OrangeSoda Internet Marketing Blog

Top Rank Blog recently had a post about hiring an SEO firm vs. hiring a consultant. Lee Odden makes the point that when you hire an SEO firm you get a much broader range of skills than you can get from one person.

He says:

“my own experience is that when an online marketing client that involves a SEO component is brought on, it’s through the coordinated efforts of multiple people, disciplines and expertise that result in a successful program.”

I agree with Lee, especially for larger clients. At OrangeSoda we assign account managers who handle communication with the client. There is also someone who plans and implements the work. Then there are specialists that handle different parts of the campaign, which are scheduled throughout the month.

OrangeSoda hires specialists that handle different parts of an SEO campaign:

• Writers who compose and submit articles and blog posts with SEO in mind
• Link builders
• Online PR specialists
• Blog specialists
• Social media specialists
• Web analytics so you can track your campaign keyword performance on multiple search engines
• SEO/Online Marketing Strategy specialists
• PPC specialists who manage campaigns in Google, Yahoo, and MSN in one interface
• Keyword research/creation specialists
• Tools and people who run competitive and web site analysis
• Web Site Content Optimization specialists

We also have developers who are constantly working to improve our reporting and tools. We have account reps who handle most of the communication with clients (I hate to say it but the people doing the actual work aren’t always the best at communicating results). We also have accounting and billing departments, sales team, and customer service reps.

As a consultant I billed and invoiced clients myself. I answered client’s questions and reported results. If I was answering questions or working on my business that was time when I couldn’t actually do the work. If I hired someone to help, I had to manage them.

The most important thing to me is that with an agency you have continuity - and usually more accountability because one person isn’t solely responsible for your campaign.

I’ll never forget an experience I had last year. I was working with a client who went to jail for three months. There was no warning and no way to contact him. I thought he was more than a 1 or 2 man shop, but I learned the hard way that he was running most of the show. If your consultant is sick, flaky, or heaven forbid - jailed, you have little recompense. With an agency there are simply more people working for you and more accountability built in.

An SEO agency is ideal for clients who have a large and/or complex web site. I have seen exceptions though - I’ll call them a higher touch client. These clients ask for more customization and interaction than most. They wants to be very intimately involved in their campaign. This type of client may be happier hiring a consultant who focuses on only a few clients at a time.

Another advantage of hiring an SEO agency, is that it’s often much easier than getting things done in-house. Sometimes politics and tunnel vision prevent work from being done - or the team lacks the expertise. An agency has the advantage of working on many different types of web sites and has the capacity to hire a large team with various specialties.

Your Feedback
If you have you worked with both a consultant and an agency, what did you find to be the advantages or  disadvantages of each? Leave a comment - and please make sure to give an idea of the size of your company.