One of the questions that often comes up when people ask me about online marketing – or any type of marketing – is SEO and SEM.  There are a lot of businesses out there that tout the value of paying for SEO or SEM management, but is it worth it for you?  Today, we are going to explore whether you should invest in outsourcing SEO or SEM management.

First, let’s start with a couple of definitions.  SEO stands for search engine optimization.  It is all about getting your page to rank well organically in search results on various search engines (like Google or Bing).  There are certain things you can do in the set up of the back end of your website or blog that assist with this – including keyword analysis, content building, link building, etc.  For some basic information about SEO, read here.

SEM (search engine marketing) includes SEO, but it also includes paid advertising and pay per click plus more active work to submit your site to search engines.

The ultimate objective with both is to get more traffic to your website through online searches.  Knowing the value of directing search engine traffic to your site is the key.

Knowing the value of directing search engine traffic to your site is the key. #SEO #business #smb Share on X

If you are looking into SEO or SEM management, there is likely a monthly expense to maintain this process.  You may be wondering whether this is worth it for your business and if it will really move the needle for you.

As with any marketing you do, you need to be intentional, consistent, and in it for the long haul.  Short-term experiments don’t generally show you the compound effect that consistent marketing efforts will have over time.

You need to be intentional, consistent, and in it for the long haul. #marketing #smallbiz #smb Share on X

But, here are some questions you can ask yourself to help you determine if SEO and SEM management is worth a look for you:

  • Is your target market online and looking for products/services like yours online? This is really the first question to ask for any type of marketing you want to do.  Is your target market in the place you want to put your message and is this a place where they are likely to receive it?  It may sound obvious to say that everyone is online, but it is worth exploring whether they really are and if they are truly looking to search results to make their decisions in this area.  If they are, you might want to put more focus on your ranking.
  • How are you currently ranking organically? Go to your favorite search engine and type in something you think your audience would commonly look up when they need services like yours.  Are you coming up on the first page already?  If so…you might not want to pour your money into a service that has the purpose of getting you to rank well.  If your rank is much further off the first page, perhaps it is worth a l0ok.
  • Does your website convert well? It’s nice to drive tons of traffic to your website, but if the page the traffic is landing on is not successfully converting them into a newsletter sign up, clicking through to more pages, or actual sales, it’s basically like you’re pouring your leads into a sieve and paying money to do it.  Take a look at the website first and figure out what needs to be there to get people to convert.  This might be a good time to add product pages, blog pages, newsletter sign ups, free downloads, videos, or other interesting tools that will hold your visitors’ attention.
  • Do you stand a chance of holding that rank with the budget you have? If the budget that you are putting into SEO or SEM management is going to be a drop in the bucket compared to competitors in your industry, then you might end up driving yourself into the ground trying to market like this.  In this case, consider looking for out of the box solutions so that you can market in places where your competitors aren’t.  If you think it really will set you apart among your competitors, it is worth consideration.

Online marketing – including SEO and SEM management – can be a great way to market a business, but it is not a mandatory way to market your business.  Make the decisions that will really move the needle for your particular business and how you are going to get in front of your customers best.  Remember that online marketing, like any kind of marketing, is a long-term endeavor, and to see the results you need to be in it for the long haul.

Hopefully your answers to these questions help shed more light on the value of outsourcing SEO or SEM management for your business.

If you want to know more about how to create a strong organic online marketing plan, learn more about the relationship between blogs, newsletters, and social media here!