I worked firstly in an agency environment, as an in-house SEO manager and now as a freelance SEO consultant. They all have the pros and cons depending on your business needs, but having worked in all three areas for several years, I?ve written a list of reasons why I think working with an SEO consultant is the best way forward for the majority of businesses.
And OK, yes, maybe I?m slightly biased?
1. Affordability
For a business owner, every cost has to be analyzed. All business owners need to get the maximum value from any spend, and this includes SEO. Typically, working with a large SEO agency, you will most likely be spending anything from £5,000 to £15,000 a month. Agencies have a lot more overheads than SEO consultants, which tends to lead to an increase in price. From an in-house perspective, you have to factor in the cost of tools, which makes this an expensive option. SEO consultants will already have their tools ready to go.
2. Flexibility
When you work with an agency, most of the time, you?ll be a number on the list of clients your account manager is working on. One of the main reasons I left agency-side to work in-house was so that I could spend the time needed on a website to maximise SEO results. Freelance SEO consultants tend to have four to five clients that they work on, which gives a lot more value to those who work with them. Not only this, but 99% of agencies will tie you into a contract for a certain period, whereas most consultants will have a monthly rolling contract that is easier to cancel if your business doesn?t have the budget. When being a freelancer is your only income, you work longer hours to ensure the job gets done.
3. Business depends on the success of a campaign
As a freelance SEO consultant myself, I know that my business depends on the success of my clients. A lot of my leads come from referrals where I?ve achieved great results. A freelance SEO consultant?s reviews will also be scrutinised by potential clients, so it?s vital that for every campaign they take on, they?re confident they can get the results. Agencies will take on as many customers as they can, whereas consultants only have a certain amount of time in the day in which they can provide work for their clients. They will therefore only take on clients that they believe they can achieve results for.
4. Time
The most important reason to work with a consultant is time. To maximise results from SEO, those who work on a given campaign need to fully understand the business operation, what makes the business tick and what type of leads are the most important to the business. I am a consultant who works on-site for all of my clients. Wherever it?s one day a week or two, this is vital to ensuring the best results are achieved. It?s important to spend the time and make sure you know what products or services you need to push if you are to achieve the highest return on investment (ROI).
If you?re looking to generate more leads from organic search this year, please contact me today to discuss how we can work together to accomplish this.
