If you want your company web site or your revenue-generating web property to rank better in search engines to attract more traffic, then you need to understand SEO or Search Engine Optimization.
However, do you learn it yourself or hire an expert? The simple answer is a bit of both. As a business owner, you know all too well that there’s rarely time to become an expert in all skills needed to run a business.
That said, SEO is one skill that is worth gaining some proficiency in, because outsourcing can be expensive and an ongoing monthly cost. However, it can also be a source of web traffic that is more cost effective than buying visits through advertising.
You best approach is to find an SEO expert that is willing to not only do the work, but also mentor you (or one of your staff) in the necessary skills.
The combination of your in-house proficiency and their implemented strategy will keep ongoing SEO consulting costs down and still realize results. A good SEO expert will do an analysis of your web site to see where you are at today and measure results all the way through the process. They can help you research relevant keyword phrases (e.g. “ Cincinnati plumbing supplies”, not just “plumbing”) that will attract the right kind of traffic to your business.
You’ll also need to reconfigure your pages to improve your rankings for the targeted keyword phrases. Ask your expert to provide guidance and show you how to improve one page to start with. Instead of optimizing all the targeted pages for you, have them provide a briefing document for each page. Then follow the guidance to learn the techniques and do the work yourself. You will learn an enormous amount in the process.
Another core task you will need help with is increasing the number of links in to your pages from other sites (these are called “in-links”). Google scores a web page higher if other web sites link to it. This activity is more important than on-page optimization, however it should not be done without optimizing your pages as well.
SEO experts typically charge you to find third party sites that will link to your site and charge you a monthly fee to maintain this process.
You may want to buy this service initially but again have them train you in strategies to do in-linking yourself. Not all SEO experts will do this as it is a good revenue stream for them, however the good ones will teach you starter secrets.
If you can deploy an initial expert-designed strategy, learn some in-house capabilities, then bring your SEO expert back for quarterly audits and pay them to support your own in-house capabilities, then it will go a long way to getting the results you want and keeping costs down.
If you are looking for an SEO expert that will get you started and train you or your staff in the expertise then contact Cyberwalker Digital. We would be delighted to help.
