Should you hire an SEO agency, learn SEO yourself, or hire an in-house SEO specialist? How to choose the most suitable model for you?
In a world where virtual reality is becoming "more real" than the real thing, we are increasingly bumping into the notion of SEO.
Deciphered as Search Engine Optimization (term from English: SEO - Search engine optimization), SEO is more about a set of rules that we must follow if we want our online business to occupy a top place on the web.
If we were to adapt this term to real life, we would probably say that SEO is about creating a relationship between the project initiated by an entrepreneur and the search engines. Only after that, we can talk about the relationship between the meaning of the project itself and the potential customers who would be interested in it.
Regardless of whether you are interested in SEO for your project or the projects of others, it is important to know SEO business models to delve deeper into this topic.
What is an SEO business model? What are the most effective SEO business models and of course – how to choose the most suitable SEO specialist for you? – these are just some of the questions we will try to find answers to together today.
Are you ready? Then let's get started!
What is an SEO business model?
When we talk about occupying a higher position in the search engine results, we think, first of all, about how we could use the science that is called SEO, so that it matches the level of possibilities that it has at the moment your online business. The same basic rule applies to other people's online businesses that you may be responsible for.
Don't get me wrong, it's not like all online businesses grow at the same speed, face the same problems, or have the same financial means to grow. Not!
We are realistic and we realize, with certainty, that the success of an online business depends on several factors, including financial investment, time investment, the quality of the people we team up with, the knowledge we have accumulated so far, the skills practices and the list goes on...
Coming back to the topic, one of the simplest definitions for an SEO business model would be the type of SEO services that you use for your website or the websites of others. And when we talk about "some type of SEO services", we mean those marketing tactics that you decide to use, at some point, to create what is called a "friendly SEO" for your web page.
What do you want from your online business? What are your expectations and how quickly do you plan to develop it? Or, if you're an SEO specialist working on other people's projects, think about what the client you're working for would expect from you. Answering these questions will represent a start to deepen this topic.
If, however, you still haven't found the answer to these questions, let's start with:
Classification of Types of SEO Business Models. What types of SEO specialists are there?
- In-house SEO
This type of SEO is about the "destiny" of a single online project. Whether you are doing SEO for yourself or someone else, your job is to take care of one website.
The term "in-house SEO specialist" (which would translate as "in-house" SEO) is only for SEO experts who already know how important it is to do quality SEO to be successful.
No matter who you're doing it for, this is one of the best ways to learn new things about search engine optimization and put that knowledge into practice.
The only disadvantage of this type of SEO is that it does not offer you the possibility of variety in your activity, because as I said before, you only specialize in one online project. This does not mean, however, that the knowledge you acquire as an in-house SEO expert will not become useful for your future career.
- Freelance SEO Consulting
On the other hand, if you value your independence and wish to have more variety in your work, then freelance SEO consulting is one of the options you could consider. Why? Because an independent SEO consultant who is also a very good SEO specialist is the one who makes the rules. He has the opportunity to choose the projects he believes in or those he considers suitable for his knowledge and skills.
You can become a freelance SEO consultant for your project or for other online projects you are involved with.
The biggest advantage of this type of SEO is that, as an independent consultant, you can create your brand, using those SEO strategies that you consider the most effective and suitable for you. But again, to do this you need to learn, learn, learn…
Of course, however, if you don't have the time and patience to invest in your online business, then go ahead, there are plenty of other alternatives that might suit you, and one of them might be:
If you don't have the necessary possibilities to contribute directly to your own online business or you don't have the conditions to hire an in-house SEO specialist, then you can consider hiring an SEO agency to do the work for you.
Why might this be convenient for you? First, you can use the time you would invest in creating your SEO strategy for your business elsewhere. But before you leave your website "in someone else's hands", I suggest you carefully read all the reviews about that agency, that is, what other companies or individuals who have used their services say.
Hire a dedicated company with people who care about the projects they work on.
But if you are thinking of becoming a part of an SEO company that works for others yourself, then there is no better way to practice SEO than this.
- Promotion of your online projects with the help of SEO
If you don't like the idea of working for others, then you can do it for yourself. What does this mean? Simple - you can create your own online business. This way you can experience SEO on your web page, plus you won't have to live up to customer expectations regarding their online business.
But to be honest, I'd like to believe that if you're reading this right now, it means you've already had your own business for a long time and you're persevering in growing it, every day, little by little.
We all know it's not that easy to be a one-man-show, but promoting your business online with the help of SEO is one of the surest and most effective strategies to achieve success.
- SEO-to-SEO model
If and only if you have already become an SEO expert, then you can consider this model. This is about reaching a level where you can afford to pass on your knowledge of how a website is optimized for search engines. Yes, to those who walk in the same footsteps and run into the same problems that you ran into in your early days.
You can consider offering products, services, or even education in this relatively new field. That means being an SEO specialist without having to work on other people's projects to deepen your knowledge. That doesn't mean, of course, that you have to stop learning, just that you can help others while you continue to specialize.
Even though it sounds very attractive, you cannot approach this model until you have created yourself an online reputation that speaks for you.
"Ok, ok, but how do I know which SEO Model is best for me?"
If you've made it this far, then you probably already understand how important it is to create an effective SEO tactic to succeed online. It doesn't matter if we are talking about your own online business or other people's online businesses.
What matters is that SEO is a real "panacea" to get rid of online invisibility, so the more seriously you approach this topic, the faster you will enjoy success in your online business.
How do you choose the most suitable SEO model for you? I would answer this question with a few other vital questions:
- Do you think you have the right time and patience to invest in creating your SEO strategy and becoming an SEO specialist?
- Do you think you can afford to hire a specialist (an SEO specialist) or an SEO agency to do this for you?
- How fast do you want to get results? (depending on the answer, find an option to choose an SEO business model).
- And of course: how involved can you afford to be in your online business?
As you can see, it's not as complicated as it seems.
Sometimes all it takes is asking the right questions to find the right answers. Or, as someone might say, "The answer lies in the question itself."
Conclusion
Deciding to approach an SEO business model is not enough to achieve success, but it is certainly an essential first step.
As you already know, SEO is more about how you practice it than how much you learn about it.
You can practice it yourself or you can hire someone to do it for you, the question is: what results do you get after your actions?
Remember, your potential customers won't ask you who helps you run a successful online business. And that's because they only care about the real facts, the web page in front of them, that page on the internet that they see as a lifeline to meet their own needs.
If you think you can't do SEO on your own, you can always contact us. We are here to guide your steps to success.
With all responsibility,
The SEOLITTE team.