How should I outsource my small business SEO needs?

[Adam-Perlman]

Fellow MOZers, I run a small ecommerce business called mrpearl11.com, and I need assistance in outsourcing my SEO.

A little about us:

We sell a variety of import merchandise, but specialize in closeouts (buying merchandise at very low prices) which can translate into some real exceptional value to our customers.  The buying part of the business is strong, but our online presence is weak.  We have a decent high-level understanding of SEO, but I do not have the in-house skill sets necessary to truly leverage the SEO tactics and strategies that I believe we need to integrate into our processes.

Thus we have a very weak SEO presence.  Basically starting from scratch.

Right now, we are focusing on content.  Item-level content.  Subcategory and category level content.  General website content (about us, contact us, the checkout process, etc...) with the goal to provide a great user experience.  We believe we have the right prices on the right merchandise, and that if we can set a strong foundation of content so that the user experience is positive, our future marketing efforts will have a better ROI.

However, keyword analysis and targeting, data-mining, A/B testing, link acquisition, etc etc etc, really don't exist as a part of our processes on a professional level.  I could try to train my in-house crew, but I think that from time a time and cost perspective, we'd be better served by outsourcing.

My question to the MOZ community is how should I address my small business SEO needs?

There are probably a lot of ways to go from here, but I want to start with a person or an agency, build a relationship, and move forward taking one step at a time.  I don't want to jump into some kind of commitment where we're spending big bucks out of the gate, but on the other hand if we can build a track record of proven results that have a good ROI, I'm not afraid to scale up.

Please share your thoughts, and feel welcome to ask questions

Thanks!

Adam

[josh-riley]

My answer, and I admit it's obvious, is to start carefully. Look at the project as a complete project and not parts. Meaning, before hiring or starting and focusing on content, look at the technical side, too. Updating content may not matter if there's technical barriers to your site being user friendly or search engine friendly. For example, I've increased rankings and traffic, but because of on-site issues that were out of my control (and ownership), conversions weren't increasing.

People will try to sell you one thing and it's not always the right answer - no different from any other business. While you may not have time to train your internal staff, having the high level insight you mentioned is critical so you can be a good client and be a wise client and having a handle on if something will work or not.

Define what you expect to see - higher conversions? Higher traffic? The ultimate goal is always sales, however how does this SEO help play into that - ranking improvements? Site UI changes? To say the goal is more revenue is like saying that the sky is blue; duh. You need to be able to map SEO back to something.

Mostly, watch out for people who just want to sell one solution or suggest buying links. SEO isn't just one thing and one thing isn't going to get you great and lasting SEO. And link buying is something that I rarely see as being a good investment. Good luck!

[Adam-Perlman]

Hi Andrea, thanks for taking the time to respond.  I would generally agree with everything you've said.  Fortunately, I do control our site (we're using the Magento CMS) and we're able to make modifications/adjustments as needed (albeit slowly), so from a technical side we can usually fix issues provided that we can correctly identify and prioritize them (though sometimes that's the challenge).

I think what I'm looking for is an individual who can work closely with our team, and myself personally, to provide both strategic and tactical SEO advice on an ongoing basis.  Someone who can take the time to learn our brand and make intelligent suggestions from a position of knowledge.

Because like you pointed out, there are many different goals (traffic, conversions, etc...) and if you simply target just one of them you fail to take into account the big picture, which, in my opinion, is increasingly important from the standpoint of SEO and inbound marketing.

I think the challenge for a small business is to find the person who can be effective in this role, but at a cost that is bearable, or even favorable..

Adam

[josh-riley]

Indeed; that's the nature of every client and agency relationship. Skills are as important as the chemistry. I spend many years on the agency side and had some bad clients - mostly because they weren't willing to do the things you outlined

Since you seem well versed, pay attention to the chemistry as well as the "content" of their skills/recommendations. That's going to give you the next most important thing: how are they to work with, do they gel with your/your team? Even with the right pedigree, if their workflow or approach doesn't match up to your environment, there's going to be issues. (No different than hiring an employee.)

[WilliamCarr]

Outsourcing your SEO for a small business isn't easy. It's difficult to find one consultant or company that has the skill set you're looking for with a small business budget.

However, there are services that can make some of the SEO tasks easier for you. I recommend outsourcing your business listings/citations to Whitespark.ca. You can easily get hundreds of links though this service, but make sure you're monitoring your link diversity.

On another note, I think you would benefit from a stronger value proposition. Check out what Peep has to say about value propositions.