Focus on SEO: DIY versus agencies

Is DIY SEO ever the best option for an ecommerce professional? It’s cheap all right, but can you ever replicate the results of the professionals – find out below.

By Suzie Larcombe

In this article, we will:

1. How to decide if you can realistically take on your SEO single-handedly
2. What to look for in an SEO agency
3. Why a bit of DIY and a bit of agency works best in most cases

The importance of SEO

As the owner of an ecommerce business, you won’t need reminding that Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an ongoing battle that you’ll be facing, pretty much forever.

SEO is what will get your virtual shop front found by those all important potential buyers who’ll set your till ringing.  It’s about a whole host of things: identifying the right keywords for your product or service; getting your titles and tags spot on; killer copy; building links and so on.

Put this way, you could be forgiven for thinking, “okay, that’s something I can sort out”, but the problem with SEO is that it’s a changing picture of multiple tasks that need to be dealt with on an ongoing basis if you’re going to stay ahead of the game.

The pitfalls associated with going it alone

So, how on earth do you decide if you can do this job on your own?

1.    Knowledge.  First, you need to be brutally honest with yourself about how much you really know about SEO.
2.    Time. You also need to be realistic about how much time you can afford to spend away from your core business tasks to deal with SEO.
3.    Budget.  Then of course there’s cash.  Particularly if your ecommerce business is a start-up, this is likely to be an issue.

If you can tick the knowledge and time boxes, then it’s probably worth giving DIY SEO a go, at least in the short term.  But if not, you really need to find some budget and set about choosing the right agency.

Choosing the right agency for your business

Here are some of the key things to be wary of, or to ask, if you decide to go the SEO agency route:

Their promises 

Like anything in life, SEO results that seem too good to be true usually are.  SEO isn’t a magic wand, it’s a game of patience and trial and error and any SEO agency that doesn’t admit or acknowledge that is probably best avoided.  Granted, you need to have confidence that they’ll achieve results, but overnight success is rare and may even be the sign of some unscrupulous activities, so beware.

Track record 

Any SEO agency worth its salt will have a track record.  While you’ll be able to make a good judgement about their integrity by speaking to them, it’s always a good idea to ask if you can speak to a couple of previous clients to find out their view on the agency.

Curiosity 

While SEO in some ways seems a remote notion, it’s crucial that your SEO partner fully understands your business objectives.  Any SEO expert who’s not asking you about what you’re hoping to achieve with your site, who your target market is and what your other promotional activities are should generally be given a body swerve.

Keywords research 

Researching the right keywords is essential to getting your SEO strategy right.  This is something that your SEO expert should take in his or her stride, but if they’re coming up with a generic list of terms that everyone in your industry is using, beware.

Site analysis 

Before investing in detailed SEO, it’s a good idea to make sure that your site is in good order.  Things like design, navigation, coding, content and incoming links are the absolute minimum that a quality SEO expert will be looking at before they start.

Competitor analysis 

No matter how good you are at what you do or how fantastic your product is, you’ve got competitors. Your SEO agency should be looking at a broad range of your competitors to see what they are doing so they can identify opportunities and threats for your business.

Flexibility

Ideally a good SEO partner will do as little or as much as you want them to do.  Anyone who’s insisting on an “I do it all, or I do nothing” agreement is well worth walking away from.

Link building strategy 

The whole area of link building has changed dramatically in the last couple of years, no more so than in the spring of this year when Penguin 2.0 raised its ugly head.  What you need to know is that the agency’s link building strategy is up to date, logical, natural and legal.

Price 

Some SEO experts can justify extremely high prices because they’re so good at what they do and have a great track record.  In fact, such is their performance that they have a waiting list of eager clients keen to benefit from their services. That said, most SEO experts are like the rest of us, and charge a reasonable price for a good service. So, shop around and negotiate.

Ongoing monitoring 

SEO is a moving picture and your position today isn’t guaranteed to remain in place forever.  For this reason, ongoing monitoring of your page rank, click throughs and visitor behavior is an essential part of your ongoing SEO success. You need to make sure that’s going to be looked after either by you or your agency.