When we’re young and new to the world of entrepreneurship, we seek to do everything ourselves. Hell, I tried to do everything myself when I launched Fullmoon Digital 3 years ago — and I fell flat on my face.
It’s a great way to save money – which a self-funded startup normally don’t have in the beginning – and as founders, we try to tackle on as many obstacles as possible at once.
No Person is an Island
At least not a fun island to be on…
Sadly, while one would like to believe they’re the toughest person around, it’s not always true. There are many elements of a business, especially in its early phases, a person simply isn’t equipped to tackle. Whether it’s through lack of knowledge or experience, there are indeed factors and steps that require an authoritative hand.
One of these elements is SEO.
Businesses struggle whether to hire an agency for SEO or not — and I empathize for the following few reasons.
- SEO is a long-term strategy. Most new businesses do not have the time, money or patience to wait 3 – 6 months or longer to see a return.
- A sustainable SEO strategy is on-going and requires consistent analysis, audits, and maintenance to keep up with algorithm changes.
- Competing websites also do their own SEO or hire an agency for SEO work. No glory for the weary.
- There are other advertising channels like Google Ads and Facebook Advertising that can generate quicker results and return.
Now, it’s easy to dismiss SEO right off the bat as something that’s easy and comprehensible. All one must do is find the right keywords, create a well-developed website through WordPress or some other SEO-friendly platform, write up all the necessary content and insert meta tags, and boom!
Your Google rankings will go up overnight and customers will be busting down doors to get their hands on your products… Right? At least that’s what those online courses, webinars, and eBooks are selling you. Don’t be fooled. SEO is difficult, and it takes a lot of work to win in the organic search engine results.
NO! You can’t just build a website, sprinkle some SEO-magical-dust on it, and outrank your competitor. That’s not going to happen. Let’s just put it out there.
More Complicated Than It Seems
If only it were that simple. There are a lot of aspects of SEO that most entrepreneurs are completely unaware of, not necessarily because they’re ignorant, but because SEO is not their field.
They’ve placed their focus on the business they’ve created; whether it’s cleaning products, a food truck or something unique to the neighborhood, entrepreneurs often need assistance when it comes to getting the right amount of exposure for their businesses.
That’s why SEO agencies exist.
They do what you likely don’t have time to do: keep up with the best SEO practices, follow industry trends, and provide the insights to get you the results you want.
Between monitoring specific social media trends or finding the best keywords, the people hired at SEO marketing agencies have been trained to understand what methods will work best for advertising your business and improving your search engine rankings.
Don’t Ignore SEO Just Because You Can’t Understand It
One of the reasons many people – particularly new business owners – decide to dismiss SEO, or at least push it to the side, is because it can be expensive. Basic SEO services are likely to cost a business running a national campaign a minimum of $600 per month depending on the agency used, though plans can ultimately run higher.
In addition, SEO can also take time to work. Business owners should expect a few weeks to a few months to go by before seeing any valid results come to life. It can take a while for your online presence to become established, and even longer for sites like Google to recognize your pages. It’s not convenient, but it’s the way things are.
Conclusion
At the same time, SEO is the only way to garner a business the attention and exposure it deserves. As we move deeper into a digital age, people are spending much more time online – performing searches and traversing through social media. The only way to reach most customers nowadays is through internet means, and thus SEO is never an element to ignore.
If you’re looking for the best way to get your business out there, hiring an SEO company or a digital marketing agency could be a great way to heighten your online presence and improve your ability to cater to customers.
