You know it’ll save you oodles of time and/or get you more leads and sales, but you think to yourself, ‘It’s okay. I’ll buy it later.’

But what happens the next time you check it out? Yup, the price has gone up.

So, to avoid that happening to you, consider this your pre-warning!

On Friday, 27 Jan 2023, we’re increasing the price of our 1-2-1 SEO and blog management service.

So what’s going on, Jammy? How much are you increasing the price by?

Currently, we have 3 packages, aptly named our Bronze, Gold & Platinum packages.

Each package comes with

• Extensive keyword research
• Your own content strategy based on your goals and the keyword research
• Done for you blog posts (the number changes depending on which package you choose)
• Uploading your content to your CMS
• Image design, such as your blog post featured image and your call-to-action image (if you’re wondering what a call-to-action image is, see just below 😉)
• Optimisation of your content
• A repurposing plan for your content – so you know exactly how to maximise this content

The Silver package currently costs £1297+VAT per month (includes 2 blog posts at approx. 1500 words)
The Gold package currently costs £1797+VAT per month (includes 3 blog posts at approx. 1500 words)
The Platinum package currently costs £2297+VAT per month (includes 4 blog posts at approx. 1500 words)

And no, there is no ‘bronze package’ or ‘copper package’, unfortunately. 😂

From Friday 27 January, the price will increase for each package:

Making the Silver package – £1497+VAT
Gold package – £1997+VAT
Platinum package – £2497+VAT

But why are you increasing your prices Jammy?

We’re not increasing our prices because we feel like it. Because it’s the start of the year, and that’s just the ‘done thing’.

We’re increasing our prices for a few specific reasons, and we want to share these reasons with you.

Ultimately, we’re big believers in ‘charging what you’re worth’ but NOT raising your prices ‘just because’.

When we work on projects, we measure everything—the time we put into each project, the outside learning we do to make projects even more successful, the tools we buy, etc.

We LOVE to give our clients everything that will make them successful. But with that, we have to evaluate our service and whether we need to increase the price to reflect everything we do.

So, with that in mind, here’s why we’re increasing our prices…

1. The content strategy and keyword research are worth thousands on their own

When we initially launched this service, we knew we would include content strategy and keyword research.

After all, there’s no point in publishing content if it doesn’t help you achieve your goals, right? So we need to make sure we have the right content plan in place before we even think about writing.

But what we couldn’t predict was how intensive this could be (which is why we charge £2000+VAT for our content strategy & SEO audit service separately!)

What does our content strategy include?

• A content strategy call with you

This is where we figure out your goals, what your typical year looks like, what problems you’re facing right now, who your audience is, how you’re positioned etc.

This helps us formulate a plan and understand what content we can create that will help you reach your goals.

• In-depth keyword research & competitor analysis

Once we’ve had our call together, we’ll do the nitty-gritty technical research to find out exactly what you’re audience is searching for on Google.

This is a time-consuming process that’s part art, part science. But we can find a little goldmine of content ideas that can rank on search engines this way!

We also take a look at your competitors and what content they’re producing that is performing well. And also where there are gaps that you could fill!

• Creation of your content strategy

Finally, after all that research, we put together a content strategy based on the initial call and our keyword research.

This will include the findings from our keyword research and three-six months of content ideas. We’ll give you the titles for these content ideas and a brief overview of them.

Because of all this intense work, it makes sense to increase our prices so we can continue to deliver content strategies that deliver results.

2. We’re spotting (and often fixing) technical issues

You may not know this about us, but we’re website designers (have been for over a decade). So we often spot technical issues with your website that need to be fixed. These issues are sometimes things that could prevent or limit your rankings and impact user experience.

This includes things like:

• Pages/posts missing important metadata
• Google analytics set up
• Website indexing issues
• Page speed issues
• Broken links

3. We act as advisors for your whole business

We aim to help you get more organic traffic and sales, but we don’t just focus on content writing.

We’ve supported our clients with their wider marketing activities, looking at how these can boost results for SEO and get sales (without any extra work from them!)

This includes things like:

• How to get the right backlinks when appearing as a podcast guest
• How to build backlinks through PR
• How to repurpose your content to LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and Facebook
• How to promote your content to your email list
• What lead magnet you should use, and how to create it (we’ve also created lead magnets for our clients too)

And that’s why we’re increasing our prices! So what’s next for you?

When you put it down like that, it’s easy to see why we’re raising our prices by 10% (and this is why we recommend everyone create a piece of content like this when they’re raising their prices!)

Remember, you have until Friday, 27 January, to grab your spot on our SEO and content management service before the doors close and the price goes up!

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post Why Are We Raising Our Prices For Our SEO and Content Management Service? appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

But it really is a question you should consider. Because a lot of people go straight into hiring an SEO agency when potentially, a good SEO content writer could get them great results at a more affordable price💰.

So, do you need a full SEO package with a fancy SEO agency?

Or, is an SEO content writer going to help you build authority, trust and rankings?

Traditionally SEO has meant tinkering with backlinks, on-page SEO and all the techy bits like site speed. But, with the modern-day Google algorithm, content is equally (if not more) important when it comes to winning the ranking war.

That’s why, in this blog, we’re going to explore the differences between SEO content writers and SEO agencies, to figure out which one is best for your business.

Related content: What is an SEO content writing service? And how does it all work?

SEO Content Writer vs SEO Agency: What is the difference between the two?

In order to figure out whether a content writer or agency is going to suit your business best, you need to understand the differences between them.

1. What’s the difference in cost?
2. What does their service include?
3. What results do they get you?
4. What’s the difference in skillset?
5. How do they work?

So, let’s look further into these to help you decide which one is right for your business

1. SEO Content Writer vs SEO Agency: What is the difference in cost?

One of the most important decisions for a business (especially in the current climate) is COST💰.

How much money are you going to need to budget every month?

And the cost between an SEO content writer and an SEO agency can vary quite substantially.

How much does an SEO content writer charge?

The 2021 ProCopywriters survey showed that the average daily rate for a copywriter is £387. Yes, content writers and copywriters are arguably different professions. However there is a lot of crossover between skillset and writers, so it’s worth using it as a benchmark for costs.

An SEO content writer usually charges anywhere between £200 and £700+ per blog article (yes, it’s a pretty wide range). But the exact cost will usually depend on the individual writer’s skills, experience, and exactly what services they offer.*

This might sound expensive, but content writing and SEO are highly skilled and time-consuming work. Once you factor in keyword research, competitor research, writing, proofreading, and optimising you are looking at around 6-10 hours per blog.

Plus you are paying for the experience and expertise of an SEO content writer that will enable your website to rank highly on search engines.

Most SEO content writers charge per blog, so exactly how much it will cost you will depend on how many blogs you want to publish per month.

Some SEO content writers may also charge per word (although this is less common). This could be anywhere from $0.02 per word, to $2.00 per word.

How much does an SEO agency charge?

In comparison, SEO agencies charge monthly and this usually starts at around £1000 per month all the way up to £10,000+ per month. And it’s worth noting that they are usually a little less flexible as they usually have six-month minimum contracts.

According to this research by AHREFS, SEO agencies charge an average of $2,819.87 per month for SEO. It’s unclear if this charge includes content writing and how much content writing that would be. From our own research looking at SEO agencies in the UK, 13 out of 20 SEO agencies we looked at offered content marketing as a separate service to their other SEO services.

As we talked about in our blog on SEO agency problems, the monthly cost doesn’t always include content creation (especially if you opt for a cheaper SEO package).

So you’ll either have to do that yourself or pay more to the SEO company to do this for you. If you want this included then it’s likely that you will be looking at the higher end of this monthly budget.

Out of twenty SEO agencies we looked at, only one provided a price. They had three packages. Their middle package is £2899 per month and includes a blogging strategy and content calendar but nowhere did it say they would create content on your behalf in this package.

Obviously, an SEO Content writer and an SEO agency offer different services. An SEO agency will dive deeper into the more technical aspects of SEO that can affect website performance and rankings (in a way that an SEO content writer generally won’t do!) We’ll come onto that a bit more later.

Related content: The biggest problems with SEO companies

Who is the winner?

For cost? An SEO content writer!

An SEO content writer is usually cheaper than hiring a full-service SEO agency. Seeing as content has the biggest impact on your search engine rankings (particularly if you have a healthy website) then this might be the best option for you.

Either way, you’re going to need content if you want to increase search engine rankings and get more traffic to your website. And we think hiring a specialist content writer who understands SEO, rather than a specialist SEO who may or may not ‘get’ good writing, is best.

2. SEO Content Writer vs SEO Agency: What does their service include?

We’ve talked about cost, however, there is another side that relates to the value of the service.

What are you actually getting for your money?

Is the service the same, or are you paying for two different things?

What does an SEO content writer do?

A traditional content writer does just that – writes content! And while an SEO content writer does everything that a traditional one does, they also focus on (you guessed it) Search Engine Optimisation.

Their main task revolves around creating blogs that help your website rank on search engine results pages (SERPs).

They should have a comprehensive understanding of SEO, and how to optimise written content for keywords without stuffing them in and making it totally nonsensical. However, they will usually work off a content plan created by a business, rather than planning or directing the content themselves.

Will SEO content writers write guest posts on other websites?

In addition, some SEO content writers will create guest posts for other websites to help increase the backlinks to your website. This increases your Google authority and business awareness and overall improves your SEO. But they won’t do the ‘outreach’ for you i.e. approach website owners asking them if they will accept a guest blog post.

If you’re planning on hiring a content writer to do guest posting for you, you’ll probably need to do the outreach yourself. But if you have a strong network of people you can approach, hiring an SEO content writer can be a much more affordable option.

Most SEO content writers:

DOs:
✅ Write professional, well-written and engaging content
✅ Understand tone of voice and style
✅ Have knowledge of SEO and how to rank on search engines
✅ Be able to optimise your content for keywords and phrases
✅ Might offer keyword research

DON’Ts
❌ Upload the content to your website
❌ Create or source imagery
❌ Run an SEO audit
❌ Run a technical audit on your website to understand if there’s anything preventing you or limiting your search engine rankings (such as slow site speed)

Of course, each individual will vary, but this is the most common service for SEO content writers to offer.

What does an SEO agency do?

In comparison, SEO agencies focus on all aspects of SEO (not just the content).

They may offer writing (although in some cases they outsource this as they’re not specialist writers). Plus they look at building backlinks, technical SEO (such as website speed, fixing issues, mobile-friendliness etc), and optimising website pages.

Plus, they take a much bigger role in keyword and competitor research in order to find out what you should be ranking for with your content.

Most SEO agencies will:

DOs
✅ Competitor and keyword research
✅ Help direct blog topics
✅ They may outsource content writing or have in-house writers or give you some direction on the content for you to do yourself
✅ Optimise your content for keywords and phrases
✅ Build back-links
✅ Optimise website pages
✅ Fix any technical SEO aspects

DON’Ts
❌ Create or source imagery
❌ Often don’t focus on writing in your tone of voice/brand
❌ Often don’t focus on how to convert people from the content

Again, the exact package will vary depending on the agency, and cost.

Who is the winner?

SEO Agencies (but with a caveat!)

On the face of it, an SEO agency covers A LOT more ground than an SEO content writer, which you would expect given the difference in cost.

But because content is such a vital part of SEO, it really is important that whoever writes the content is an expert who knows how to write compelling content. You may rank on search engines with content, but that content still has to engage your reader. Otherwise, it’s all pretty pointless if they hit that backspace button!

So absolutely, SEO agencies do more stuff but make sure you choose one that prioritises content. The best place to start to check this is by looking at an SEO agency’s blog to see what kind of content they create for themselves. Is it helpful? Is it engaging? Or is it full of jargon or just about themselves and what award they’ve won that month?

Related Content: DIY SEO vs Hiring and Agency – Which One Should You Choose?

Remember: Content that gets backlinks has to be good

And remember, backlinks are another huge ranking factor. If you have backlinks to your website (i.e. links from other credible websites that link back to your site) then this tells Google you are trustworthy.

One of the best ways to gain backlinks is by producing stand-out content that people will link to. This is another reason why it’s so important you hire specialist writers who will do lots of research into your topic and write compelling content. Mediocre content does not get backlinks!

3. SEO Content Writer vs SEO Agency: what results do they get you?

RESULTS! They are kind of the reason that you are writing content, or worrying about SEO, right?

So, it’s definitely something you need to consider when choosing which one is right for your business.

And honestly, both SEO content writers and SEO agencies have the same ultimate goal:

To get your website ranking organically on search engines.

This should (in theory) lead to increased website traffic, and hopefully revenue for you💰.

The main goals of SEO content writers and SEO agencies are to:

✅  Increase your search engine rankings for a variety of keywords
✅  Increase your website traffic
✅  Increase your backlinks from high-authority websites

Luckily, this is super easy to track. You can do it in Google Analytics, which is completely free. So you can check how well your SEO agency or SEO content writer is doing.

Of course, SEO is great and everything, but it only kinda gets you halfway there. Once you have rankings and traffic you should want to convert that traffic into actual sales.

This is where your SEO content writer should come in. An SEO content writer should also focus on how to convert your readers into leads. They’ll do this by encouraging your reader to join your email list or find out more about your services.

Who is the winner?

A tie!

Both an SEO agency and an SEO content writer should increase your search engine rankings and website traffic.

But, SEO agencies can be more focused on the rankings and traffic, whereas an SEO content writer should also focus on converting readers into leads. However, an SEO agency is much more likely to give you a comprehensive report on how they are doing (such as the increase in rankings, traffic, backlinks, domain authority etc).

Whoever you choose, make sure they value leads and sales just as much (if not more!) than rankings and traffic. If you choose a content writer, you will probably need to keep an eye on how well things are going through your Google Analytics (it’s recommended you do this anyway). If you hire an SEO agency, you should receive a more comprehensive report from them.

4. SEO Content Writer vs SEO Agency: what’s the difference in skillset?

Although both SEO content writers and SEO agencies have the same ultimate goal their skillset, and emphasis on how they get there is a little different.

What skillset does an SEO content writer have?

As you would expect, SEO content writers are expert writers. Their aim is to capture the essence of your business and translate that into an engaging, entertaining and informative blog that your potential customers love and gain value from.

Yes, they’ll scatter in the necessary keywords, and optimise the entire blog so that Google likes the look of it. But that’s just because they understand you have to appease the Google Gods in order to rank in search engines.

SEO content writers are writing for humans.

And because of that, they are really good at emulating the tone of voice, building trust, nurturing relationships and ultimately converting website visitors into paying customers.

What skillset does an SEO agency have?

In comparison, SEO agencies’ skillset lies in SEO (unsurprisingly). And they are much more concerned with and knowledgeable about development and technical SEO.

SEO agencies understand all aspects of technical SEO and what makes a website appealing to search engines. They typically:

• Offer a website audit and fix any issues such as site speed
• Come up with an SEO strategy
• On-site SEO such as optimising your pages and imagery
• Off-site SEO such as creating a backlink strategy
• Content marketing – either in-house or outsourced

Yes, they can write content, however, many aren’t usually expert writers. And unless you pay larger fees for SEO agencies with expert in-house writers, you may find that they outsource content writing work to a freelancer. Because of this, you may find that they place less emphasis on things like brand voice and style. The articles may sound a little cold, overly factual and not particularly engaging.

Ultimately they are focussed on getting traffic to your website, and while content is a means to an end for this, it’s not the main focus.

Who is the winner?

A tie!

It’s difficult to pick a winner here as they both have different skillsets, and that’s okay. If you’re looking for a specialist writer who knows SEO, then an SEO content writer may be better. If you’re looking for more technical help and expertise, then an SEO agency may suit you better.

What if you need a specialist writer with technical knowledge?

It’s worth pointing out here that this is exactly why we set up our SEO and Blog Management Service. We are expert writers (Lyndsay has a master’s in creative writing and writes professionally for all sorts of businesses and industries), but we’re also web experts.

We ran a web agency for over a decade so understand all the technical issues that could prevent you from ranking. And we know how to write content and also how to upload it to your website, format it, design imagery etc.

If you’re looking for a company that sits nicely between an SEO content writer and an SEO agency, we might just be the right fit.

5. SEO Content Writer vs SEO Agency: how do they work?

Due to their overall goal, and associated skills, the actual process that an SEO content writer takes is quite different to an SEO agency.

How does an SEO content writer work?

An SEO content writer will dive straight into keyword research and writing. Their aim is to get content live on your website as soon as possible.

They will usually expect you to have a content plan ready (or they will charge more to create this) and from there they will write your content.

They typically check in with you every month to see what content you’d like to publish for that month. They’ll often write 2, 3 or 4 blog posts per month and they usually recommend you commit to 3 months working with them (although often, they have no minimum commitment).

They might need to get some of the expert knowledge from your brain to theirs and can do this via email, video, voice notes or whatever suits you.

But then they are off! 🐎

Tapping away on their laptop getting content ready for your business.

Once they’re finished it’s usually up to you to upload this content, format it, design imagery and optimise it for search engines. Some SEO content writers may upload it for you, others avoid this as they’re not web experts and every content management system is different.

How do SEO agencies work?

SEO agencies take a more reserved, strategic approach.

You’ve got to know where you are in order to know what work needs to be done.  SEO agencies will usually kick things off with an SEO audit to see how your website performs and if there are any technical issues to fix. They’ll also examine your current traffic, rankings, backlinks etc to see where you are right now. They’ll probably have a gander at your competitors’ websites too.

This allows them to create a plan that will get you from where you are, to where you want to be. This plan will vary depending on exactly what’s going on with your current setup.

After this, they’ll likely get on keyword research and focus on fixing any technical issues that are stopping your website from ranking.

They’ll then focus on on-page SEO, i.e. optimising your current website pages for search engines.

It’s not usually until after this is all done that they start to turn their attention to content creation (if that’s included within their package). So, it may be a few months before you actually see any content being produced or published. Of course, this depends on the company and budget, but they tend to get to content later on in the process.

SEO Content Writer vs SEO agency: which one should you pick?

So, content writer or SEO agency: which one is right for you?

Ultimately, which one is best for your business will depend on what support you are looking for, and what your business budget is.

Hiring an SEO content writer will usually deliver results faster and cheaper but only if your website is healthy. That means there’s nothing preventing or limiting it from getting ranked on search engines. In other cases, you may want a full SEO agency to manage all the technical aspects of your website, especially if you have a large website with a lot of pages and lots going on!

However, there is a third option, which is a blog management service.

It’s kind of a mid-point between SEO content writers and SEO agencies. We do an SEO audit and deep dive of your website, identifying any problems. Plus, we do ALL the work around your blog including planning, writing, optimising for SEO, designing imagery, uploading and formatting. Basically, we manage the entire blog!

We take care of any SEO issues, while also creating content that ranks and drives traffic to your website. Which is really the best of both worlds! Win/Win!

Martin & Lyndsay

The post SEO Content Writer vs SEO Agency: Which One is Best for Your Business? appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

You might have even heard of content writing.

But how have those two things been mushed together, and what the heck is it?

In this article, I’ll explain exactly what an SEO content writing service is. And more importantly, how SEO content writing can be an absolute gamechanger for your business.

Firstly, what is an SEO content writing service?

An SEO content writing service is the process of creating content for your website that helps you rank on search engine results pages (SERPs).

The company or freelancer who offers this service will usually create content in the form of blog articles (just like this one).

Some companies can also create guest posts that are added to other websites (not just the client’s website). The aim of this is to increase the number of backlinks to your website, increasing your authority in the eyes of Google.

What does an SEO content writing service include?

At the heart of it, an SEO content writer should be able to produce compelling content written in your tone of voice and style.

The content should be highly engaging and get your reader to take action. This is the same for all content writers, whether they specialise in SEO writing or not.

So what’s the difference between an SEO content writer and a content writer?

The main difference is in the extra ‘stuff’ included within the SEO content writing service and the overall aim of the content.

An SEO content writer should have a deep understanding of SEO. They should know how to optimise your content for your chosen keywords and phrases (without it sounding like a repetitive mess!)

They should know how to get you ranked on Google and advise you on the best ways to do it.

What is the goal of SEO Content Writing?

Just like content writers, SEO content writers should create compelling, engaging content that users love to read.

If you use an SEO content writing service you should expect the overall goal of the content to focus on website traffic and search engine rankings.

Any good SEO content writing service should:

• • Increase your search engine rankings for a variety of keywords
  • Increase your website traffic
  • Increase your backlinks from high-authority websites

As stated in Search Engine Journal, the main issue with SEO content writing services is often they focus too much on rankings but don’t know how to convert that traffic into customers.

Are you thinking of hiring a company or freelancer to help you with SEO content writing? It’s a good idea you look for a company that can create compelling copy that converts AND help you rank on search engines.

What are some key elements an SEO Content Writing Service could include?

Writing is just a part of what makes a successful, high-ranking blog. There’s actually a lot more that goes on behind the scenes.

Some SEO content writing services will include:

Keyword research

SEO content writing services may also include keyword research.

Keyword research is the process of finding out what topics and specific keywords and phrases people are searching for around your products and services.

If someone is doing this on your behalf, they will identify the topics you can realistically rank for that get a healthy number of searches each month. If they offer this as part of the SEO content writing service, then they’ll go ahead and write the content based on this research. Simple.

Content strategy

SEO content writing services are primarily focused on getting more traffic to your content via search engine rankings.

But good SEO content writing services should also focus on the entire buyer’s journey. It shouldn’t just be about getting people through the door (or finding you from Google), you also want to convert people too.

That’s why some SEO content writing services also offer content strategy as part of the service. They’ll help you form a strategy that guides people through the entire customer journey–from finding you to buying from you. This means they may create some content that isn’t designed to get website traffic, it’s designed to convert people into paying customers.

On-Page Optimisation

Some SEO content writing services will include on-page optimisation as part of the service. This means they’ll upload the content for you and ensure it’s optimised and formatted correctly for SEO. For example, they’ll optimise your URL, title tag, imagery, meta description and select your categories and tags.

This will increase your chances of ranking in search results. Optimising your content for your keywords is only part of what will help it rank, a lot of work also has to happen on your website itself too!

If you want to learn how to do this yourself, check out our article on how to optimise your blog post.

Measuring success

Some companies will track your search engine rankings as they continue to create content for you. They’ll also track things like the number of backlinks to your website, website traffic and leads coming through the site.

This is helpful as you can see what is working and what isn’t working so well and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Creating imagery

Some SEO writers or companies will even create bespoke imagery and optimise it for search engines. Some will also use stock image websites and ensure these are optimised for search engines too.

Who offers SEO content writing as a service?

There are a few types of freelancers or companies that offer SEO content writing as a service. And they all differ slightly in price, process and approach.

1. SEO Content Writers

These are typically freelance writers who have knowledge and experience in SEO. They are able to write blog articles and optimise them for search engines.

Some of them will offer keyword research as part of their service, which means they will research the topics, keywords and phrases that your audience is searching for.

Others won’t offer keyword research. They will ask you what keywords or phrases you’d like to rank for or what you think people are searching for. They’ll then optimise your blog post for these keywords and phrases.

Many don’t upload your content to your website and optimise your SEO settings. They will leave that part to you. But some will write things like the meta description for you, leaving you to add that to your website.

Some may upload the content to your website if it’s a platform (or content management system) they are already familiar with. There are a lot of different website platforms, and writers tend not to have knowledge of them all (nor should they need to!)

A quick overview of SEO Content Writers and what they do

Generally, this is what SEO content writers do and/or specialise in

• They are professional writers, often with experience in writing for business
• They have knowledge of SEO
• They are able to optimise your content for keywords and phrases
• Some will offer keyword research as part of the service
• Often they don’t upload your content to your website
• Often they don’t create imagery

How much does it cost to hire an SEO Content Writer?

SEO Content Writers can typically charge anywhere between £250 – £1000+ per blog article. I know that’s wildly different amounts!

I also understand that this can sound expensive. But remember, both writing and SEO are highly-skilled work, and it’s likely that the SEO content writer has a lot of experience and expertise. Plus, it will take them time to research and write each article. Hence the price tag!

2. SEO Agencies

Many SEO agencies offer content writing as part of the service. This is often part of a broader service where they’ll also offer things like keyword research, an SEO audit, technical SEO, improving your website’s performance, and increasing backlinks to your website.

Some agencies will outsource the content writing they do for clients, as writing isn’t their specialism. Some will have in-house writers.

SEO agencies are highly focused on getting traffic to your website, and as many are not expert ‘writers’, you may find they place less emphasis on your brand voice and style. The content is merely a means to an end, and that end is website traffic.

They will usually upload your content to your website and optimise it for search engines, but may not have the skills required to create fancy graphics.

A quick overview of SEO Agencies and what they do

• They are experts in SEO and focus on all aspects of SEO (such as technical SEO or increasing backlinks)
• They may outsource content writing or have writers in-house
• They are able to optimise your content for keywords and phrases
• They will offer keyword research
• They will upload and optimise your content
• Often they don’t create imagery

How much does it cost to hire an SEO Agency for this service?

They are usually more expensive than SEO content writers. A lot of SEO agencies have 6-month contracts and prices will vary from £1000 – £10,000+ per month (if they’re a pretty decent agency). And the more content they create generally the more expensive it is.

Remember that’s not just for creating content, that’s for an entire SEO service.

We know of a lot of great SEO agencies, but we also know that there are a lot of problems in the industry too. If you’re thinking of hiring an SEO agency, you might want to check out our article on the problems with SEO agencies.

3. Blog Management Agencies

This is where we sit.

Blog management agencies are less well known than content writers or SEO agencies, but they do similar things.

A blog management agency does exactly what it says, they manage every aspect of your blog. That means everything from keyword research and strategy, to content writing and creating imagery.

If they have a focus on SEO (like we do), they should hit the balance between creating compelling content and ranking on search engines.

Some of them will also be able to advise if there’s anything technically on your website that will hinder your rankings (like us!)

They may also write guest blog posts in order for you to build your backlinks to your website, building your authority with Google.

A quick overview of Blog Management Agencies and what they do

• They are expert writers and can write in your tone of voice and style
• They understand content strategy and should create content that helps people go through the entire buyer’s journey – from finding you to buying from you
• They should do keyword research for you
• They will upload your content to your website and optimise it for you
• They are knowledgeable in SEO
• Some (like us) should be able to create custom graphics for your blog posts
• Many don’t understand technical SEO (such as website speed, mobile-friendliness, broken links etc) so they can’t advise on that

How much does it cost to hire a Blog Management Agency?

There aren’t that many blog management agencies out there, and the ones that do offer this service don’t give a price unless you get on a call with them (annoying).

But a blog management agency would usually sit between an SEO content writer and an SEO agency.

We charge a minimum of £1397 per month for our blog management service.

Is an SEO Content Writing Service right for you?

Whether you choose an SEO content writer, SEO agency or blog management agency, SEO content writing can have HUGE benefits for your business.

Not only can you use that content to rank on search engines and deliver traffic to your website, but you can also repurpose it across your social media channels too. In fact, I can get 4-8 LinkedIn posts just from one blog post! You can learn more about how to repurpose a blog post here.

So yes, it’s an investment, but for many businesses, you’ll certainly see a good ROI from it.

And don’t forget to check out our SEO blog writing service for more information.

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

The post What is an SEO content writing service? And how does it all work?  appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

But for years now we’ve offered SEO services, previously alongside our web design, and now as part of our SEO blog writing & management service. We’re experts, and so we know that not all SEO companies are created equal.

And, while we know that SEO is hugely beneficial for your business it’s also a BIG investment (both in time and money). And that’s why you need to choose the right company to get you to the top of those all-important search results.

Are we saying that SEO companies are full of problems?

Of course NOT. There are some GREAT ones out there that can help you get your website ranking highly on Google.

However, SEO is not well-known as being a trustworthy or reputable industry. And unfortunately, there are some common problems we see with some SEO agencies we think you should be wary of.

So in this blog, we’re exploring some of the most common problems with hiring an SEO agency and giving you a solution to fix them.

But First: Why do you need to think about SEO?

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is the process of making changes or additions to your website in order to help you rank highly in search engine results.

When was the last time you clicked on page two of Google’s search results?

Not very often, right?

So, ideally, you’ll want to rank on the first page of Google results, and with the first few spots if possible. The top five organic search results account for 67.60% of all website clicks from search engines. If you aren’t appearing within these first five spots, then you’re probably not getting much traffic from search engines.

A good SEO strategy gives you a higher chance of ranking for keywords, which in turn increases organic traffic to your website. And the best part is that organic traffic is free. So, it’s definitely worthwhile!

So, what is an SEO agency or company?

An SEO agency will partner with you to optimise your website, improve search visibility and ultimately drive more traffic to your website.

However, as with all marketing efforts, it should help to drive leads, sales and ultimately revenue for your business. And if it’s not, then it’s not doing its job properly.

But, there are some problems with SEO agencies that mean it won’t have an impact on your bottom line in the way that it should.

Related content: 11 Reasons You’re NOT Ranking in Google & How To Fix It

What are the main problems with SEO companies?

When it comes to SEO we’ve been there done that and got a lot of happy customers to prove it. We’ve provided SEO services in the past alongside our web design business, and now include it as part of our SEO blog writing & management service now.

So it’s safe to say that we know how to ensure that your website and content rank highly on search engines.

However, we’ve also seen the ugly side of SEO, so know what to look out for when finding a company. And we think that it’s something that you need to be aware of too before hiring a company.

1. They are expensive
2. They don’t advise on messaging and copy
3. They may not produce content
4. Reports can seem overwhelming
5. Difficult to find a reliable company
6. Can take a while to see results
7. May not be honest about search volume
8. They don’t practice what they preach
9. They guarantee search engine results

So, let’s get into it…

1. SEO agencies can be expensive

Did you know that Jammy Digital wasn’t our first foray into the world of business?

Years ago we started a business selling cushions and soft furnishings on the internet. We invested every last penny that we had into building a website. And then, once the website was live…tumbleweed. Absolutely nothing!

Why?🤔

Because we weren’t getting any traffic to our website, and so weren’t making any sales.

When we asked our web designer about it he told us that we’d have to spend up to £5000 a month on something called SEO 😱

You can imagine our shock, after spending all our money on our website, that now we were going to going to have to spend more money.

SEO can cost between £100- £10,000+ per month, depending on who you hire, what you need, how competitive the search terms are and the amount of work that needs to happen to get you ranking on search engines.

So, why is SEO so expensive?

A well thought out and executed SEO strategy requires expertise, time and work. Those three things cost money.

But however much you spend you absolutely should see a healthy return on investment. So yes, it may seem expensive, but if you’re getting a good ROI, that makes it all worth it, right?

Unfortunately, as we’ll explore further here, some of the issues around SEO companies mean that you might not get results even if you are paying a professional to do it every month. And this is why it’s perceived as expensive. Because of course, it’s expensive if you don’t get that money back!

Are you paying for SEO confusion?

Finally, SEO may be pricy because it can seem like a bit of a mystery. For example, SEO is (typically) more expensive than hiring a content writer, even though both will help you get better search results. The SEO industry can charge more simply because it’s more difficult to understand. Whereas with writing, people have a full understanding of how it works and may perceive it as less valuable.

Related content: 5 FREE ways to check keyword rankings in Google

2. They don’t advise on messaging and copy

Woohoo!

The SEO is working! Your website is drowning in traffic, with loads of hits every single day. But, it isn’t resulting in any more leads or sales. 😔

What’s going on?

The truth is that there are loads of different issues that can result in failed conversions.

Maybe you’ve got a bad user experience?

Or, maybe the copy isn’t compelling enough?

Or perhaps your website looks like it was last designed in 1992 and it’s putting people off?

Traffic is great! It’s often the precursor to more sales. But it takes more than traffic to convert those potential customers into paying customers.

SEO companies often won’t mention or even think to look for any issues with the user experience or copy. Because it’s not really their problem. They want to get lots of eyeballs on your website and once they’ve done that their job is done.

However, getting people to your website and not making sales is a massive waste of money. And it’s something that a good SEO specialist should be able to point out to you.

We’ve personally turned clients away if they don’t have what’s needed to make their content and SEO work – i.e. an easy to use website that clearly shows what you do and appeals to your target audience.

3. They might not produce content for you

If you want to grab one of those coveted top spots on Google then you’ve got to create amazing content that is going to be relevant to those searches. That means you’ve got to have blogs, videos, landing pages and sales pages – filled with keyword optimised content.

The average content length of the article in the top position on Google is 2,416 words. So if you want to rank highly on search engines then you need to be producing long-form content.

SEO companies (should) know this, however, they’ll often ask you to create your own content. Alternatively content will be an added cost, on top of the £100 – £10,000/month that you are already paying. Suddenly it’s all adding up and becoming very pricey indeed.

Or worse still, they might just not mention it and they’ll focus on link building or technical SEO. As long as they are getting you more traffic they are doing their job. 🤷.

But as you know to really utilise the impact of SEO you need content. So you either need to do it yourself or pay SEO specialists more to do it for you.

This is part of the reason that we’ve bundled content and SEO all together in one package (along with a few other things). So that you are getting quality, consistent content that drives traffic and is SEO optimised.

Related content: The Biggest SEO mistakes you’re making (and what to do instead)

4. Reports can seem overwhelming

The reports that SEO companies send you every month can seem overwhelming and full of jargon 🙄

Of course, you want to know what has been done, and what impact that has had on your business, especially when you are spending money. However, it’s important that the right metrics are being reported to you – rather than ALL of them.

SEO reports can include overall organic traffic, backlinks, website speed, technical website health and keyword rankings among other things. But this might not mean a lot to you.

Speak to your SEO specialist to understand what KPIs you might need to measure, and have reported on. These might include:

• What keywords are ranking and where?
• Are we getting traffic to our website?
• Is that turning into leads and sales?
  How is that affecting our revenue and profit?

5. It’s difficult to find a reliable company

Pretty much anyone could open up an SEO agency tomorrow and start selling themselves as an expert.

There is a really low barrier to entry ⛔, which is great in some respects, as it means that anyone can become an expert – even you!

However, it also means that there are a lot of dodgy SEO companies out there who aren’t qualified or experienced to deliver results to your business. This is exacerbated by the fact that SEO can seem like a total dark art to many business owners. The lack of knowledge and understanding on the business side, coupled with a dodgy SEO company means that a LOT of money can be spent with not a lot of results.

Looking for SEO agencies with good testimonials, who implement a good content and SEO strategy themselves is a good place to start.

If they can’t show that they have a successful SEO strategy themselves how are they going to do it for you?

6. It can take a while to see results

How long does it take to see results from your SEO efforts?

The magic number you’ll hear bandied about in the SEO world is 3-6 months. And that can be the case, it can take a while for SEO agencies to deliver results. Especially if they are focussing on the technical SEO aspects of your website rather than creating content.

However, one of the biggest SEO myths is that it takes 6 months to see results. When the truth is if done well it can take less than a day to rank for your chosen keywords and phrases.

We recently wrote and published a blog for a client that ranked on the first page of Google for their BIG target keyword within a couple of days. But of course, it doesn’t end there, you keep writing and publishing relevant content. The more content you create the more keywords and phrases you’ll rank for. (As long as you follow the right strategy and optimise it correctly).

There’s not a 1-month limit. Or a 3-month limit. Or a 6-month limit. If you want to be successful at SEO and content, then it needs to be part of your business forever. And you need to work with someone that is open and honest about this commitment. It doesn’t always have to be via an agency, you might eventually hire in-house, but it will always need to be a part of your business.

Related content: WordPress SEO For Blogging – How to Optimise Your WordPress Blog Post

7. They may not be honest about search volumes

We could write a blog today about “moon exercises” and rank number one on Google pretty quickly.

We’re not just blowing my own trumpet🎺 (although we’re pretty good at creating content). It’s because the term moon exercises barely have any keyword volume – meaning no one is searching for it. This makes total sense as no one is casually joining an exercise class on the moon.

It would also make it pretty easy to write a blog that would rank highly on search engines.

But why would we bother when no one is searching for that keyword?

You might think that there are certain keywords and search terms that you want your website and blog to rank for. But they won’t always be the best terms, and sometimes SEO companies won’t be upfront about the search volumes of those keywords.

Recently we did some keyword research on behalf of a client. They were optimising their website and content for the name of their service followed by the word ‘partner’.

But actually, their audience didn’t use the word ‘partner’ they used the word ‘consultant’. And there was a vast difference in search volume (less than 10 searches a month for ‘partner’ and over 600 searches a month for ‘consultant’).

That’s why keyword research is essential and finding an SEO & content specialist who will be honest about what you need to be ranking for in order to grow your business is crucial.

8. They don’t practice what they preach

Found an SEO agency that doesn’t rank for any of the keywords in their industry?

It’s an ongoing joke (especially in marketing circles) that your own business comes last. SEO companies aren’t paying themselves, and so sometimes their own SEO comes after client work.

Which is totally understandable to an extent. However, if they aren’t doing any of the things they are suggesting that you do then you’ve got a problem. Not only does it make you question the effectiveness of their SEO strategies, but it calls into question their expertise and qualifications.

Your SEO company should be creating content that is optimised for search engines, and that is ranking for the relevant keywords.

If they can’t do it for themselves, how are they going to do it for you?

9. They guarantee search engine rankings

Unless an SEO company owns Google, they can’t guarantee rankings!

Of course, they can show you examples of client work and how their SEO strategy was implemented, and the results that it had. They can show you testimonials from existing clients. But they cannot guarantee that you will achieve the same.

Google can be a fickle little beast, that changes on a whim. And in addition, you’re competing against competitors in your industry and have no control over what they post.

So no one can absolutely guarantee that you’ll be ranking in the number one spot for every single keyword. And if they are – run the other way.

Should you hire an SEO agency? (and how to find a good one)

So, after telling you all the problems with SEO you might think they are the devil 😈

Are we saying that SEO is useless and shouldn’t be invested in?

Absolutely not!

As SEO specialists we know just how crucial a good SEO strategy is to the success of any business. However, it’s just part of the success puzzle, not the entire picture, and there are many other things that you need to think about.

But, the truth is, if you are spending thousands on a fancy SEO strategy every month and you’re NOT creating quality, consistent content, that is speaking to what your customers are searching for then you might be wasting money🤷.

Rather than spending thousands a month a better place to start might be with a good, SEO optimised, content strategy. This will help you rank on search engines as well as build trust with potential customers and convert them into paying customers.

So, what should you look for when looking for a company to help improve your website SEO?

1. Companies that create content for their clients and themselves
2. Ones that don’t guarantee rankings
3. Are honest with you about what to expect, and the best way to get there
4. Companies that don’t use stupid jargon

As part of our SEO Blog Writing & Management package, we do ALL the work for you including planning, writing and optimising for SEO. And we do all this for a very reasonable price if you are looking for a complete package that will take everything you need into consideration.

If you want to see how your current blog is ranking on the six key components, then take our blog quiz now – and see where you need to improve and more importantly how.

Martin & Lyndsay

The post The Biggest Problems with SEO Companies (and how you can avoid them!) appeared first on Content Marketing & SEO Agency | Get More Sales From Your Website.

Something mysterious. Completely technical. And totally unattainable for the average business owner to wrap their heads around.

Luckily, this view has changed. And we’ve noticed more business owners ask themselves the question: should I do SEO myself or hire a company to do it?

To answer this important question for you, we’ve created this blog post.

But First Things’ First: What Does SEO Actually Mean?

SEO is the process of making changes or additions to your website to help you rank highly in search engines results.

If you rank highly for a particular keyword (a word or phrase that someone types into Google), this will give you more organic traffic to your website. And the best part is, you don’t have to pay for that traffic (win).

Ideally, you’ll want to rank on the first page of search results. When was the last time you clicked on page two of Google’s search results? Not very often, right? So the first page is vital. Ideally, you’ll want to be in the top three results on the first page.

What Does SEO Involve?

Whether your DIYing or hiring an agency/freelancer to do it for you, SEO typically involves the following:

1. Keyword Research

Keyword research is where you research what words or phrases people enter into Google around your products/services/general topics of interest. And this research informs your ‘keywords’.

Keyword research is the foundation of your SEO strategy. Without this research, you won’t know what keywords to optimise your website and content for. A lot of business owners guess what people are searching for in Google. But this is a HUGE mistake.

2. On-Page SEO

This is where you optimise your website pages and blog posts for your keywords (this is why the research part is so important!)

It will help you write your website copy. And you’ll have to do what we like to call Website admin tasks, such as optimising your title tags or images. On-page SEO can sound technical but is pretty easy to understand.

3. Creating Content

This is where you can (typically) create blog content that gets in front of what people are searching for on Google.
For example, if someone types into Google ‘How much does a website cost?’, you can write and optimise an article on your website that covers that topic. Yes, that’s a very basic explanation! And there is a lot to it, but it gives you a basic idea.

4. Off-Page SEO

This is everything that takes place off your website, such as backlinks to your website from another website, social media marketing, guest blogging or podcasting etc.

All this good stuff proves to Google that you are trustworthy and an authority in your space. And therefore increases your chances of ranking in search results.

5. Technical SEO

This is improving the technical aspects of your website to increase your search rankings.

It can be things like increasing your website load speed or making your website mobile-friendly.

Is it possible to do SEO yourself?

In short, yes.

Most things are possible to do yourself. SEO is not nuclear physics. But equally, just because you can do something yourself doesn’t mean you should.

We could do our own accounts, but we choose to outsource it because we hate it with a passion. But we do our own email marketing because, well, we like it and we’ve learnt a lot about it.

A hybrid of DIY and Outsourcing SEO is Also Possible.

You can also do a hybrid of the two. Some people we know have great success by producing regular, well-optimised content. And they prefer to outsource link building (off-site SEO) and anything technical like speeding up their website and making it mobile-friendly.

Deciding on whether to outsource your SEO or DIY will depend on many factors. We’re going to go through these below.

We’re going to compare DIY SEO vs Hiring an Agency for the following factors…

1. How much it costs
2. How long it takes to do
3. The guarantees of results
4. How long it takes to get results
5. How to track your progress

1. How Much it Costs for SEO

The big question! We’re going to go through how much SEO will cost you if you do it yourself (because there’s always a cost attached) and if you hire a specialist or agency.

How Much Does It Cost When You Do It Yourself?

It’s obvious that a DIY SEO option will work out A LOT cheaper than outsourcing your SEO. You could do it for free, but if you’re doing it yourself, it would be advisable to invest in some tools to help you.

You should firstly use the following tools to help you with your SEO…

Google Analytics – a must and it’s free! It helps you track your website traffic, see what pages your readers visit and where they’ve come from (such as Google or Facebook or organically putting in your web address).
Google Search Console – this is also free (so far, so good, eh?) and it will help you see who is linking to your website. As well as which queries your website is appearing in the search results for.

Both Google Analytics and Google Search Console are tools that will help you track how well your SEO is doing.

It’s also worth noting that you should have these set up anyway. And you should definitely have them set up if you’re outsourcing to an SEO agency/freelancer. That way, you can track how well they’re doing.

Free SEO Tools – The Hoth

An integral part of SEO is ‘keyword research,’ i.e. finding out precisely what words and phrases people put into Google around your products/services/industry. Keyword research informs your website copy and content.

To see what keywords you’re currently ranked for, you can use this extremely helpful free tool from The Hoth. Just pop in your website address, and away you go!

This tool will allow you to see where you’re ranked currently. And it will also show you if there are any further opportunities for rankings. For example, you may find you’re ranked on page two for a certain keyword. And with a bit of work, you could easily get that up to page one!

Paid SEO Keyword Research Tools – Keywords Everywhere (from $10)

Keywords Everywhere shows you what related keywords people are searching for in reference to your keyword. You can see with the example below what we mean. We typed in ‘plumber Manchester’ into Google, and this ins the information it gave us.

It also tells you how competitive each keyword is (allowing you to see which keywords might be easier to rank for) and the historical search volume.

It works on credits so (no monthly fee) and is one of our favourites to recommend to small business owners.

If you want to learn more about keyword research tools, you can check out our article on how to check your keyword rankings.

Powerful SEO Platforms/Tools

You can also invest in powerful SEO tools and platforms that allow you to do a lot more than just keyword research. Here are the two that we have used…

SEM Rush – (From $119.95 per month)

SEM Rush is a powerful SEO tool (amongst other things). It will show you what people are searching for on Google. And it will also let you check out your competitors’ rankings, analyse your backlinks, give you a technical audit and track your daily SEO rankings.

We personally use SEM Rush (for ourselves and our clients). Below is an example of their ‘magic keyword tool’ which allows you to search for related keywords to your particular topic.

Ahrefs – (From $99 per month)

Ahrefs is a powerful SEO tool. And they also stand behind the idea that you don’t have to be an SEO pro to rank highly on search engines!

They allow you to look at your competitors’ rankings, find the right keywords, perform website audits and research content ideas.

These tools seem pretty steep, guys!

We get it. These tools seem pretty steep, right?

But you don’t have to continuously pay the monthly fee!

You can use the SEO tools to do keyword research, find content ideas and see where you’re ranked currently. Then you can cancel them when you’re finished. In fact, Lyndsay was on a training session with the CMO of Ahrefs, Tim Soulo, who said you can even use the 7-day trial (which costs $7) to do a lot of the work for you!

Remember, you can always cancel. Even after one month or two or three. But, they are helpful at the beginning to help you with SEO.

Learning SEO – The Costs

You can find SEO courses on Udemy for as little as £12.99. You can also invest in a much more in-depth course, for example from Click Minded which costs $997. We also offer an SEO Starter Pack that is aimed at non-techies and the price will be $97.00 (currently available for pre-order).

What is the Approximate cost of DIY SEO?

Total – $10 per month – $120 per month (depending on how much you invest in SEO tools.)

How Much Does SEO Cost When You Hire an Agency or Freelancer?

The cost of SEO can vary drastically – from $99 per month to thousands per month.

Can You Get Results By Paying $99 per month for SEO?

But let’s start with the ultra-cheap SEO. By ultra-cheap, we mean companies that promise you first page rankings for just $99 per month. We’re not saying it’s not possible, but we’d question this cost considering the amount of work that needs to go into SEO.

As we said at the beginning of this blog post, SEO encompasses five key elements. If a company is claiming that they can get you to the first page of Google without you having to do any work yourself (such as write content), then this would set off alarm bells for us.

So, ignoring the cheap SEO companies (of which there are thousands!), let’s look at what more established and trustworthy SEO companies would charge.

What Would a Professional Agency or Freelancer Charge for SEO?

It’s easiest to break this down into two categories:

Local SEO Costs 

Local SEO is ranking for ‘local’ search terms. Let’s say you’re a beauty salon and you have local clientele. There would be no point going after search terms like ‘beauty salon’ because that’s just too competitive. It’s far better to focus locally (as that’s what your target audience will be searching for) with terms like ‘hairdresser, Manchester’ for example.

Typically, you would look to pay between £300-£1000 per month for local SEO.

This would depend on how competitive your keywords are, and therefore how much work a company would need to do to get you to the first page of Google.

A local plumber, for example, might find it easier to get to page one of Google, than say a hotel. Hotels often have to compete with larger companies like booking.com for their local keywords.

National SEO Costs 

National or international SEO is where you want to target keywords either without a geographical focus. They are (usually) more competitive, but they can bring you a lot of website traffic. If you sold luxury chocolates online, for example, you might want to rank for ‘luxury chocolate’ or ‘luxury chocolate gifts’.

You could look to pay anything between £500-£2000+ per month for national SEO.

We realise that there’s a huge differentiation in cost!

A lot of this will come down to content. Content marketing (such as blogging) should play a key role in your SEO strategy. It’s challenging to rank on search engines without it.

Some companies will work with you and support you while you produce content. Others can create the content for you. And choosing the latter is more expensive.

It will also depend on how competitive your keywords are and what precisely you want to rank for on search engines. However, any SEO company you hire should do keyword research to uncover what keywords to target.

E-commerce SEO Costs

Ecommerce is a different ball game entirely. Getting your product pages ranked on Google is usually way more competitive (but way more rewarding financially!)

The costs for e-commerce SEO would usually start at £2000+ per month.

What is the Approximate cost of hiring an SEO specialist or agency?

Approximate cost to hire an SEO agency or freelancer? £300-£2000 per month. Depending on exactly what you need!

Agency Vs DIY SEO – How Does it Work Out?

DIY SEO – approximately $10-$120 per month
Hiring An Agency – approximately £300 – £2000+ per month

2. How Long Does It Take To Do SEO?

Time is money, right? And if you’re spending 8 hours a day wrapping your head around SEO, that’s not a good use of your time. You didn’t go into business to do all that SEO stuff!

So how much time does it take to ‘do SEO?’ And how much time would it take if you hired an SEO agency? Because even if you outsource your SEO, you’ll still have to spend some time on it.

How Much Time Does It Take to Do it Yourself?

This depends on your skillset. If you’re approaching this whole thing like ‘Wow, what’s this internet thing I’ve heard all the cool kids talk about?’ Then yes, it’s going to take a little while to get your head around everything!

However, if you can create blog posts or edit the text and images on your web pages, then you have the skills to do SEO without it being a big learning curve.

Learning About SEO – How Long Does It Take?

Firstly, you’ll need to learn about SEO. This is where you’ll need to spend a bit of time upfront in your learning.

You’ll want to start with keyword research as this forms the foundation of your SEO, and you’ll need to invest in a keyword tool (like we spoke about in the first point). It should take you a few hours to get a grasp of basic keyword research (again, it’s not rocket science). And this investment of your time is well worth it.

Once you’ve done your keyword research, you will need to learn how to optimise your blog posts and website pages.

Again, this is not rocket science! If you can create blog posts and edit website pages on your website, you can easily do optimise your web pages and posts.

The amount of time it would take to learn to do keyword research and on-page SEO is around 2-6 hours.

How Long Does it Take to Produce Search Engine Optimised Blog Posts?

Then there are things you’ll need to do regularly to rank on search engines.

You’ll need to take what you’ve already learnt about SEO (keyword research and optimising pages) and apply this to creating content and web pages.

Content writing, typically blogging, is something you’ll need to do regularly. Writing a blog post could take you anywhere between 3-8 hours. And on top of that, you’ll need to do keyword research and optimise your blog posts (which adds on approximately 30 minutes).

So How Long Does SEO Take to Do Yourself?

A big chunk of SEO will take you approximately 2-6 hours to learn.
And then let’s say you want to create a blog post every week? This will take you approximately 4-8 hours.

What About Technical SEO – How Long Does This Take To Do Yourself?

Technical SEO covers things like site speed, making your site is mobile-friendly, making your site secure, ensuring there’s no duplicate content or dead links etc.

If your website has technical issues that prevent or limit it from getting ranked in search engines, it’s much easier to hire a website developer to help you.

Otherwise, you might find yourself spending a long time trying to fix issues!

The best thing to do is use a tool like SEM Rush or Ahrefs and produce a website audit. This will tell you if you have any problems on your website that prevent it from ranking. You can then give this to your website developer to fix.

The cost will depend on the number of problems and how much time it will take to fix them.

How Much Time Will You Have to Spend on SEO if You Hire An Agency?

You’d think that hiring an SEO agency or freelancer would mean you have to spend very little time on SEO. But that isn’t always the case.

SEO is often a partnership between the agency and the client. And you may find yourself having to do certain tasks to increase your rankings.

We work this way with our SEO/Content transformation programme. We work with our clients to get them the best results. But both us and the client have to do the work.

Do You Still Have to Produce Content When You Work With an SEO Agency?

Content should play a huge part in your SEO strategy. And we’d be wary of any agency that tells you you can rank in search engines without content.

SEO agencies would usually recommend what types of content you should create i.e. give you ideas for topics or even blog post titles. Alternatively, they can produce the content themselves.

The problem is, which option do you choose? Do you write your own content with the guidance and support of an SEO agency? Or do you get an agency to create the content for you?

That really depends on how much you want to pay and how much time you have available.

If you’re committed to creating one piece of content per week, this may take you around 4-8 hours (ish!). An SEO agency may then optimise this content for you – improving it for users and search engines.

Or you could hire an SEO agency to do it for you. This may increase your monthly cost by £500-£1500 per month – depending on the package you choose.

Agency Vs DIY SEO – How Does Long Does it Take?

DIY SEO – 2-6 hours learning keyword research and how to optimise posts/pages
4-8 hours per week creating content.

SEO Agency –  4-8 hours per week creating content or…
0 hours per week if you hire someone to create the content for you.

3. What Are the Guarantees?

So you’re either going to spend quite a bit of time or money or both on SEO. What are the guarantees? Is it possible to guarantee rankings? And if so, is it better to do it yourself or hire an SEO agency?

We’ll start with this optimistic statement, shall we?

You cannot guarantee first page rankings on search engines.

Why? Because we don’t own Google (it would be pretty nice if we did!)

So no one can guarantee you a first-page ranking. Or any ranking, for that matter.

But which option (DIY or hiring an agency) gives you more of a chance of ranking in Google?

What Are the Chances of Having SEO Success if You Do It Yourself?

You may think that it would be difficult to see success from doing SEO yourself.

But we have members in our membership community who have achieved first page rankings (for some highly-trafficked keywords) just by producing consistent, well-optimised content.

Many people in many different industries manage to get a lot of traffic to their website organically from search engines.

The main way people do this is by producing content regularly. But not just ‘any old content’. They produce the best piece of content they can on the particular topic they are talking about.

And that’s how you should treat your content creation – you should aim to produce the best piece of content you can on the topic.

Take this blog post. It’s over 4000 words. And we looked at other similar articles in this space. We wanted to do better and give more. Unfortunately for us, our competitors know what they’re doing – what with being SEO experts! Damn!

The biggest thing that holds people back from ranking on Google is not the technical stuff; it’s producing regular, beneficial content that answers people’s questions thoroughly.

What Are the Chances of Having Success When You Outsource Your SEO?

If you hire a good SEO company, who ethically approach SEO, you should see good results.

Especially if the SEO company you work with prioritises content and works with you to create an SEO-friendly content strategy.

We know of quite a few SEO experts who get incredible results for their clients. They never make promises or guarantees for their clients (because they don’t own the search engines), but their knowledge and expertise means they deliver impressive results.

SEO Agencies that Offer a Guarantee: Can You Trust Them?

There are companies that guarantee first page rankings (but many don’t say for what keywords). We always find this strange as you can’t guarantee any results when you don’t own something. It’s best to look at other factors about the company before you hire them, and not trust the guarantee.

If you’re going to hire an agency or freelancer, ask for previous results and case studies.

Also, make a note of how ‘frank or upfront’ they are. We’ve found the best SEO agencies are realistic. They explain that there are no guarantees. They emphasise the importance of content. And, most importantly, they ‘do what they preach’. They rank on search engines themselves, and they produce regular, helpful content.

Agency Vs DIY SEO – What Are the Guarantees?

DIY SEO – In short, there are no guarantees when it comes to SEO! However, if you do it right you will increase your chances of ranking.
SEO Agency – Some SEO companies offer a guarantee – where they say they will get you to the first page of Google, and if they don’t, they’ll continue to work on it for free until they do. But, we’ve found that most reputable agencies or specialists don’t offer this kind of guarantee to their clients as they understand they cannot make promises on behalf of a search engine they do not own.

4. How Long Does it Take to Get Results?

SEO is a long-term marketing strategy. But if you do it right, it can pay dividends for years. We have articles that still rank on the top spot of Google from 2017. And these articles still deliver us leads!

But, ya know, it would be nice if we didn’t have to wait such a long time, right?

So how long does it take to get results? And is there a difference between doing it yourself or hiring an agency?

How Long Does it Take to Get Results When You Do SEO Yourself?

If you:

• Do your keyword research
• Optimise your content (and any web pages)
• Produce regular, original content

Providing there’s nothing technically wrong with your website, there’s no reason you shouldn’t see results in less than three months. The more great content you produce, the faster your results.

This is exactly what we did in 2017. We didn’t do anything whizzy or magical. We just followed those three steps above.

We’ve seen the same for our members too. We run a 90-day content marketing challenge. And during the 90 days, they’ve managed to get some fantastic results from producing regular, well-optimised content.

But, if you don’t do it right. If you don’t produce content or produce only poor content (that’s all about you and not about the problems you solve), it’ll take a long time to see results.

How Long Will It Take to See Some Results (i.e. an increase in Website Traffic)

If you do it right, it could be as quick as three months. The amount of traffic increase will depend on how much great content you produce.

We will say this, you can rank extremely quickly on Google. And this happens all the time. Your blog posts can be ranked in a day. We recently published an article about the best web designers in the world which was ranked in less than 24 hours. It’s certainly possible!

If you don’t invest in content marketing, don’t create the right content or have technical issues with your website, you will struggle to see results.

How Long Does It Take To See Results From an SEO Agency?

You would typically invest in an SEO agency for six months initially. And in that time, you should expect results.

In that time, an SEO agency are likely to:

• Do a technical audit of your website and either fix any ongoing issues or advise you of them for your web developer to fix
• Do keyword research to understand what your audience is searching for
• Continuously look for opportunities for rankings
• Either create content for you or support you in content creation
• Build backlinks to your website

With the guidance of an SEO professional, you should see excellent results in that time. And if you follow their advice and do any work required, you should expect to hit the goals set out at the start of the project.

Agency Vs DIY SEO – How Long Does It Take To See Results

DIY SEO – If you do it yourself and do it right, then you could see results within three months.
And again, if you do it yourself and do it wrong, then you may never see results!

Hiring an SEO Agency – If you hire the right agency, you should hit your SEO goals outlined at the start of the project. And you won’t waste time producing the wrong type of content. You may see that you get better results than if you DIY it as you’ll have a company optimising your content as you go and continuously tweaking things.

5. How Do You Track Your Progress?

A big part of SEO is tracking your progress – seeing what works and what doesn’t work. And spotting opportunities where you can rank. For example, you might discover that you have an article ranked on page two of Google, and with a bit of work, you can get that article to page one.

Tracking Your Progress Yourself

To track your progress yourself, you’re going to have to use the tools we talked about in point one, such as Google Analytics and Google Search Console. And maybe a paid tool such as SEMRush or Ahrefs.

You’ll want to keep an eye on:

• Your website traffic (ideally, you want to see this going up!)
• Your rankings generally (you’ll want to see your rankings for keywords increase)
• Where you’re ranked for specific keywords (i.e. page 1/2/3 etc)
• Where your traffic is coming from

It’s good to do this process at least every month (if not more!)

How Does An SEO Agency Track Your Progress?

An SEO agency or specialist should give you a report every month which tells you how well you’re performing.

If an SEO agency is creating content themselves, they’ll spot opportunities and create content around them. If not, they should advise you on what content you should create regularly.

Tracking Your Progress DIY vs SEO Agency

DIY – You’ll have to do this yourself and learn to understand the tools and software. Luckily, there are plenty of helpful training videos on Google analytics or search console. And if you invest in a paid tool like SEMRush or Ahrefs, you can follow along with tutorials.

SEO Agency – It’s much easier to track your progress with an agency as they’ll provide you with a report or overview of how well you are doing.

Which One Should You Choose DIY vs SEO Agency?

We hate to be THOSE GUYS. But it depends.

However, we would say this. It’s highly advantageous if you know SEO basics, even if you plan on outsourcing it.

And this is the same for anything. We outsource our accounts and bookkeeping (because we hate it), but that doesn’t mean we don’t know what our profit is every month. Or what comes out of our account. It doesn’t mean we don’t understand the basics of running a business and finances.

After you have this understanding, it’s simply a case of time vs money.

Where Are You Now?

1. Zero Time + Lots of Money
If you have zero time and a lot of money, hiring an SEO agency that produces good content for you (or at least recommends good content writers) is the best way to go.

But this could cost up to £2000+ per month. Or more depending on how much content you need.

2. A Bit of Money, A Bit of Time

If you fancy doing some bits yourself. We recommend you focus on content and work with an SEO agency to help support you with keyword research, optimising your content, technical help and supporting you with building backlinks and PR.

This will save you money as you won’t have to spend out on writing content. But it will also save you time on the more technical aspects of SEO.

3. You Have Time to Learn SEO and Create Content (But You Don’t Want to Invest Loads) 

If you don’t have that much to invest, do not worry!

If you have time to learn SEO and time to create content then you will see results.

Yes, it’s a time commitment. But if you do it right, it will pay dividends for a long time. We have thousands of website visitors every month that find us from blog posts we published in 2017.

SEO is one of the best long-term strategies for getting more leads and sales from your website.

It helps your website act as an unpaid salesperson for your business, continuously delivering you leads and sales.

The Content Isn’t Just For Your Blog!

When you create regular content, it’s not just for your blog. You can transform that blog content into social media posts (we’ll probably get 10 Linkedin posts and 10 Facebook posts out of this very article!)

When you have a ‘website first’ mentality, you can create content for your website, get more website traffic and then use that content across your social media channels and email marketing. It’s actually the most time-effective way of creating content.

So what are you waiting for?

Don’t forget, you can learn all the good stuff about SEO in our SEO starter pack.

Here are the benefits of the SEO Starter Pack:

1. Everything you need to know about getting started with SEO is in one place – no more scouring the internet and getting confused by conflicting info.

2. It includes easy-to-follow, short lessons aimed at non-techies – no one big boring video that’s hard to follow. And no getting confused by silly SEO jargon!

3. It’ll teach you the key parts of SEO that have the biggest impact – this pack will not teach you all there is to know about SEO because, quite frankly, you have better things to do. But it will teach you the things that will make the biggest impact on your business and deliver more traffic to your website.

4. It’s not boring – okay, it’s SEO. It’s not the hottest Netflix TV show. BUT, we don’t make it boring! It’s easy to understand and includes bite-sized videos that aren’t too overwhelming.

Lyndsay Cambridge

Owner at Jammy Digital, Digital Marketing Specialist and Writer of Young-Adult Fiction.

jammydigital.com

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