If you have been toying with the idea about starting SEO for your business but you can’t decide if you want to pay a third-party digital marketing agency or if you want to handle it in-house, this is the article for you. We’re going to weigh up the pros and cons so you can easily decide which is best for you…
In-house SEO Vs. Using a digital marketing agency
The first thing to consider when deciding between handling your SEO in-house and outsourcing the requirements to a digital marketing agency is time and resources.
The fact is, in order to gain desirable results from SEO, you’ll need to put a lot of time and effort into it. And unless you have a dedicated in-house team, it’s going to be incredibly difficult to pull off.
Here are some other important considerations:
1. Cost
At first glance, handling your SEO in-house appears to be cheaper as you don’t need to pay an external agency to work for you. That said, you have to factor in the following costs:
- Recruitment
- Training
- Salary
- Benefits
- Etc.
In order to have a capable in-house team, you’ll invariably end up spending more money than you would if you were to outsource those requirements instead.
For smaller businesses with a limited budget for marketing, you can always explore certain SEO-related tasks that can be handled in-house and outsource the rest. For example, starting your own blog.
2. Expertise
When you outsource your SEO requirements to a third-party digital marketing agency, you’re getting their expertise. It is quite literally in the job description.
While it doesn’t take too long to grasp the gist of it, SEO is a highly complicated field that takes many years to master.
Certainly, you can hire an SEO specialist to work for you, however, you’ll still only be getting one person and effective SEO requires far more in the way of resources.
3. Scalability
Scaling your SEO in-house can be quite difficult as you will be required to hire more employees, implement additional training, pay for certain specialist software, and so on.
With a digital marketing agency however, they will already have the infrastructure in place to facilitate your growth, it’s simply a case of increasing your budget. That said, by the time you are in a position to scale your SEO efforts, you’ll likely already be seeing an attractive ROI, thus justifying the larger investment.
4. Speed
It will take time to get your in-house team set up and ready to go. If, however, you outsource these requirements, all of the tools and resources will be in place, ready to plug-in.
Yes, SEO does take time either way, however, the faster you can get started, the sooner you can start experiencing the desired results.
5. Reliability & results
When you work with a third-party digital marketing agency, they are obliged to deliver the best possible results for you. They have to continually prove their value to you in order to secure your business and your loyalty.
With in-house SEO, even if you set targets, you’ll still be dealing with employees who will need to take holidays, the occasional sick days, and the potential for resignations.
Final thoughts
One common objection to using a third-party digital marketing agency is a lack of control. While you’ll certainly have a greater sense of control when everything is taken care of under your roof, with the right partner you will be able to enjoy full transparency and flexibility.
If this is a concern of yours, we recommend working with a local company. So, for example, if you’re a Miami based business and you want to work with a reputable third-party but retain more control, find a reputable Miami SEO company and build from there.