While many experts recommend that companies hire SEO firms and professionals, there are still a few good reasons to build an in-house SEO or have an SEO consultant to do search engine optimization and other internet marketing techniques for your business.
Bob Tripathi of Search Engine Watch divides the benefits of having an in-house search engine optimization or SEO consultants into tangible and intangible activities. There are certain activities that can be easily given value as they can be measured through direct dollar amounts but there are also those that bring indirect value and benefits.
The most important tangible activity one can have from doing in-house SEO or having a dedicated SEO consultant is in terms of performance reporting. While it is easy to practice the basics of SEO (standard best practices, applying SEO into all company processes, building SEO dashboards, and optimizing sites), the real challenge lies in the metrics used to measure the effectiveness of SEO. To start off, find out the metrics used to measure cost-per-acquisition (CPA), cost-per-order (CPO), cost-per-lead (CPL), or lifetime value of a customer (LVO).
Small projects is always a good starting point. While it is easy to impress the big bosses by getting involved in big projects to incorporate SEO, it’s wiser to actually start with smaller initiatives and projects. Change can start from the bottom and it offers the opportunity to showcase SEO skills in a small way but if found effective, can be extended to bigger projects. With positive results and convincing performance data to back you up, impressing the CEOs to integrate SEO on majority of the projects will be an easy feat.
The final intangible benefit a company can gain from having an in-house search engine optimization team is that these SEO experts have a knack for hiring potential talents. Building an in-house SEO team and doing in-house search engine optimization is a challenge not many can accomplish. Fortunately, in-housers, as Tripathi calls it, can recognize talent both from the company and within the SEO industry. Additionally, true SEO experts continuously learn the trade by attending conferences and seminars, not only to acquire new knowledge but to scout for new talents as well. So in essence, an in-house SEO team can save companies time and money when it comes to the recruiting process.
Tripathi also gives three intangible benefits to having an in-house SEO team and doing search engine optimization within the company which will be discussed in the concluding article of this series. Stay tuned.
