Learn SEO or Outsource SEO?

[Deleted2BB3x9]

Hey guys,

So now that my website is built, I need to get some traffic to my site. After doing a little bit of reading on SEO, I realized there is a immense amount of information on it. It's pretty overwhelming, not to mention it seems really hard. I've downloaded a couple of books and two video courses too, but I'm just not really a technical person, I'm more of a creative guy. Would it be better for me to push through the pain and learn SEO or outsource it and focus more on my marketing?

P.S I'm a complete beginner when it comes to SEO, what is a good place to start? I've already read the moz beginner guide.

 

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[theag]

Neither. Don't do SEO. Buy traffic.

 

[Andy Black]

^^^ What he said

 

[Royael]

Exactly. You won't learn SEO at all (probably a big mistake of me) and IF you should need it on occasion (maybe some content strategy) then go and outsource it all the way because its cheap and can be done by nearly anyone (I don't mean really anyone but anyone who has the specific knowledge which is pretty low compared to programming knowledge for example - just look for good experience i SEO).

Anyhow my vote goes - as also mentioned above - to paid traffic because it just scales.

 

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[Phantom309]

I think it was @JasonR that said it best. f*ck SEO. Best line I've ever heard.

 

[~Phil]

Read @Andy Black 's Adwords threads!!!

 

[RHL]

Outsourcing SEO is cheap if you're in a rare situation where money spent this way would be a better spend than buying traffic like everyone is saying. Unlike programming, I think I would pass on learning and outsource it.

As an aside, a great indicator of whether or not an advertising purchase (shovel) is worth the money is to see how many of the advertisers (gold miners) are doing as well or better than the company selling the advertising service. I have a relative who works for a local SEO company that specializes in real estate and restaurants. His company is making money hand over fist, the places who pay him, on the other hand...

 

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[csalvato]

Perry Marshall puts the order in which you should do things as follows:

1) Search Ads
2) SEO
3) Facebook
4) Solo Ads/Email Ads
5) Affiliate Deals
6) Banner Ads
7) Organic Social Media
8) Press Releases,
9) Direct Mail
10) Print Ads

Of course, these aren't hard and fast rules. For a lot of businesses display ads will do better and be more affordable than search ads. But SEO shouldn't be the first thing you do (even though it's the first thing I have done...)

SEO is great when you KNOW what people want and are searching for and are in your business for the long game because you have already proven it through good paid ad campaigns. Ideally, through paid SEARCH campaigns because you will know the keywords you need to optimize for.

Most times people tackle SEO keywords because they think they will convert. Unless you really know what you're doing (and even if you do), that's usually just a shot in the dark.

 

[tak]

Outsourcing SEO is cheap if you're in a rare situation where money spent this way would be a better spend than buying traffic like everyone is saying. Unlike programming, I think I would pass on learning and outsource it.

As an aside, a great indicator of whether or not an advertising purchase (shovel) is worth the money is to see how many of the advertisers (gold miners) are doing as well or better than the company selling the advertising service. I have a relative who works for a local SEO company that specializes in real estate and restaurants. His company is making money hand over fist, the places who pay him, on the other hand...

GOOOLLDDD!

thats so spot on...whenever your on elance, odesk, craigslist or any other site ask to see their portfolio see how well their doing based off of using them....

 

[csalvato]

I would NEVER outsource SEO. Not unless you really trust the guy and REALLY understand SEO enough to know if he is really capable.

FACT: If he is NOT capable, he can completely screw you over. Not just waste your time and money on him, but cause such damage to your reputation with Google that it can take months or years to recover.

It's too easy to have an outsourced SEO person use techniques like PBNs or article marketing or even forum spam. When I was first experimenting with SEO I hired some people to build links. They were all so bad, I had to buy a new domain and start from scratch.

If you're not going to take the week it requires to understand white-hat SEO, then don't bother. And I wouldn't bother with Black Hat stuff (even though my business is based on it atm), because it's done on borrowed time and costs almost as much as paid campaigns...but is 10x-100x slower.

Good link building isn't hard. You can hire a VA to do it quickly. But you should DEFINE what that VA should do strictly, then let them get to work on it. Or hire someone who is experienced like me to manage the VA for you, when you REALLY trust their methods (Assuming you trust me, of course).

Just my 2¢.

 

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