What does your holiday haul look like this year? Did you absolutely LOVE everything you got? (Yeah, we thought not.) While that macaroni picture frame your five-year-old son made may be precious, it will probably—definitely—serve little purpose in your interior design. And your not-so-favorite cousin who went crazy with the Pinterest crafts can’t know that you hate the candle she made from leftover crayon wax. Don’t worry; we won’t tell them about your disappointment.
What we will tell, however, is that search engine optimization and holiday gifts are one in the same—they aren’t super successful when you do it yourself. Learn some pros and cons of DIY SEO, and we’ll let you make the decision for yourself.
What Is DIY SEO?
At this point, pretty much everyone knows the importance of search engine optimization for businesses. It’s the main force for earning your site organic traffic, and it’s the safe, legal way to get more leads for your company and grow your web presence. While there are many SEO companies out there that can do the work for you, many business owners choose to utilize the infinite resources, online courses, and DIY SEO tools to perform search engine optimization themselves.
It’s often the choice for many small businesses that don’t think they can afford professional services, or for larger companies who’d prefer to hire someone in-house.
While DIY SEO may seem appealing, it can often do more harm than good if you don’t know what you’re doing. SEO requires a well thought-out and strategized plan. It takes careful consideration and preparation. So, before you start your own SEO campaign, do some research and weigh the pros and cons of DIY SEO to make your decision.
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To Do or Not To Do-It-Yourself?
Advantages of doing SEO yourself
There are a few advantages of starting an SEO campaign yourself. First, there’s the benefit of all that knowledge you’ll gain. When you do DIY SEO, you can get a better understanding of how the Internet works and how your website can do wonders for growing your business.
And, of course, you save money when you perform all that SEO work yourself as opposed to having SEO specialists do the work for you. This can help small businesses that are still getting off the ground, but it may not achieve as good and quick results as the work of professionals.
Another advantage of DIY SEO is that you have total control. You are completely responsible for what happens in your digital marketing campaign—including both the wins and any losses. If you’re doing all the work yourself, it can be difficult to find places to improve or where to re-strategize. On the other hand, SEO companies have regular strategy meetings in which multiple bright minds discuss areas for improvement that others may not be able to see.
Reasons to leave it to the professionals
DIY SEO requires a lot of your time and energy. SEO trends change very often. So, in order to keep your website afloat, you have to stay on top of any changes and update your site accordingly. As a business owner, your only concern should be running your business. It’s hard to find time to update your company website when you have customers, employees, spreadsheets, and emails constantly calling your name.
Content is king, so SEO requires you to be a content writer. You must be able to write relevant, engaging, and valuable content that readers want to consume. AND you have to perform keyword research to find which search terms people are using. Again, SEO is a time-sucker.
If you make any SEO errors, your site could get penalized. Search engine optimization requires careful strategy and implementation that may be difficult for a beginner or DIY-er to understand. Don’t risk getting your site blacklisted just because you refused to ask for help.
Should I do DIY SEO, you ask? Search engine optimization services are an investment into your company. With a successful strategy and professional nerds to help out, you may find it’s worth it to just leave it to the pros.
Start the New Year off Right with Some Quality, Professional SEO
The team at Post Launch is trained to do SEO the right way. Let us take the work off your hands and start 2018 off with a plan to grow your online presence. Contact us to learn more about web presence marketing today.
