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Advice on hiring a freelance SEO specialist for a new business?
Hi all,
I am a new business owner looking to hire an SEO freelancer and would appreciate advice on how to go about that. I want to make sure that a potential candidate understands what I need, and also that I don’t forget any important steps when it comes to setting up an SEO strategy for a new website.
My idea would be to create a job ad and ask for:
1. Website audit
2. Competitor and keyword analysis
3. On-site SEO improvements and creating SEO strategy
4. Advice on off-site SEO (market-specific)For context, I have a voucher/deals website created in WordPress, currently also using AIOSEO plugin. GSC and GA have already been set up and linked.
Do you think that I need to ask for something else as well or make it more specific? Thank you in advance!
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1 Reply
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Hello,
I can assist you as per your requirement. Let’s connect for a discussion.
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A site like that is going to take more than just SEO, plus SEO will take time and money. You’re better off investing in ads first, then re-invest the profits in SEO.
I’d ask someone to do a small audit and give you a brief overview of how they’d go about improving your site organically. The potential issue is, if you don’t know what might be bullshit or not.
If you post your website URL here, when I get a minute I can give you an overview of what they should be pointing out.
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As far as I know, with this kind of website, you’re better off investing in paid ads.
Also, you can check most SEO metrics through qualified toolkits/websites and then learn what they mean if you have the time. (If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on hiring an SEO expert)
And whatever you do, don’t hire anyone to build up your ranking fast with bad backlinks as a strategy.
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Frankly any good seo will look at your new business and ask why they should take the risk on someone that is just starting out.
They also will be wanting allot for little or depend on you (read:calling constantly)
They will probably start by thinking also that seo is just about x strategies.
So, try this: pptch why an seo should touch your business!
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If you have specific keywords, start with Google ads, and once it’s profitable then go with SEO. A lot of time you’re competing with companies with a lot of money and a whole SEO team. They have writers using HARO to get high-quality links. And other methods to get high-quality links. Fixing all your on-page SEO is not going to rank you.
Especially if its a national website.
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As a former SEO consultant, I can tell you that the main thing that often gets overlooked is who will do the implementation. Audit reports, analysis, and strategic roadmaps are great, but they won’t do you any good unless the changes are actually made on your website. If you want the consultant to log into WordPress and make the changes for you, make sure that’s clear in your agreement.
Progress for a new website will also depend a lot on content creation. Do you have resources available for writing, and possibly some design? If you want the SEO consultant to do it, that will be an additional charge.
Also, I disagree with the suggestion to put all your money into paid advertising and invest in SEO *later*, because SEO takes time. It shouldn’t be either/or. For a brand new site with competitive keywords, it might take a few years to start seeing substantial ranking and traffic improvement. A good SEO consultant will help you identify the “low hanging fruit” keywords — likely long-tail and low search volume — so you can make incremental progress.
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What you’re going to ask for is pretty much what should constitute the foundations of a pretty decent SEO strategy.
1) Website Audit really should just show your pagespeed score, and any technical errors that may hinder you site for ranking pre-dominantly in the future.
2) Yes, you should have a pretty decent understanding of the level of organic traffic your competitors are coming from and what keyword variations they’re ranking for and drawing traffic from. You should also receive a good understanding of the backlink profile of some of your competitors and what it’s going to take to outrank them.
3) Voucher/Deal sites are heavy with inner pages. The onsite strategy, depending on the size of your site needs to be impeccable and without any inner page cannibalization which is something that regularly happens with such sites. Category page keyword variations and product page keyword variations should be established and there should be a step by step strategy to either getting all of this sorted from the get-go, or, depending on your budget, whether or not it’s going to be a certain amount of pages completed per month. You’ll need to understand the system in place to completing new categories and new deal/voucher pages when you upload them to the site
4) Yes, links… You’re going to need them and due to the nature of your site there should also be advice on how you can get links from your suppliers.
For a campaign like this, however, I would normally conduct some market research, get an understanding of the potential reach out there with a clear indication of how you can hit certain end goals leading to your end goal.
I’ve run an agency for a number of years and am happy to send you through a general walkthrough to explain how this should look like so that you can avoid any potential landmines. Feel free to send a pm.
Best of luck mate.
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