It is vital that one should know about “What the term SEO” is before you begin to outsource your marketing campaigns outside your company. Even if a company outsources SEO fully, they should take time out to understand the basics of SEO, the strategy that is best for them to implement for their campaign. With understanding this, not only will you be able to offer some advice but also add value to the overall SEO campaign too. It is not good SEO practice in our eyes, when the company does not know anything about SEO or strategy. We aim to make sure the SEO company in question fully comprehends on what we are doing and how we are going to bring the site to the top on the search engine rankings.
We know that certain search engine optimization techniques might be ideal for one site but might not be appropriate for another site. You should therefore have a working knowledge of SEO so that you can raise up questions and demand explanations of SEO strategies used on your site. It is better to know something rather than being kept in the shadow as having SEO knowledge will assist you in determining whether the SEO process is adding value to your business or not. Due to the nature of SEO process, the SEO Company or agency will not be present at every marketing meeting you have or available to answer any questions that arise all through the day. Having some education on SEO will help you answer some of the most simple questions that arise in the day to day running of the business. This will in the long run also save you on the consulting fees too, therefore killing one two birds with one stone.
Sometimes we have heard that very risky and dangerous SEO strategies or tactics have been suggested to companies who do not even have a smallest of clue about the risk involved in this. Having knowledge in SEO will help you determine If a certain strategy is risky or not. We also advise you to take opinion from the third party if unsure about a certain SEO tactic. I am certain many of you will question the time constraint they have that is stopping them into learning the SEO basics. Well, you do not need to spend months and months of studying SEO as you surely have thousands of other things to complete to. What you need is just a strong understanding of the basics of SEO. Listed here are some simple guides you can do to speed up your learning process.
Online Training Programs – This is a really good way to quickly learn SEO basics at your own pace or convenience. Institutes such as SEMPO has a quiz at the end which will help you determine the level of understanding. You can go through each modules and train by answering questions at the end. If you are stuck somewhere the SEO expert will help you with clarification.
In house training – You can hire an in-house SEO expert/consultant who can teach you the basic fundamentals of SEO. The SEO consultant will assist you to understand the SEO industry better and how the strategies or tactics we use work in either a positive or sometimes a negative way. Every SEO consultant has his or her own way to explain the process of SEO. If you are unsure of anything, please do not be afraid to consult an alternative SEO consultant for further clarification.
Books – This is one of the easiest one right? You can simply pick many good SEO books from your local bookstore. Well, that isn’t going to make you a Top SEO expert, but the information they have will give you the best basic understanding on how to effectively manage your own SEO campaign. The SEO bible and Search Engine Visibility are a few good books to pick up. The only downside of books is that they focus on addressing the simple sites and less on the complex issues of the highly dynamic large sites.
SEO Communities – You can opt for joining a good well known SEO learning community that is managed and run by the industry leaders. They could be less structured then the rest of the options I have mentioned above, however the amount of information they offer is the best of all. SEObook.com, Moz.com are some good examples. Here members can discuss their SEO issues with the very best in the industry. This is somewhat a quick way to learning not only the basics but some complex SEO tactics too.
All in all, I suggest you to take some time out and learn a bit about SEO. This will surely help you to manage your SEO campaign more effectively and able to understand and help devise SEO strategies that are appropriate for your business.