Malechi Tech Blog

Dan Zarrella @danzarrella , of Hubspot @hubspot said today in his webinar, “The Science of SEO” that you shouldn’t hire an SEO, you should hire a content writer instead.

My first reaction is, *&^*&#@$@*@#!! Excuse me??!! You’ve got to be stupid to say something like that, especially when a large part of your audience is SEO consultants! Dan’s background is as an SEO consultant himself, and then he moved to social media to help get his SEO rankings up. Now he works for Hubspot as someone who analyzes the numbers of all the sites being tracked by Hubspot’s software and presents that data as research. I find some of his extrapolations questionable, but overall, he’s got a lot of good data to share.

But what could he have really meant? After all, anyone with any experience with SEO knows that it’s not JUST about content. It’s about meta tags, linking strategies, site structure, XML site maps, titles, descriptions, directory listings, Heading tags, formatting of content and competitive analysis. It’s about page names and friendly URLs, interactive content and lead generation. Content is part of the equation, albeit, a large part, but go create content on a site with little SEO thought and good luck in getting found! SEO, content, social media and analog marketing go hand in hand.

I’m sure he knows that, and that means he knows that hiring an SEO to consult, develop and implement strategies for higher search rankings has TONS of value! So why would he have said this?…

Here’s my idea of where he’s likely coming from:

• Dan’s definition of “SEO” is not the same as mine, so we’re dealing in semantics.
• Hubspot is so powerful because they create ginormous amounts of quality content. That’s the culture and he’s seen the positive results from it.
• SEO has a stigma of being spammy.
• SEOs are not necessarily going to get your site linked to in an organic, natural way. Good content does that.
• An “SEO Site” (I put it in quotes because I want to phrase it in a way that falls under the stigma of a low quality site with content built for bots, not humans) may get an initial boost, but over the long run, it won’t be successful in generating quality leads.
• He wants SEOs to blog about him and get more links to his site.
• And finally, SEO, as Dan says, is not a main strategy, it’s a part of a much larger strategy of online marketing.

I want to give him the benefit of the doubt. He has a point that SEO isn’t the be all, end all of online marketing like some people claim it to be. It’s not magic and it doesn’t always work the way you hope. But Dan is a smart guy and understands that what he said requires some clarification to be accurate.

Okay. My rant is over. I know the value of SEO first hand, and it’s silly to think that it’s not, but the question here is “Should I hire an SEO?” which implies the idea that you might want to do it yourself instead. Read Below:

Why You Would Want to do Your Own SEO

• Can’t spend $250/mo. with Malechi Technology Services
• Love learning about online marketing
• You have lots of time before you need to start getting results
• Your brand/company is the only one in its space
• Have a kid or friend who will do it for free (BE CAREFUL!)
• Already hired an SEO and got burned (sorry, they’re not all good guys)
• Have the time to learn SEO on your own
• Already know HTML, CSS and Google Analytics – just jumping into something new.
• Don’t care about the risks. Just trying it for fun.

Why You May Want to Hire an SEO

• You’ve got competitors who are killing you online.
• You need more traffic and more leads to your site.
• You’re short on time, and don’t care to learn SEO yourself.
• You don’t want to learn HTML, CSS and Web Design.
• The money is manageable and you believe the results will pay for the investment.
• You know a trustworthy firm or local SEO in Nashville, TN.
• You want to maximize conversions on your website.
• Your brand needs greater recognition.
• You want to be seen as a leader in your market.
• You want to say, “Just Google me” to your prospective clients.

Conclusion

Am I biased? Yes. I KNOW how valuable SEO is to a small business. I know that a website that doesn’t generate results is not worth building. I know that a quality lead you don’t have to pay for is worth more than just the SEO efforts.

I love small business and I’m here to assist you in your online marketing and lead generation efforts online. I live and work in Nashville and love what I do.

Call Me: 615-852-7696