Whether you’re starting a new website or trying to improve an existing website, search engine optimization is extremely important. And on a small business budget, affordable SEO is usually a main priority.

How To Determine If You Should Do It Yourself

Many small business owners assume that in order to make seo affordable, they need to do it themselves. Doing your own search engine optimization may or may not be cost effective Here are a few questions to help you determine whether you should do your own SEO:

Do I know how to do search engine optimization?

Search engine optimization isn’t rocket science, Brand Levitra but there are few definite must-dos, and a few definite never-dos. In order to do your own SEO, you’ll need to know which steps you absolutely must take in order to get your website ranked; but you’ll also need to nee to know which steps you must absolutely avoid to ensure that your web pages don’t get banished to the supplemental index, or that your website gets banned altogether.

Do I have the time to do search engine optimization?

SEO can be quite time consuming, especially if your website is brand new or if you’ve never really obtained a search engine foothold in the past. SEO is not a set-it-an-forget-it, one-time event. SEO requires ongoing tasks to be performed monthly, weekly, some even daily. Many small business owners are already wearing so many different hats, they don’t have the proper time to dedicate to SEO duties.

Do I want to do search engine optimization?

SEO requires technical knowledge and analytical thinking. Does that fit you? Or would you prefer to spend your time creating new programs for your business and dreaming up new ideas for innovative income streams? You might have the knowledge, and you might have the time, but if you don’t have the passion for SEO, why do it?

Is SEO the most economical use of my time?

Let’s face it, you won’t be able to perform search engine optimization tasks as quickly as an SEO professional who does it day in an day out on a regular basis. When you spend your time on SEO, what are you giving up? Working with clients? Perfecting your skills? Marketing your business? How much income would you be brining in if you spent your SEO time working with clients instead? Would your time be better spent growing your client base and marketing your business in other ways? It’s important that you crunch the numbers and make sure that doing your own SEO isn’t actually costing you money in the long run.

Do I want to become an SEO expert?

Search engine optimization is an ever-evolving field. Algorithms are constantly changing, technology is constantly changing, strategies are constantly changing. And your competition is constantly changing. If you don’t have the wherewithal to dedicate yourself to keeping up with these changes on an ongoing basis, do you have a staff member or an assistant who is willing to do it? There is no sense in spending your time performing your own SEO tasks if all your work gets flushed down the drain because you didn’t keep up with the latest changes.

Do I know how to fix the mistakes I might make?

SEO is going to require you to make changes to your HTML pages, to your robots text file, to your htaccess file. A slight error in any of these, such as leaving out a semicolon or forgetting to close a tag, can leave your website virtually unusable. Will you know how to catch and correct these errors before they lead to disastrous results? If not, do you have someone on staff who will be able to repair the damage? Remember, it’s always much more difficult to find and fix someone else’s mistakes.

Am I better off outsourcing my SEO?

Do you want to learn the rules and regulations to SEO? Do you want to dedicate the time to perform search engine optimization tasks on a regular basis? Are you passionate about SEO? Will SEO be the best use of your time? Are you determined to keep up with all the changes in the search engine optimization industry? Do you have the technical expertise to carry out the necessary SEO tasks? If you answered “No” to any of these questions, you’re probably better off outsourcing your SEO.

For most small businesses, working with an affordable SEO agency is a much better use of time and money than trying to do your own search engine optimization. The time to complete the initial project will be much shorter than trying to do it in-house since you’ll be able to take advantage of their expertise and their proven systems. And you’ll be able to spend your time finding new clients and growing your business.

Author Bio: Karen Scharf, small business marketing consultant, works with small business owners and entrepreneurs. She offers several papers, reports and checklists, including her FREE 4 Simplest Tactics for Increasing Your Customer Base and Growing Your Bottom Line. Download this and many other small business marketing tips now.

Category: Internet Marketing/Search Engine Optimization
Keywords: affordable SEO, internet marketing, search engine optimization, SEO