances Your Rankings and Visibility
  This is one of the most crucial SEO functions. It can aid in enhancing your visibility, which would mean that prospects will not have a hard time finding your agency when they look for a solution you are providing. Visibility has a direct relationship to how you rank.

  If your ranking is high on a search engine result page (SERP), prospects are more likely going to find your website and click. If your SEO labors are productive, your ranking and visibility will be higher. This is very crucial because the majority of those who search for a solution on the internet do not go past the first page.

• It Increases in Web Traffic
  This is one of the core objectives of SEO, and your traffic increases when your rankings and visibility do. Think about this for a bit: Almost 33% of clicks take place on the rankings on the first page. Additionally, more than 75% of every click goes to the initial five listings (Lee et al., 2013).

  If you desire your agency website to be found by more prospects via a search engine, then you need SEO practices that will aid you in ranking in one of the top three positions, or better still, number one.

• It Increases the Authority of your Website
  Authority is becoming crucial to a search engine because its importance among users is on the rise. Authority connotes that your website is relevant, of high quality, trustworthy, and has something valuable to provide.

  The higher the authority of your website, the higher the ranking your website will have, and the more trust prospects will have for your brand.

• It Creates an Enhanced Visitor Experience
  SEO is also vital because all the efforts and time you channel into producing fantastic content and ensuring your website is optimized with on-page SEO enhances your website’s usability, and this develops a positive and seamless customer experience. For example, when you make your website more responsive, it will be easy for desktop or laptop, or mobile visitors to use. Also, by enhancing the load speed of your page, you will minimize your bounce rate and urge visitors to spend more time on your website. Almost 50% of visitors anticipate that a page loads in two seconds, and the more time it takes to load, the more your bounce rate and the less your conversions.
• It Helps with Growth
  SEO is crucial because it can aid your agency in achieving lots of its goal. It gives you an upper hand over your competition and boosts conversions that can result in more loyal clients, sales, and additional development for your organization.
• It Has an Impact on the Buying
  Clients always research before making a purchase. This is one of the main benefits of the Web from the point of view of the buyers. By using SEO strategies to pass your message for great deals, innovative services or products can make a huge difference in your sales. If you do it right, it will undoubtedly affect your buying cycle the right way.
• You Can Use It for a Long Time
  You will be able to see the effect of the SEO steps you are taking during the first year. Also, lots of these steps will have an effect that lasts over numerous years. And the higher the budget, time, and effort you commit on your SEO, the longer a website will have the capacity to be a major competitor in its market.
• SEO Helps in Opening Up New Opportunities
  High-quality SEO will always find a way of helping brands pinpoint and leverage new opportunities that will help them not just be found but also be successful. The better people understand a brand, the more the opportunities that will come up to ensure it excels. You can say the same thing about SEO.

What’s the Best Way to Outsource Your SEO?

You understand the importance of SEO, and you also know that it is essential for you to channel some of your focus toward it. However, coupled with other activities like the administration of your business and getting more clients, time is not enough. Now that you understand that it is impossible for you to take on everything by yourself, you may be considering outsourcing SEO but don’t know where to begin.

The great news is that there are numerous routes you can take when you want to outsource your SEO, but you need to make your choice with caution. You can choose to go with a freelancer or an SEO contractor.

It may be a difficult choice to make, but we will be covering all the options at your disposal as well as the benefits and drawbacks of outsourcing your SEO jobs to them.

• SEO Freelancers
  You can find SEO freelancers on websites like Fiverr or Upwork. They can also reliably carry out your tasks at a low price. The benefit of working with freelancers is that they already know what to do, and you don’t need to spend time learning how to execute SEO tactics.

  If the needs of your agency are minimal, freelancers are the ideal choice for you. It will also give you the capacity to choose freelancers when it is convenient for you and let you save cash in the process.

  However, the downside to this is that the industry for internet marketing changes at a fast pace, and it can be a job on its own to follow the upcoming updates and trends. If you pick a freelancer that is not abreast with the current SEO requirements and trends, you will get obsolete work. Also, lots of websites require extensive SEO work, so you may add up cost faster if you go with a freelancer.

• SEO Contractors
  The benefits you get from hiring an SEO contractor is almost the same as what you get from a freelancer. Contractors can aid you in performing very technical and accurate SEO work, but you need to understand that a contractor is one individual. If you go with a contractor that has more than one client, which is always the case if he or she is excellent at their job, you will see yourself spending more time to get tasks done.
• SEO Company
  The benefit of going with this option is that you are not working with one person but a company. So aside from the fact that you won’t have to spend time teaching yourself SEO, executing techniques you have picked up, and following the changing industry trend, you will also be working with a team of SEO experts.

  SEO companies often comprise of a team of experts working alongside each other in the digital marketing sector daily. They often inform one another of new strategies and ideas. In essence, your business and campaign will undoubtedly enjoy the combined knowledge and experience a group has to offer.

  The drawback of a company, however, is that there may be a limitation in the type of service they can offer you. If you need to carry out a task that has nothing to do with SEO, you may have to look for another agency.

• Full-Service Agency
  Similar to the above, you will be working in collaboration with a team of experts, but this team will be skilled enough to help with all your digital marketing requirements with one meeting, email or call.

  You may have a single major point of contact when working with this agency. This individual will aid in managing your account and coordinating all the services you need. This will let you execute any digital marketing approach you need to achieve your marketing goals successfully.

  When you outsource your SEO to this form of agency, it means you will work regularly and closely with the agency. Your point of contact in the agency will get to be a comprehensive part of your company, which can help you take off a lot of workloads. Aside from avoiding any back and forth when you need to get something done, your marketing tasks will go faster as well.

  Also, when you work with a full-service agency, you will enjoy working alongside a team consisting of digital marketing experts and not just experts in SEO. This agency will have social media marketers, copywriters, and many others with vast experience you can exploit.

  This sort of agency can be of great value to you in the long run. If you have an issue, there is a high possibility that someone in the agency has already faced it and come up with a solution before, which means any issue you throw their way can be sorted fast and accurately.

Why Do You Need to Outsource SEO?

SEO is very crucial for businesses. However, it is complex and takes a lot of time. Worse still, it gets complex each day. Do you run your own business, or are you involved in marketing and don’t have adequate time to learn the trades and tricks of SEO and execute them? If your answer to this is yes, then outsourcing SEO is ideal for you.

Advantages of Outsourcing
SEO By outsourcing your SEO process, you stand to gain a lot of benefits. This is the case especially if you do not have adequate resources to oversee the entire process effectively.

Below are a few of the benefits that come with outsourcing:

• Time to Focus
  on Other Essential Tasks By outsourcing your SEO process to a reliable and trustworthy partner, you will be able to channel your energy to other crucial business areas.

  You will be able to focus on attaining new clients for your agency and developing great client relationships.

• On-Demand Services
  When you outsource to providers of SEO services, you don’t need any subscription plan. What you require is what you pay for when you require. Because of this, your overhead costs are less, but the revenue is higher.
• Access to Experts
  By outsourcing your SEO to an experienced service provider, you won’t need to bother about hiring or training new staff. You won’t even need to bother with creating new strategies. This is because you will be working with a team of SEO specialists who will be working on your needs. You will also be privy to tested and tried SEO techniques.
• Hiring a Full-Time SEO Expert Is Pricey
  It can be quite costly to hire a professional SEO expert full-time for your agency. In the United States, the average salary is $ 63,188 yearly. In the UK, it is around £ 24,982 every year. It can be a considerable burden on you especially as a startup agency to pay them salaries each month. You will also need to provide employment benefits, all of which can be a huge burden on you and your business.

  When you outsource your SEO to experienced third parties, you will be saving a tremendous amount of cash.

• It Offers Scalable Outcomes
  You may hire an employee for your SEO requirements who can bring you 20 excellent links monthly. However, what if your need surpasses that? What if you need 200? The employee may be unable to achieve this figure.

  SEO experts have processes that have been tried and tested over the years to locate opportunities for building links, developing content, and other things. They can provide you with scalable results when and how you require them. What this means is that they can expand and contract what they offer, depending on the need.

• SEO Is Complex and Vital
  SEO is very vital if you aim to be successful in digital marketing. Moreover, it is quite complicated. When ranking a site in its SERPs, Google considers over 200 factors. This can be a massive number to keep in mind, especially if you are not experienced in the field. Why not outsource this SEO job to professionals who do it for a living?
• Purchasing SEO Tools Is Not Necessary
  SEO tools like SEMrush can be quite pricey, especially if you are just starting your digital marketing agency. An annual subscription for the pro version of SEMrush costs $ 99.95 monthly. If you are doing the SEO by yourself, such costs have to be on you. On the other hand, if you are outsourcing your SEO, the provider will have a subscription in place, and you won’t have to spend so much on purchasing them.
• Drawbacks of SEO Outsourcing
  As the owner of an agency or business with a website, you have to weigh in the benefits as well as drawbacks. Below are some of the drawbacks of outsourcing your SEO needs.
• Compromise in Quality
  In a bid to minimize cost, there may often be a compromise in the quality of service rendered. Cheaper is not always the best. Ensure that you are getting the quality you desire for the amount you are paying for the service.
• Distance
  Most times, when you outsource the SEO, it is to someone or a company far away from your location. This means there will be a vast distance between you both, and communication will be via calls and emails among others. This sort of distance can result in communication issues along the line.
• Doubts
  When you hire a company not close to you or in another country entirely, it can be a huge risk, unless you have worked with them previously. Additionally, companies offering the same thing can offer diverse results. This means you cannot evaluate a company until you begin doing business with them.
• Cultural Differences
  Because of globalization, working across boundaries has become less difficult; however, there may still be existing cultural barriers that may affect the task at hand. Differences in holidays and festivals may result in some delay in completing tasks from both parties.

How to Outsource SEO

Now that we have covered the benefits of outsourcing your SEO and the options you have when you want to outsource, let us take a look at how to outsource your SEO correctly to ensure you get the results you desire.

• Locate a Reputable SEO Company
  The company or individual you outsource your SEO campaign or process to has a lot of influence on how successful it will become. If your choice is a good one, then you are probably going to get some fantastic results.

  However, making the wrong choice can result in you wasting funds and depending on the strategies utilized by the person or firm you hired. You can equally have a penalty to deal with as well.

  When in search of a freelancer or SEO firm to outsource the SEO needs of your agency, do not search for one offering the cheapest. Also, avoid companies that make you mouth-watering promises even before having a look at your website.

  Don’t just take in everything they tell you. Instead, request that they show you a sample of work they have previously done. Also, you can request that they create a proposal personalized to your specific requirements.

• Look beyond SEO
  SEO has to do with more than SEO. When you are talking about SEO, it means you are outsourcing the presence of your organization on the internet.

  This implies that the services you are provided with should go beyond SEO. It is only an aspect of what you can do in an appropriate internet marketing campaign.

  The firm you are outsourcing to should have the capacity to manage your email marketing, PPC campaigns, social media, and other things. They should also be able to tell you how all these can aid in growing your business.

  These are the activities that will ensure that you get great ROIs when you outsource your SEO.

• Develop Measurable Targets
  Before you pay any money or sign any contract, you need to have some form of agreement with the firm that will aid in executing the project for what they will deliver. When the project ends, what are they going to deliver? Are they going to deliver reports consisting of a list of more traffic, actions, and followers on Facebook? Is it higher rankings on Google?

  Don’t set targets you can’t measure. A great benefit of the internet is that you can measure everything. This means an SEO task can have measurable and specific targets.

• Decide on an Action
  Plan A great SEO campaign can take many months, and it is not a process that takes one month or a week. So using this duration, you need to create a comprehensive plan with intermediate targets and milestones. What are the actions you need to execute every month and what are the results you expect?

  An excellent method of knowing the precise actions required is to request that the firm carries out an SEO audit of your website before the project begins. This will cost you a one-time fee, but the audit result will consist of action plans that you can translate into a project plan.

• Track the Progress
  Tracking progress in an SEO process is crucial, similar to other kinds of projects. You don’t want to continue spending cash when you do not see any measurable results. Also, you don’t want to continue paying for more than the months required to finish up a project.

  The least difficult and leading way of monitoring whoever you outsource your SEO is to request for a comprehensive report monthly. In the report, the firm or individual needs to state the precise actions they take in a month, alongside the improvement as regards social media, terms of traffic, and user engagement among others.

• Begin with a Small Budget
  When you decide to outsource a process, you should have a budget in mind. What you need to be aware of when outsourcing your SEO process is that the results you seek may require a few months and may sometimes take years.

  So if your agency is dependent on the internet, it is best to reduce the monthly budget and extend it over a few months. For instance, if you have a budget of $ 20,000, you can get into an agreement to spend $ 500 each month for 40 months as opposed to spending $ 5,000 for four months.

  This is dependent on a host of other factors, and that is why you have to cover this comprehensively with your SEO organization before you sign any contract.

• Develop SEO Skills In-house
  There are SEO processes that require in-depth knowledge and expertise. However, there are aspects that people without SEO experience can efficiently execute.

  Depending on your staff availability and the budget you have set aside for outsourcing SEO, you can decide to develop some skills in-house for the easy tasks and invest your money on outsourcing processes that can only be handled by a seasoned SEO professional.

  The best method of dealing with this is by discussing it with your SEO company or expert. They should have the capacity to point out the tasks you can do in-house and offer the training needed as well.

Questions to Ask an SEO Provider before Working with Them

The following are a few questions or things to look out for before using the services of an SEO provider.

• Available Services
  Take a look at the list of services they can provide for campaigns. What kind of SEO task do they include? What is the amount of content they will offer? Be sure of all the services they provide as these will help you get the most value for any cash you invest.
• What SEO Tools Do They Use?
  Ask your SEO company the tools they use. There are great SEO tools like SEMRush and BuzzSumo. If they mention any of these legitimate tools, then you can work with them. However, there are equally shady tools on the market that providers utilize for black hat SEO strategies. If the provider you have in mind begins to mention names like The Best Spinner among others, it is best to find someone else.
• Employee Experience
  Find out the individuals who will be handling your SEO processes. What are their qualifications or experiences? It is crucial that you find the appropriate individuals to help you with the job. Speak to them about your SEO needs. Your interaction with them will help you understand how capable they are.
• What Are the Kind of Reports They Send?
  Ask the SEO firm or provider you want to go with the kind of reports they will be sending your way. You will require a report that you can understand with ease. A standard SEO report should consist of on-page SEO analysis, website audits, alongside recommendations you should implement.
• Gauging SEO Effectiveness
  The SEO firm or specialist you are planning on going with should have the capacity to break down the metrics that they will utilize in measuring how effective their SEO efforts are. You should be provided access to their dashboard, which will monitor the performance of your processes and display your keyword rankings.
• Have They Had Past Success?
  If the provider has no previous success story to show you, it’s best to find someone else. A great firm will take you through previous case studies and share the results they have had in the past. This will act as evidence of their previous success.

Red Flags to Note

When trying to pick an SEO firm, there are some red flags to look out for before you outsource your SEO process. If you notice any of these things in the company or freelancer you are about to go with, then it is best to walk away.

• Not Going with the Guidelines of Google
  An SEO expert that does not follow the guidelines put down by Google is certainly not a great one. This is because the majority of what people search for online takes place on Google. Having a great Google search ranking is very vital in SEO. Request for samples of their previous jobs to make sure they are working following the guidelines of Google.
• Promising Quick Outcomes
  It is not a day’s job to get your website on the first page of Google. No matter what you do, this is the fact. It takes a month or more to get a favorable ranking. To get on the first page, it will require around six months or more. If any provider or firm promises you fast results, you need to find someone else.
• No Knowledge of the Most Recent Trends in Digital Marketing
  With regard to SEO and digital marketing, innovations always come up. Any firm or specialist you plan on using should be abreast with the most recent trends and information.

  Ask questions about the recent digital marketing trends, and if the specialist is unable to answer, then you may want to find someone else.

• Having One Strategy for Every Approach
  SEO similar to other strategies of digital marketing is different for each organization. This is because every business has its unique needs. If a provider has only a strategy for all SEO approaches, then it won’t be of assistance.
• No Evidence of Previous Success
  A successful SEO firm should have testimonials and case studies to show how effective their methodology is. If the provider you are trying to go with has no testimonial or case study to share, it is best you look for another provider.