6th March, 2011
Over the last couple of months Tidy Design has spoken to a few clients looking to delve into the world of DIY SEO and web marketing. Ok, we fully understand that most businesses will be looking to cut costs and save money during these tough economic times… But my only thought / concern has to be, do we offer the same free consultation service to those not paying for SEO? One or two questions asked every other month is not a concern for me, but regular emails / questions is a very different story! Should we therefore setup a monthly support / consultation package for those looking to start DIY web marketing?
If you are an existing client of Tidy Design and you ever call up with an SEO related question then we never reply with “that is top secret information” or “we can not disclose that kind of data”… I would like to think we are very open with our pricing structure (both for web design and online marketing) and the services we offer. At the end of the day we want all our clients to grow as this is beneficial for us! If a client would rather invest thousands into Yell or invest his/her own time in DIY SEO then hats off to them, the important thing here is not to stand still and market your business the best way YOU see fit! The real crime is not marketing your business and expecting results!
Earlier today I did some research on the subject of ‘DIY SEO’ and ‘DIY Web Marketing’, it was very interesting to see a lot of SEO / web marketing companies asking similar questions to the ones I am asking today. Some of these ‘DIY SEO and ‘DIY Web Marketing’ questions being:
- For a small SEO budget will we truly deliver on expectations?
- Can we really offer (in terms of time, cost and support) what our clients want?
- An SEO Service is what we offer… Should we now offer SEO Consultations?
- How should we charge for SEO consultations / support?
- Do I really want to go down this route?
- How many tidy SEO tips / trick should we reveal?
- Does saying no to this support option complicate client relationships?
- Can we afford to turn down the business?
Based on past experience and our most successful SEO campaigns the less time spent answering questions and more time spent on backlink building and adding quality content to a site the better overall SEO results. Yes people want to know how their money is being spent each month, how we have allocated our time to the SEO campaign etc… This emailed in a bite size monthly report to all our SEO clients.
One article I read today on BlogStorm.com broke down SEO and web marketing budgets into the following camps:
- Up to £100/month – learn it yourself
- £100-£500/month – hire a freelance SEO
- £500-£1000/month – hire a sole trader type SEO company
- Over £1000/month – hire an agency
This report later went on to say “The biggest thing that prevents people from succeeding at SEO is procrastinating and not putting in the hard work, especially people new to the industry.” – I totally agree with this one, you will need discipline!
So the most important question in regards to ‘DIY SEO’ and ‘DIY Web Marketing’ is what is your marketing budget? And also, can the SEO freelancer or SEO agency deliver within that budget? If you’re competitor employs a marketing team to work 5 day weeks, 9 to 5, then will your £350 monthly marketing budget deliver the desired results, I doubt this very much!
I personally think the SEO industry is swamped with black-hat SEO companies, rival business models such as Yellow Pages selling their own versions of SEO due to the Jurassic and almost extinct phonebook model, and cold calling spammers who CLAIM to be part of Google offering overnight success to a select lucky few! Come on, do you really believe Google is calling you for business? People go to Google not the other way round!
As for Tidy Design supporting a ‘DIY SEO’ model I am still not sure about it… I think if you have the desire to learn then hats off and good luck to you… Finding a creditable SEO provider is difficult for any business, we have heard many horror stories from companies that moved over to us after wasting both time and money on bad SEO! Our main focus has to be our existing SEO clients and supporting them to the best of our ability, delivering the desired results time and time again!
Please stay tuned to our SEO page on Tidy Design to see if / when we proceed with a consultation package for DIY web marketing. Until then please feel free to post your comments / questions below, fire over a quick email or give us a call about SEO.
Please Note: We do not outsource SEO services or backlink building to third parties