Do you want to improve your online presence? If yes, you might be considering hiring an SEO expert to help you. Before making a decision, it’s a good idea to think about the pros and cons of working with a freelancer or an SEO agency. Most people use search engines like Google, Yahoo, or Bing to find products and services online. Understanding how search engines and SEO work can be difficult, and it’s unlikely that you can become an expert overnight. However, if you work with a virtual SEO specialist, you don’t have to learn all the details of SEO yourself.
So, is your business ready to hire a virtual SEO specialist? Read on to learn when it’s best to work with a professional and when you can handle it yourself.
What can an SEO Specialist assist with?
When you decide to work with an SEO expert, they can help you in various ways. Here are some of the ways an SEO professional can assist you:
Optimized content creation: Content plays a crucial role in search engine optimization. An SEO expert can help you create content that is optimized to rank well on search engines and cater to your target audience’s needs.
Link building: Building high-quality links is essential for establishing your website as an authority in your industry. However, running effective backlink campaigns can be time-consuming. An SEO specialist can handle this task for you, helping you acquire relevant links efficiently.
Keyword research: To optimize your on-page SEO, proper keyword research is necessary. While you may have an idea of important keywords in your field, an SEO expert can assist you in using the right phrases and avoiding penalties from search engines for keyword stuffing.
Website audits: For search engines to rank your website highly, it’s crucial to ensure your on-page and technical SEO are in good shape. A professional SEO expert can conduct regular website audits to ensure everything is functioning correctly. Having an up-to-date website without broken links can positively impact your rankings.
These are just a few ways SEO professionals can support your digital marketing efforts. However, not all SEO experts are the same, so it’s important to find the right individual or team to assist you.
When should you consider hiring an SEO expert?
It’s a good idea to hire a virtual SEO specialist in the following situations:
You want a new SEO strategy
If you want to enhance your website’s search engine optimization, working with a specialist is beneficial. They can guide you and prevent you from making common mistakes that could negatively impact your campaign.
Your website is not attracting any traffic
Consider hiring an SEO expert if your website is not getting any traffic. A lack of traffic can indicate to search engines that your site is not popular, making it difficult to improve your search engine ranking. SEO experts can help you boost your website’s traffic and provide the necessary guidance and support.
You have the budget to do so
On average, the cost of monthly SEO services is $497 per month (via Backlinko). While investing in SEO services isn’t cheap, it can be a worthwhile investment if you want to generate more traffic to your site and raise conversions. If you’re interested in hiring an SEO consultant, make sure you have the budget to do so.
While there’s a broad range of price options available, remember that you get what you pay for. You must ensure you have enough funds to hire SEO experts that will deliver high-quality work.
Your team is stretched thin
You may have an internal team responsible for your online marketing strategy, but if they’re stretched too thin, you need to bring in an expert who can help. That way, your team can save time in other areas, and you can put your SEO campaigns in a position to succeed.
You lack SEO knowledge
If you don’t know how to handle search engine optimization on your own, it’s time to reach out to a professional service. Even though you might understand the basics, you may have difficulty competing with the people at the top of search engine rankings. You need to hire SEO professionals with the necessary skills in order to compete with the top results.
You don’t have time to review SEO algorithm updates
Search engine optimization is a journey, not a destination. Search engines are constantly changing their algorithms, so your strategy has to also evolve. You have a lot to do daily, and you may not have time to keep up with all of these changes. Instead, you could hire a professional whose job is to keep up with algorithm changes.
You’re redesigning your website
Finally, if you’re in the process of redesigning your website, you need to make sure you have SEO at the front of your mind. One of the easiest times to make changes to your SEO campaign is when you’re updating your website.
When to hold off on hiring a Virtual SEO Specialist?
The biggest reason you may want to hold off on hiring an SEO strategist is that you don’t have the funds to afford one. You might be able to find a less expensive option, but you may not necessarily get the results you’re looking for. Therefore, it might be better to hold off, save your money, and wait until you have the budget to hire SEO experts with the required training and experience. Even though you might be able to find a more affordable SEO freelancer, they may not provide the same level of services.
How to find a Virtual SEO Specialist?
If you’re looking for an SEO specialist who can help you, there are several steps you need to follow.
- Identify your goals. What are the goals of your SEO project? Do you want to improve your traffic? Do you want to increase your search results rankings? Do you want to boost your conversion rate? An SEO specialist can help you with all of these issues.
- Determine your budget. You also need to think about your budget. How much money do you have to spend? Different services cost different amounts of money, and you need to be transparent about how much you’re willing to spend on the campaign. That way, you can maximize the return on your investment.
- Decide between an agency or freelancer. Do you want to work with an agency or a freelancer? A freelancer might be more affordable, but an agency has more resources at its disposal.
- Ask questions. What are some of the biggest questions you have in mind? You must make sure that your goals align with the agency. That way, you can put yourself in a position to be satisfied with the results of the campaign.
- Review references. Before you hire someone, you must ask for references. Talk to some of those references to see if they were happy with the results.
- Request an audit. You could always ask for a website audit before you make a final decision about who you want to hire. What are some of the changes the agency is recommending? Make sure you’re happy with their suggestions.
If you keep these points in mind, you can find the right SEO experts to help you with your needs.
Final Thoughts
Knowing whether to hire an SEO expert or not isn’t always the easiest decision to make. While a professional can help take your SEO strategy to the next level, paying for these services requires a hefty investment. If you’re considering working with a consultant or agency, keep the points mentioned throughout this article in mind.
If you select to keep SEO in-house and do it yourself, we have several marketing tools that can make it easier to optimize your website. For example, Infinity Web Solutions can automatically generate unique meta descriptions based on your site’s content. Plus, websites hosted on our platform are responsive and fast, which can create a better user experience.
