SEO Firms: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - The SEO Firm or Individual Consultant?
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There are advantages and disadvantages between choosing a large firm or a small company or individual SEO consultant. There may be different priorities you have regarding your website, such as customer service, longevity of the company, experience, full range of services, price, and even ultimate results. Here I’ll outline some of the pros and cons of both, and depending upon your priorities, it may help you decide which type of service to choose. Keep in mind that these are generalities that I put together based upon the collective experience of clients, webmasters, and other SEOs. They certainly don’t take into account every type of SEO firm out there, and sometimes you get very lucky and find one that doesn’t fit the mold at all while still meeting every one of your needs.
There might be a few advantages to considering a large firm rather than going with a smaller company. For example, they will probably have a well-rounded group of people with different areas of expertise. Search engine optimization is not just about marketing, but it is also about search engine friendly design, page structure, coding and programming. If you go with a larger firm, the better your chances are of finding people who can help you in any area of SEO, no matter what your specific issues may be. They will employ not only marketers and optimization consultants, but programmers and website designers for consultation.
You might get lucky with a small SEO firm that is well rounded in this area, but it’s difficult to find an individual consultant that will have the technical experience you might need. In my case, not only do I have the marketing experience and education, but I do have a solid coding background, even though I am not a programmer; and many times I will have to get a programmer to help with the really hard stuff. But if you find an SEO consultant you like, it would be extremely helpful to you to find one with website design experience, at least. Many times, however, the SEO consultant may contract outside services for your programming needs, and that will be fine for you. All you need to do is ask them, and if you’re okay with your SEO contracting another service, then make sure you mention it.
Larger SEO firms tend to have set packages for SEO, and while usually reasonable in price, any customization of your SEO project may cost you much more than you intended. This is because custom work veers from what the SEO does day in and day out, and takes more of the SEOs' time. Smaller SEO firms, in general, have better customization options overall, since they tend to look at a client as an individual, not just an account.
Don’t be put off, however, by companies that prefer to handle contacts via email or trouble tickets. This is a good practice for even a smaller firm, because it creates a written record of activity, and not just verbal communication. Let the company know exactly how you prefer your communication, and if phone consultations are extra, just keep in mind that it is far more time-consuming to maintain a telephone relationship with your consultant than it is for email. This is true of just about any company. Even companies like eBay don’t offer anything but online support or email. This will obviously be more of a concern with a larger firm than a small company or individual SEO.
Another disadvantage of a larger SEO firm will be their company expenses, which may ultimately affect your price. It costs a company more to maintain a large batch of employees, equipment, and of course the building costs will be higher. We refer to this in business as "overhead." If a large SEO firm has a lower price, then this could mean they have to take on far more accounts than they should probably handle. This could adversely affect your customer service. We’ll look at price differences a little later in the article.
Many large SEO firms will have multiple contacts for your account, depending upon the type of question or need you have. So if you have a marketing or SERPs question, then you may get one person, but if you have a question regarding your site structure, you’ll get another person. If you have copywriting issues, you may even get a completely different individual entirely. Sometimes it's just too hard for an SEO consultant with too many accounts to keep track of your needs, in which case your account may end up with several consultants, which makes it more frustrating for you.
You will also run into the risk of a conflict of interest in a particular field or industry regarding keywords. This is because of the sheer number of clients the large SEO firm maintains. The more clients they have, the more likely there is that someone on their staff is working for one of your competitors for the same keywords. A good SEO firm will let you know if you’ll be working with them against a competitor, and either they will decline your offer for service, or they may make you sign a waiver of liability, stating that you are aware that your competitor also contracted this firm. It may be in your best interest, however, to find another firm who doesn’t have a competitor for a client.
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