How Do You Outsource White Hat SEO?

[Travis Van Slooten]

I want to be able to offer ongoing, white-hat SEO for clients but I don't want to do it myself. I want to completely outsource this part of my business as I don't have the time. Besides, if I did this myself I wouldn't have time to grow my business as I would be doing SEO full time

So...where does a guy even begin to find a RELIABLE white-hat SEO company (or person) they can outsource this work to?

Now here's the added challenge...most of the clients I talk to (and work with) have smaller budgets. These are guys who can afford to pay $500 - $1,500/month for ongoing SEO work. Is it even possible to find white hat SEO guys in this price range - and still have room to mark up the services a bit to make a little profit?

If the answer is no, what can I offer these clients? There has to be something I can do for "ongoing SEO" in this price range.

Travis Van Slooten

 

[Laustin1878]

I think it comes down to the value proposition of what you are offering. If you have a quality service and can show it, people will be more willing to pay a higher price tag. Everyone wants the lowest price tag and the best results. Tell them to pick two...time, money or results? Either the client takes the TIME to learn it on their own. They come up with MONEY to pay for a firm to do the SEO for them. To get RESULTS, you have to chose one of the above.

I would work on finding a quality copywriter or copywriters as I think one of the most difficult things to achieve is to get a client to write their own copy. They are likely experts in their field but either don't have the time to create the content or cannot write to save their own lives. With the new algorithm in place, answering a searchers question(s) seems to be a focal point.

The SEO services for $250 thread is a great source for some ideas. Re-read it again and see what you can implement. May be a good start for outsourcing too.

 

[Kristen]

I would work on finding a quality copywriter or copywriters as I think one of the most difficult things to achieve is to get a client to write their own copy. They are likely experts in their field but either don't have the time to create the content or cannot write to save their own lives.

So true. Many of our clients fit this exactly. For some clients who are willing to at least provide the 'meat' of the article, I'll give them a title for an article "5 ways to..." and ask them to send an email (these are very non-technical people who don't even use Microsoft Word) with the basics of the article. We then take the content and turn it into an article for their blog.

A quality writer is absolutely key if you won't be doing the article writing yourself. I've found it to be difficult to find someone who can consistently deliver good content on a regular basis, particularly when we are creating local landing pages for clients.

You definitely get what you pay for when it comes to writers, so avoid going the cheap-o route for sure.

 

[Eric Rohrback]

Travis, I'll PM you

 

[Linda Buquet]

Travis, between Penguin and Hummingbird, I would be scared to death to outsource link building to anyone.

Check this great article from today:

Did Hummingbird Eat Link Building?

"SEOs used to be able to use links and other factors to trick Google into thinking that their search website was more authoritative and helpful than it actually was. Hummingbird once again makes the end user the absolute focus of search results. We can’t trick Google anymore! Building links to less-than-amazing content will fail. Google will notice high bounce rates, the lack of natural social sharing, and a variety of other quality signals no matter how many links you build — probably even faster with Hummingbird.

Everything we do should also focus on the end user. More than ever, link building needs to be focused on providing real (significant) value to users. Is our site worth the links we are trying to earn? Does blasting 1,000 potential link partners with a link request provide value? How can we leverage link building to provide more value at every step in the process?

Think quality content, intended to meet specific needs (“long tail”) and to be authoritatively long-lasting (“in-depth”).

Freshness is a big ranking factor now. So I'd put more effort toward adding unique, fresh content that will naturally attract links and real visitors from those links. Figure out creative ideas for content. Stuff that's viral. Stuff people will naturally want to share. Or maybe updated local or industry news highlights or something. Or even a game or contest.

Easier for some industries than others. Hard to get real creative and viral for a roofing business, I'm sure.

 

[Broland]

A good bit of our ongoing monthly work is for business owners and other agencies at the $1000/month or less price point, and they do quite well. The biggest part is putting together a plan that works within budget. Sometimes you might need to spread out what you would normally want to do in one month over a few months. Month 1 may be fixing on-site problems, updating/adding content and updating social sites/fixing NAP data. Month 2: creating new profiles, interacting/updates on existing profiles, video creation... etc. etc. I would suggest starting with paid consulting/auditing to put plans together.

The other huge part of this is client correspondence, reporting, and being able to scale. If you hook up with the right workers and service providers you can definitely produce quality results for your clients, but don't forget about reports and time spent dealing with the client. Service providers working in those lower price ranges aren't going to provide quality services along with reporting and dealing with all the client questions. To make it work you probably need to get at least 5 clients on board. Then you can sit down once a week and check on things, run reports, send emails, and touch base with clients.

Feel free to drop me a line and I'm sure I can help you out.

 

[Greg Schueler]

I find it very difficult to find real white-hat SEO providers (in-house or outsourced) especially for a lower budget.

I have tried several agencies and individuals, but none have really met my expectations. A lot of agencies (and individuals) advertise "white-hat" techniques, but then you see what they do and realize they have no clue what white-hat really means.

Most SEO providers are nothing more than "link builders" and just building links is not a complete SEO service. True seo involves content, links, citations, relevancy, authority, trust, social, engagement...etc.

I too am still on the look out for a better solution/person too so that I can continue to expand and scale our business.

 

[jtweav]

AM
Linda great point. Link/citation building the old way might quickly devalue a site. I would vet my potential SEO partner thoroughly before sending clients their way especially for link building. Asking for what they do and speaking to a reference or two. There are even some cool tools to see if their clients have been hit with algo update penalties: Google Penalty Checker from Fruition Haven't tried this one yet but mean to.

And don't forget PPC because unlike SEO they get more results every day above the fold. And now with not provided it will be useful to keyword targeting later. Great white board on this by Ran: When Keyword (not provided) is 100 Percent of Organic Referrals, What Should Marketers Do? - Whiteboard Tuesday - Moz

 

[Travis Van Slooten]

Thanks for the responses everyone!

@Linda - Exactly. That's why I'm nervous about ANY backlinking services these days but here's the rub...my clients are seeing their competitor's websites ranking better than them and their sites stink and we know they are doing gray hat/black hat stuff. They always say, "If they're doing it and it works, why can't you?" It's a constant battle. I try telling them to look at this as a long-term thing. All those sites are doing well now but down the road they won't and you will! They don't want to hear it.

@Broland - thanks for the advice. I think I will PM you as I do have a couple questions for you.

@Greg - Good to hear I'm not the only one struggling with this. I've talked to a few "white hat" SEO providers the past few days and when I pressed them on what they do, they are basically doing gray hat link building. True white hat SEO is time consuming and expensive. That is why I don't want to do it. I would never be able to scale if I had to tackle this myself. And I'm finding to outsource it, it's going to cost a lot of money (to have it done right).

Travis

 

[Gio Greenard]

I second the finding a great copywriter, clients have so little time to come up with titles for me at times, let alone fresh content.

I am not sure if it's just me but I really don't place so much emphasis on link building, good onsite and good quality content and some quirky ideas seems to serve me well to date.

I only have a handful of clients as I also hold down a full time job, but I think I will be inclined to go for the higher payers when I go solo as I do just as much work for 2000 dollars as I do for 500 a month.

Very curious about how much emphasis people are pacing on links, maybe I should place more :?

 

[Travis Van Slooten]

I have the copy writing covered (knock on wood). I found a terrific writer about a year ago and she's amazing. Maybe I'm in tougher niches in more competitive markets but on page SEO and quality content hasn't amounted to much. By that I mean, I can't get clients above the fold on page 1 without backlinking.

In an ideal world, white hat SEO would work for everyone but as one commenter posted in the article Linda provided, you have two extremes now. You have the big companies with big budgets who can afford to do exactly as Google says - 100% white hat - and they have great success. And then on the other end of the spectrum you have pure black hat marketers who also do very well. It's the players in the middle that get screwed - which is where most of us and our clients play. That "gray area" is where everyone is getting killed by all these Google algo updates.

My clients don't do black hat and they can't afford to do pure white hat strategies so they are left doing gray hat stuff OR paying Google to be on page one. I think it sucks. At times I think of doing what Anakin Skywalker did in Star Wars - turning to the dark side and become Darth Vader

Travis

I second the finding a great copywriter, clients have so little time to come up with titles for me at times, let alone fresh content.

I am not sure if it's just me but I really don't place so much emphasis on link building, good onsite and good quality content and some quirky ideas seems to serve me well to date.

I only have a handful of clients as I also hold down a full time job, but I think I will be inclined to go for the higher payers when I go solo as I do just as much work for 2000 dollars as I do for 500 a month.

Very curious about how much emphasis people are pacing on links, maybe I should place more :?

 

[mborgelt]

Hey Travis,

Let me know if you would like to chat about your white hat seo needs. We really try and work within whatever budget a small business may have. Whether that be $10k, $5k, 2k, or $500 a month. So I am willing to guess we could find something that would work if you haven't found someone yet.

Best,
Michael

 

[Travis Van Slooten]

Thanks Mike. I'll be sure to PM you.

Travis

 

[Matthew Newman]

Just stumbled upon this thread, I don't wander away from the local side of this forum all that often

In case you haven't found the right business yet, the company I work for (Boostability) has some very affordable/scalable SEO services, and I'd be glad to refer you to someone who can talk to you more about it.

I'm not sure how much we are allowed to plug ourselves here, but for what it's worth, Best SEO Companies | Top SEO Services Reviewed has us at #2 in US for SEO, so at least a few people like us

 

[Andrew Scherer]

You will find it incredibly difficult finding the full package with a single provider. Your job is essentially to stitch the work together from several providers who provide solid services. Some providers are best at different kinds of link building, others are solid at content, and another you might use for something else (onpage? Idk).

 

[Travis Van Slooten]

Ya, I'm starting to realize that. It would be nice to find "one guy" or "one company" that had a team in place that could do it all. I've found those people but they usually have to charge more, which doesn't leave a lot of room for my markup. I'm finding in the end the thing I need the most help with his "solid" backlinking. "Solid" meaning safe and effective. I've got a bead on a couple backlinking guys/companies so we'll see how it goes.

Travis

You will find it incredibly difficult finding the full package with a single provider. Your job is essentially to stitch the work together from several providers who provide solid services. Some providers are best at different kinds of link building, others are solid at content, and another you might use for something else (onpage? Idk).

 

[chadkimball]

At times I think of doing what Anakin Skywalker did in Star Wars - turning to the dark side and become Darth Vader

Travis

I am your father