SEO Agencies - Any experience?

I have been contemplating whether hiring an SEO agency or bringing on my own SEO expert internal.

Does anyone have experience with hiring an SEO agency to handle their SEO? If so, what companies? There seems to be a ton of them online. But my budget is limited at $800-$1000 a month (which makes it very difficult to hire an SEO internal with that budget). I just do not want to hire an agency that will not be effective or hurt my PR.

After researching SEO agencies, I have narrowed it down to a few companies. One is SEOHAUS.com. They state they will also write the articles and on page optimization. Any experience with them? Here is what they offer:

24 keywords
$999/month

Website Analysis
Key term research
Market Competitor Research
Identify List of Key terms
On Site Optimization
Meta Tag Optimization
Title Tag Optimization
Image and Header Tag Optimization
Internal Link Structure
Google XML Sitemap
Review and adjustment of content
FREE External Link Building
Submission to major search engines
Effective Back Link Strategies
Article Marketing
Directory Submissions
Social Book marking
Monthly Key Term Ranking Reports
Monthly Traffic Analytics Reports
24/7 access to online reporting portal
Free Support: Phone / Email

 

To be honest, SEO Agencies are a big rip... Ask any experienced SEO-er that actually gets real page 1 rankings for themselves, even in super competitive niches...

Look more towards an individual, rather than an agency

Most pro SEO-ers can rank any keyword they want with a budget of just $300/mo ..

Freelancers with a great track record is your best bet!

Take Cares!

 

Ok, thanks. Anyone had any luck with an Seo agency?

 

Don't rely on any agency until unless you have checked their track record, clients, and past experience and results. Check for the Result Oriented Agencies if you really want to go with an agency.

 

You can find lots of good SEO offers here at DP as well at most competitive rates. Feel free to send us URL of your website for a free analysis.

 

I would avoid them like the plague. Article marketing and directory submission? That is not SEO. And so many other red flags in that list you pasted.

Instead of looking for an all-in-one SEO expert, manage it yourself (or another employee if you're not a one-man band) and outsource jobs you can't do.

1. On-page SEO - learn it yourself. The most important thing to learn is make your site for humans, otherwise you just need to make sure it can be crawled, not duplicate content issues, etc. Google Webmaster Tools will help to highlight some problems. Otherwise, your eyes can work for the rest.
2. Graphics can be outsourced cheaply. Not only use these for your site, but content marketing too. You can find people on forums, or sites such as Fiverr, to do graphics work cheaply. Someone wrote a good blog post about it recently (http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/7-fiverr-gigs-for-inhouse-seos), although I wouldn't recommend it for proof reading (as the blog post has some errors).
3. Social media - manage your own presence. Don't outsource this. It's the worst idea. It's a great way to build relationships with people who can compliment your business (review your products) and people who buy your products. Engage with them, don't just tweet/post your links.
4. Text content - again, something that can be outsourced quite cheaply if you can't/don't want to do it. Just be selective, don't go too cheap (you get what you pay for) and when you find someone good, sort out a regular deal with them.
5. Optimise your local listings using getlisted.org (assuming you're a real business and it's not an informational site or similar).
6. Rankings - you can track your rankings using the DigitalPoint Keyword Tracker. Google Webmaster Tools also gives ranking data (but slightly delayed).
7. Have a read of the links I posted here as it will give you an idea of what to avoid doing and how to move forward with your marketing strategy. In particular, the last blog post covers strategy.

What you are wanting to spend ($800-1000) will be more than enough if you learn and take the management on yourself and have a smart strategy.

 

Nothing to add to what Ryan Said! Well done! i pull my hat down for you man !

 

Why do you want to pay for SEO as you can do it yourself. I would like to suggest you to do SEO yourself by learning and implementing it. In this forum there are so many discussions from basic SEO to typical one, so try to learn from those and also from online resources. You can do it yourself and save your hard earned money..

 

"Optimise your local listings using getlisted.org (assuming you're a real business and it's not an informational site or similar)."

I have a question about the post Ryan made. I am an online only based site that is only offering a service and the service is being delivered online. So, would I register with these sites? If not, are there sites I could register with?

 

I would at least have a Google+ business listing. There are different types, so select the one that best fits you.

Branded3 have a good blog post about Google+ business listings:

http://www.branded3.com/blogs/how-to-set-up-a-google-business-page-and-why-i-should-care/

I suppose the others don't matter in this case. Just think about your service and ways people find it. Is it just by searching? Or maybe they use some comparison sites or similar, too. Get listed in relevant but quality places. Ones people actually use.

Good luck.

 

There are general principles which should be applied. See portfolio of such companies. Do not use the services of those who work for your direct competition. Remember that if you choose a large agency, it will have a lot of experience, but with a low budget your site can be treated as something low value. They just won't focus on the SEO of the extent as if made ​​a small or medium-sized agencies.

 

Directory submission? You kidding me? You should NEVER hire a company that uses directory submissions, unless they're talking about Yahoo Directory or DMOZ, but I'd be surprised.

Ask to see case studies. See what they have done for previous clients. Ask for references. If they real clients that are willing to place a good word for them, that means they know what they're doing.

PM me if you need more info.