Hire SEO Services: Proven Tips that Help You Grow Your Business

In this blog, we are going to decode the biggest mysteries of the digital marketing world:

• Why you should hire SEO services carefully
• Should you hire only a single jack-of-all-trade SEO marketer or build a full-fledged marketing team
• Should you hire local SEO expert agency or build an in-house team
• What to consider when you hire a Google SEO expert for the best results
• How your right selection impacts your business
• Besides that, you will also learn how to buy SEO and a lot more to make your SEO journey less of a hassle

After going through this blog, you will be able to know how to hire an SEO expert if you want to fuel your business with effective and viable SEO efforts.

Without further ado, let’s start.

 

How Can the Selection of the SEO Services Be a Game-Changer

 

Remember our childhood’s “Jack and Jill” poem? It’s time to recall it.

So what happens is:

Jack and Jill go up the hill to fetch a pail of water.

 

Jack falls down and, resultantly, breaks his crown.

 

So Jill also comes tumbling after.

 

It’s a sad story. Very sad.

But what is even sadder is that it can happen to you as well if you don’t hire professional SEO expert.

If you hire free SEO services online or incompetent SEO service providers, they will fall down midway (because they don’t know their work) and will break your bank.

 

SIDE NOTE: If you are searching for free SEO services for my business, you need to stop right now. Saving a few bucks can cost you more in the end.

Result? Your whole business will tumble after.

It has happened with many businesses.

In industry research, Backlinko has found that there is a huge turnover in the SEO service industry.

Almost 65% of small businesses have worked with multiple SEO providers.

Reasons?

Well, not so unpredictable.

Most of the respondents gave two major reasons for switching their SEO consultants:

• Dissatisfaction with results
• Dissatisfaction with the ROI rate

 

It means that it is harder than you think to hire a virtual SEO expert who can deliver data-driven results.

 

And then there are so many options that you don’t know where to look.

There are…

• Freelancers
• In-house SEO persons
• Digital marketing agencies
• SEO services centered companies

 

You might have thought of a few more options because the list of people ‘claiming’ to provide the best SEO services is insane.

 

But the actual headache is to separate doers from sayers when you go to hire SEO services.

That’s why companies are facing issues with buying SEO services.

But the good thing is that the marketers are not sleeping on this rising problem.

Lately, companies from all the verticals have become sensitized regarding the significance of SEO in their online growth.

According to HubSpot Research, around 61% of companies consider SEO as their topmost priority.

And they are ready to invest their budget for SEO purposes.

In fact, according to a survey by HubSpot, around 64% of marketers admitted that they invest in SEO.

So businesses are sitting with their money in their hands to hire dedicated SEO experts.

The real question is: who deserves to be entrusted this money so that your boat sails instead of drowning?

Sounds legit concern?

Let’s try to find out what to consider to hire SEO services through different scenarios.

 

One Marketer Come SEO Person vs. Full Team – What is the Best Choice

 

If you have to choose between these two situations, what would be your pick?

Choice 1: A jack of all trades, master of none.

 

Choice 2: A huge team with so many possibilities of creating a mess.

 

Hard to answer, right?

We have done some calculations for you:

CHOICE # 1: Hiring One Expert SEO Person With Many Skills

 

You want the best for your company, but handling too much hassle is also nobody’s favorite.

That’s why, previously, companies used to find a jack-of-all-trades kind of a superhero marketer who knows a bit of this and a bit of that.

Because, in case you don’t know, the full proverb goes like this:

“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.”

Yes, you have been reading only half part of this proverb all this time.

It’s part “… but oftentimes better than a master of one” is what enticed firms to find someone who can wear different hats at a time.

And does his best in every avatar.

In other words, they wanted to have a superhero kind of person who has…

• SEO knowledge
• Sales and marketing expertise
• Content writing skills
• Mind exploding with creative ideas
• Know-how of analytic tools usage
• Technical information

 

Emm… seems pretty amazing.

When the digital world was not in such a state of great commotion, then this combination used to work very well.

Hiring an SEO expert who can do all this – WAO – even sounds so good.

 

But now, things have changed.

Let’s decipher the current scenario of skills mentioned above one by one and how they can change the scenario of how to buy SEO services.

#1: SEO Knowledge

 

Google is tweaking its algorithms so rapidly, and new things are entering the realm at such a rapid pace that it has gotten hard to keep track of things.

According to Moz, Google unleashes almost 9 updates per day.

You can’t predict whether what is working today will work in the same way tomorrow as well.

And you don’t know what is not significant today might become the most significant factor tomorrow.

So having full-scale SEO knowledge and keeping an eye on changing landscape is itself a full-fledged job.

#2: Marketing & Sales Expertise

 

Digital marketing’s field is getting so dynamic that it is no more only about social media campaigns and PPC.

There is content marketing with new dimensions, influential marketing with higher demand, and much more.

One person, with one brain and two hands, can’t handle everything.

Above all that, you sometimes need different strategies for marketing and sales.

Yes, marketing and sales go hand in hand because marketing leads to sales.

But if you think that they are the same thing, you are wrong.

They are two different departments with different goals.

Need some proof?

Here is what Demand Gen Report shows the inside story of the marketing and sales team.

 

See? Both marketing and sales have different scenarios, and you need to handle them differently.

Above all that, the market is so competitive that it is hard to grab your share of the limelight from big giants with huge marketing budgets.

So… things are too complicated!

#3: The Usage of Analytics Tools

 

Every day new marketing and SEO tools hit the market that you might need days just to remember their names (I am sure you will still skip a few names every time you will try to recall them!).

 

There are so many tools, and every tool has its own functionality.

They might be user-friendly, but still tracking analytics on so many tools needs time and constant concentration – that is hard for a single person.

 

Recommended Resource: 

Check out our list of Amazing SEO Link Building Tools that are a complete SEO package.

 

 

#4: Content Writing Skills

 

Don’t even bring me on this topic.

Content writing and the digital world is such a huge topic that I don’t even want to start talking about it (it will take my whole blog!).

But to give you a bit of head up, content writing is no more just about article writing, blog writing, or web content writing.

From newsletters, press releases, proposals to eBooks, so many things fall under the umbrella of content writing.

And all of them have their own significance in marketing. Like, you can hardly skip anything if you want to take your content marketing in full boom.

And the mother of all problems?

Each type of writing needs a different writing style and approach.

If you are a content writer, you might be thinking that what’s a big deal? I do it every day.

 

Recommended Resource: Check out our guide on What is an Online Content Writer to get a clear picture of the world of content writing.

 

You might be able to ace out all types of content writings, sure, but we are talking here about a person whose one leg is entrapped in SEO, the head is fuming with creative ideas, and eyes are on PPC campaigns’ stats.

So in this situation, it is not easy to write an eBook that is so good that it can establish credibility, drive leads, and generate revenue (that’s basically what an eBook does, by the way!)…

…or write an email that cuts through the noise, gets noticed and clicked, and triggers the desired action.

(This goes for other types of writing as well.)

#5: Creative Ideas

 

Creative ideas are creative ideas, and if you have a thing for creativity, it is not hard to come up with a creative idea. Right?

It might have been the case if we were living in the early 2000s.

But now, you don’t just need a thing for creativity.

You need to:

• Make your mind a creative machine where ideas keep on flowing.
• Deal with so many creative marketing campaigns that all your creative juice starts turning into stagnant water.
• Come up with the best and innovative ideas to beat companies with a whole dedicated creative team.

 

Need an example?

Look at this:

You can see that in just one week, Starbucks’ campaign managed to get 309k likes.

So you don’t need to predict that this campaign was a huge hit.

When you are competing against such creative ideas, you have to come up with a bigger and better idea.

Besides that, there are so many platforms, like…

• Social media

• YouTube

• Your Website

• Paid advertisements

 

… where you have to show your creative antics with different approaches and styles.

So it isn’t hard to predict that playing with creative ideas is not an easy thing.

#6: Technical Skills

 

When we say technical skills, you might be thinking of development and programming.

But that’s not the case.

It’s good if a marketer knows a bit of coding to see key features related to a campaign, but there is a lot more to it.

A marketer must have the ability to compile data related to a campaign, analyze it, and drive meaningful results from it.

The story doesn’t end here. There is a lot more to it, like research skills, etc.

So dealing with such things is itself a complete job that needs mind, time, and particular skill sets.

After analyzing this changed scenario, you can see where we are going.

Because there is none.

So let’s get back to reality and stop finding a superhero.

CHOICE # 2: A Team With Expert of Different Tasks

 

The good thing is that businesses have already realized the importance of having a marketing team.

According to a survey by CoSchedule, organizations are slowly moving towards making the team rather than relying on a single person.

The reason is pretty simple; there is nothing like a jack-of-all-trades kind of thing in today’s changed situation.

You need a team that is made of people who are masters of their own accord.

You don’t need to have a separate person for every task.

But dividing the whole team into three basic departments can help you a lot.

For instance, you can divide the revenue-generating team as:

1. The Content Team
2. SEO Team
3. Marketing & Sales Team

The number of employees you add to each team depends on your business scale and strategies.

But dividing people into teams can help you a lot to…

• Get people with special and particular skill sets
• Track progress of things
• More brains to bring unique ideas
• More hands to do things efficiently

 

So what these teams would do:

#1: The Content Team

 

Having a separate content team spares the soul of a single marketer from getting entrapped into the dense world of content ideation, conceptualizing, tuning it, and creation.

The issue is that you don’t create content just for the sake of creating content.

The purpose of content is to enhance sales.

In fact, content facilitates the whole sales funnel.

 

Recommended Resource: Here is our guide on How to Build a Viable Content Marketing Strategy that drives 2x business benefits.

 

It acts like a magic spell that enchants your customers to go through all the sales funnel stages in an enchanting way.

Yes, content can do that for you.

But for that, you need a dedicated team that knows the art of creating content that actually acts like a magic spell.

From brand awareness, interest, consideration, intention, evaluation to purchase, content can play the trick.

Because content turns a sales funnel into a slippery slide.

 

Believe me when I say creating such a type of content is not easy.

Even creating an effective newsletter is more than knitting hollow words to deliver the news.

It means you need a content writing team that is not only a jack-of-all-trades but also the master in writing inspiring, creative, engaging, and effective content.

Besides content creation, the content writing team also strategies content that means it determines…

• What to post
• Where to post
• When to post
• How to post

 

…content to drive maximum benefits.

#2: SEO Team

 

Search any keyword, and you get this:

Do you think it is easy to beat these 76, 900, 000 results and grasp number one position?

Hopefully, your answer is no.

Well, that’s what your SEO team has to do.

They do everything possible, onsite as well as offsite SEO, to make your website rank higher.

 

Recommended Resource: Don’t know anything about the right SEO practices? Our guide on How to Rank Higher on Google might help you.

 

And ranking a website on the first spot on Google is not only about getting backlinks and incorporating keywords.

There goes a lot into making a website rank higher.

So you need a full-fledged team to work on this.

 

#3: Marketing & Sales Team

 

This team takes care of strategizing things to acquire customers, convert them, and retain them.

They run campaigns according to the goals, analyze analytics, and make further decisions based on measured KPIs.

But here is a thing:

First, you can’t run a campaign with a no-brainer mindset.

 

For example, in 1981, American Airlines ran a campaign of giving out first-class passes for $250,000, and for that, the pass holders could take unlimited travel first-class flights.

Sounds like a quite high revenue-generating campaign?

Well, the results were totally opposite.

The company lost millions because the pass holders actually took the meaning of ‘unlimited’ to their hearts.

Result?

A flop campaign taught the company the hard way that campaign strategizing needs more than a unique idea and short-term vision.

Second, you can’t leave a campaign to work on its own. You have to keep an eye to see if it is giving you the best ROI or not.

 

Most companies’ priority is to generate leads, growing traffic, and generating revenue through their marketing campaigns.

But it can only happen if you track your campaign’s analytics and KPIs carefully and see if you need any amendments or not.

So coming back to the question:

One marketer also playing a role of SEO person or a full team?

I hope now you know your answer.

Because:

If you need to survive in today’s hard competitive scene, you need more brains, more hands, having combined more time to work on different matters efficiently.

But trouble doesn’t end here.

The next question is:

Should you hire an SEO service agency or build an in-house team?

 

Recommended Resource: Everything you need to know about selecting the right SEO Packages for Small Businesses.

 

Let’s dissect this question in our next section.

An SEO Agency vs. An In-House Team – The Right Pick?

 

Deciding on hiring an SEO service – whether you have to outsource an agency or build an in-house team – is not easy.

Both have their own shares of perks and curses.

It is just like deciding on whether you should go with a black tie with a gray shirt or a white tie.

Let’s first consider how it is like having an in-house team?

Building an In-House Team

 

Here is everything you need to know about building an in-house SEO team:

 

#1: How Many People Do You Need

 

According to a survey by Moz, people who make an in-house team usually have 2-5 people. While some others also go up to hiring 6-10 people.

 

Obviously, you can’t select numbers of people randomly.

Your selection depends on your business’s scale, goals, amount of SEO work you require, and your strategy.

One thing is sure: You need to be hiring an SEO expert.

In other words, the SEO team lead…

• Who knows his work well
• Can guide the team in the right direction
• Manage them systematically for the betterment

 

Other than the main team lead, you can decide on other helpers you need to get the job done effectively.

2: How Much Does it Cost?

 

The other thing is the cost of hiring a team.

It’s a no-brainer that building a team costs more than hiring a single person.

Because you are not hiring an SEO agency, you are actually building a whole team.

According to Ahrefs research, an SEO person mostly takes more than $501-$1000 per month.

And that’s just for one SEO person, and here we are talking about building a team.

So, you can just imagine how much it costs to build a whole team.

If you want to be a bit more precise, you can check out the estimation given by SEMrush.

Got the clear picture?

 

#3: Management & Accountability Issues

 

That’s one thing that every company will agree that managing a team is not easy.

Things don’t always work, even if you keep team leads.

Some common internal issues always disrupt your whole process, including:

• Internal communication

• Management’s issues

• Tracking work record

• Ensuring quality assurance

• Employee motivation

• Increasing productivity

• Employee engagement

• Aligning employees’ work with goals

 

See? That’s a whole lot of work.

And these are just common issues. When you start adding other issues, like internal employee tussles and employees’ issues with the management, you know where things might end up to.

And another issue, when things intermingle, you don’t know who is responsible for what.

But don’t worry. Here is a good thing about keeping an in-house team: You can customize things.

You can get to work on it as you like.

GREAT!

But what about all other issues?

To find this answer, let’s see what an SEO agency has for you.

Hiring an SEO Service Providing Agency

 

Before finding out what an SEO agency has for you in their pocket, let’s find out what their scope is.

For this, I searched the keyword ‘SEO Services Agency,’ and that’s what I got.

 

It means that SEO agencies are there and working, but what it means to hire a wordpress SEO expert agency?

#1: How Much Do SEO Agencies Demand?

 

When you decide to hire SEO services, one thing you must know is:

SEO agencies usually charge based on per hour.

And obviously, their rates are higher than freelancers and consultants.

That’s what Ahrefs has found the difference in their per hour rate:

 

Some SEO agencies also offer monthly SEO service that means they don’t charge per hour but or provide services throughout the month.

You can tell right away that this package will be a bit more expensive than per hour charges because it is an all-inclusive package for a month.

So hiring an SEO agency can be costly as compared to other options.

But once you hire SEO expert services of an agency, your other SEO-related expenses cut down a lot.

 

The reason is simple:

• SEO agencies have their own team. You wouldn’t have to invest in hiring another SEO resource person.

 

• SEO agencies have SEO-related resources. You don’t have to buy expensive SEO tools and other resources to get better results and track things.

 

• SEO agencies work remotely. You don’t have to arrange a place for the workforce or spend your money on providing other resources.

 

So after spending your money on hiring an SEO agency, you save your pocket from burning on so many other things.

 

And it doesn’t seem like a bad idea, no?

#2: What About Management & Accountability?

 

It goes without saying that when you hire the SEO services of an agency, you don’t have to manage anything.

You only have to get the end report and results.

That’s it, full stop.

In fact, most SEO agencies explicitly write on their website that they will report you regularly.

So you know what you should be doing.

You don’t have to manage anything, anyone.

At the end of the day, you would only ask for the claimed results and see if they delivered what they promised or not.

If not, you know who should be accountable.

 

#3: The Scenario of Flexibility & Expertise

 

Building an in-house team means that you have to start everything from scratch.

It is just like growing a plant.

Let’s take an example.

So you love flowers and think of growing a plant to get flowers.

How will you grow a plant?

• First, you prepare the ground.
• You sow the seed.
• Add water and fertilizer.
• You wait for it to grow.
• Then you wait for its flowers to grow.

 

 

It’s a lengthy procedure, right?

On top of that, you also don’t know whether your plant will grow or not.

And if you are lucky enough and it grows without wilting, you still don’t have any surety when it starts producing flowers.

So isn’t it better that you buy a grown plant that you know produces flowers?

Well, that’s what it’s like hiring an SEO expert agency.

 

Recommended Resource:

Combining SEO and content marketing brings better results. See our blog on How to Build an SEO Content Marketing Strategy to know the deal.

 

 

You hire an agency after doing research that you know delivers results. And that’s it!

In other words, you go to someone who has already done all the hassle, and you just buy the plant so that you can get flowers.

Makes sense?

Besides cutting down your hassle, SEO agencies know their work. They have done it many times, so they can do it for you too.

Because:

• They have expertise and knowledge of things.
• They have a broader horizon to show creativity and try new techniques.
• They have proven strategies that have already shown results for others.

 

• They already have a trained workforce in their hands.
• They are dedicated because they have to save their reputation.
• They have more resources to extract data to measure KPIs.

 

All these key points can give hiring an SEO expert a massive edge over other things.

But it depends on who you select?

Here is how you should select the right SEO agency for the best results.

 

Things to Consider While Hiring an SEO Expert

 

Here are some things you should consider to hire SEO services:

#1: How They Are Different

 

You will hardly find any web page of an SEO agency that doesn’t claim to provide you the best services.

Everyone claims that they can do magic for you.

And it makes sense:

Everyone wants to ‘show’ themselves as the best fit.

 

 

But the question is how to decide who is actually the best?

Ask them how they are different from others.

What makes them unique.

Again, don’t fall for their words. Check out things.

Now here are a few ways:

• See their case studies
• Check client’s testimonials

But that’s true that they can be manipulative. So check out online reviews of clients.

In fact, people check out online reviews before making purchases.

 

So do check people’s reviews and collect evidence of how they are different from others.

 

#2 What is their Executive Summary of Process

 

You don’t need the answer to ‘WHAT’ because they have already explained it in very flowery words on their website.

You need the answer to ‘HOW’.

How are they going to transform their flowery words into a garden?

It is better not to fall for what they have written, but see what they have to show you as proof.

They need to show you how they are going to:

• Do keyword research
• Determine search intent
• Bring betterment to the current website’s structure and content
• Design a ‘proven strategy’ to rank you
• Combine content and technical factors to give you the best

 

If you find answers to these questions beforehand, you don’t have to become boo-boo-the-fool in the end.

 

#3 How Do They Track Things

 

Keeping track of the whole SEO process is the key to any successful campaign.

You can’t move things a bit here and tweak a few things there and expect that your site will be topping on the rank within a few days.

Google is unpredictable, and Google’s algorithms are too unreliable.

So you can’t leave things as they are for any single moment.

You have to check results, measure KPIs, and keep track of things to determine your progress.

According to Backlinko, employers expect SEO candidates to know about these tools.

#4: How Much Time They Will Take

 

Okay, here, we need to admit that ranking a site is not a matter of a few days.

And all those people who say that they will alter your life with a magic wand are lying.

Okay, they might know how to provide SEO services, but that is not equal to turning your fate within a few days.

Don’t ever trust them.

But it also doesn’t mean that you can’t give any estimation.

If you are hire SEO services company, they should give you a timeline of their process and a time limit to start delivering results.

 

But make sure: they make realistic claims.

 

Don’t fall for unrealistic claims.

The Right Selection Impacts Your Business – Here is How?

 

Now we know what SEO does.

It helps you rank higher on search rankings.

But if you really find the ‘right fit,’ it can change your overall bottom-line.

According to Backlinko, that’s what business owners want SEO to do for their business.

Conclusion

 

SEO is not easy.

So it is good that you have decided to hire SEO expert USA.

But finding the right SEO person is even difficult.

It can make you a superstar or pull you down to nothing.

So finding and selecting the right SEO service is a necessity for the betterment of your business and the safety of your bank.

 

Try to hire SEO services that can change the landscape for your business.

Don’t become a fool because you don’t deserve to throw your hard-earned money in the empty well of claims.

Look out for the results!

Have some good suggestions for us? Let’s share them.

Inspiration should be contagious.