SEO services are growing in demand among digital marketing agencies. Why? One of the reasons is because of the drastic increase in ecommerce businesses over the last couple of years. A combination of people being home because of the pandemic, as well as new platforms that are easier to use and create websites on, has made search engine optimization one of the most demanded digital marketing services around.
So, if your agency does not offer SEO services or has an entire team ready to handle more work, you may need to get creative. You do not want to lose that potential business, but you also do not want to offer your clients something with low standards that costs you the account. The short and cost-effective option is to take your time and build a strong team by outsourcing SEO.
Why SEO Services Are In Demand
Platforms like WordPress, Shift4Shop, Shopify and others are affordable and easy to use. During the pandemic, a record number of new businesses were created. The majority of these were men and women creating websites to sell products or offer a service that they can provide. Some saw this as a way to make money while being stuck at home, others saw it as a way to start a new career. Many of these businesses have actually taken off and now are getting into year two or three of operations. That means they are ready for new marketing options and to expand their web presence. There’s no better way to do that than with search engine optimization.
Outsourcing SEO Services
The key thing to remember as you look to outsource SEO services is that these people are going to be your teammates. They are responsible for delivering important work that ensures your clients requirements are fulfilled. Their work needs to be excellent as it will reflect your company. Here are some of the things you need to look for before you make a selection:
- Experience: Experience is important in digital marketing, especially when it comes to working with search engines. While every year there are new changes to rankings and algorithms, the basics still remain the same. Experience with different programs and the areas of the service you need the most help in is important to ensure quality.
- Reporting: Every month you have to submit a report to your client, showing them the work that was done, the results it generated and so forth. While you can provide your own reporting, the fact is that the team you hire will have to provide you with a lot of the information including backlinks, content that was made and published, traffic and rankings.
- Content Quality: One of the biggest battles agencies have with clients is over the quality of the content. Client’s want expert content but if their field is more technical, it becomes extremely difficult. Then there’s the issue with making sure it’s SEO friendly. Clients sometimes fail to understand that the content a copywriter produces is meant more for Google than for readers. To avoid this, make sure you are hiring teams that have elite copywriting services. You can check the quality on a variety of tools that are available.
- Responsiveness: Another important thing to look for when selecting a team to outsource your SEO services to is their responsiveness. You are going to be asked questions by your clients throughout the campaign and you need to work with professionals who can answer those questions as quickly as possible. They may not be able to get on a call with the client, but they can return an email or give you the information you need to keep the campaign running smoothly.
You should never underestimate the value of responsiveness. Clients have signed on with and stayed with agencies simply because they respond to calls and emails within a reasonable amount of time. Yes, you cannot spend your entire day on the phone with a client but knowing you can quickly get the information that they need is important.
Working With Freelancers
Most agencies or and plenty of companies will not outsource all the SEO services that are needed. Some will have a good in-house team to hire a variety of responsibilities and then outsource other tasks to freelancers. Here are some of the most popular areas of digital marketing and search engine optimization that are freelanced out:
- Copywriting: Content is critical to the success of a search engine optimization campaign and having a great copywriting team on board is critical for a single account, much less dozens or more. You should always have a reliable list of experienced copywriters, especially if you are managing several accounts as their content will be needed throughout the month.
- Social Media: While social media is a completely different area of digital marketing, it does offer a variety of assistance in search engine optimization, especially when it comes to traffic and link building. For example, if you are writing a blog and publish it on your site, that is a good strategy to get improved rankings. If you want to improve upon those efforts, you need to share the blog on social media where the additional links and traffic generated from the posts will help the blog and site rank higher in search engines and help you to generate even more organic traffic to your site.
- Web Design: While most agencies prefer to have their own in-house web design team, one of the problems agencies are dealing with is finding local help. The best applicants are not in the area and are not interested in moving. Therefore, hiring freelancers is becoming a better option in order to keep projects on track.
- Link Building: Most quality link building teams are independent, meaning they work with companies and agencies. This is because they are focused only on this service and dedicate their time and money to getting the best quality links for their clients.
If you are struggling with managing your team, try using a project management tool to keep everyone organized. There are dozens of quality and affordable ones on the market that can be used by your team around the world and integrate with other programs you are using as well.
As online businesses continue to battle for real estate on search engines, your agency or company needs to expand its marketing efforts to include SEO services. If you are struggling to find qualified and experienced people in your area to fulfill these needs, consider outsourcing the work to people around the world who can offer affordable marketing and effective help. This will get your efforts on track faster and allow you to keep prices for fulfillment down.