Archive for March 2010
In-house Internet Marketing has been coming up more and more lately. I moderated a panel on the topic at last week’s SearchFest in Portland, I’ve received several questions on it since, and now I am preparing my updated curriculum for yet another in-house SEO and PPC training course for one of my customers.
So it seems time to line out what it is and why you should care… or not care.
Back in the mid-to-late 1990′s you either did Search Engine Optimization for your own business, or you were a consultant for others. There really were no ‘in-house’ SEO’s. SEO was a new concept back then, so there weren’t employee positions for this.
Now - many expert SEO’s charge $200, $500, even $1,000 per hour – and may still not offer expertise in Pay-per-Click, Social Media, Usability, and Analytics… all things a company needs for success in today’s online world. So many companies are re-thinking their online strategies and are comparing the benefits of a consultant or agency against an in-house team. But is this the right move for you? Let’s lay it out a bit.
A typical Internet Marketing Services (IMS) agency will charge a minimum of $1,500 per month for their services. In many cases, this rate will be their bottomfeeder rate, and you may not get the service level that another client gets who pays…say $5,000 per month. It can be frustrating for small businesses who truly value an expense like $1,500 per month. At the same time, a smaller company like this could never afford an in-house person, or team.
Why? To start, a low salary for someone who only knows SEO would be in the range of $35 – $50k per year. For someone a bit more experienced and with knowledge in SEO, PPC, SMM, Usability, Analytics… an average salary would be more like $75 – $90k per year. Management salaries are far more, with VP positions reaching as high as $300k per year.
There are also things like conference expenses so your in-house person or team can stay educated on the changes in the search market. Expect to pay at least $10k per year, per in-house person, for these conferences.
Then you will need to budget for tools. This may not be as expensive, but you’ll usually need tools for:
- Keyword analysis
- SEO tracking and scanning
- PPC management (maybe…maybe not)
- Social media and reputation management monitoring
- Competitive intelligence analysis
- Usability testing
- Analytics
- and others as necessary
In total, these tools may cost as little as $500 per month…or on a high end, you may need to budget upwards of $25 – $35k per year – but this is usually reserved for big-business needs.
Now, total expenses will vary greatly depending on whether one person can handle everything in-house, or if you will need a 3-5 person (or more) team.
There really is no magic formula for this. If you prefer more control of an in-house person or team, then the business need may outweigh costs. If you can find a good, personable consultant, you may be far better off outsourcing. But if you are focused on significant growth, and you expect a large portion of your revenue to come from the web… you may want to consider building an in-house team.
One final note. Unless you pay top-dollar, and recruit people who are already highly experienced in the field to run your in-house team (expect salary in the range of $120k – $200k)… expect to keep a consultant on for a while…even after your in-house team is built. This is primarily for ongoing training, and ensuring your team is equipped with everything they need to exceed.
For more information on in-house Internet Marketing team creation and training, visit http://www.scottorth.com/in-house-seo-ppc-consultant.html.
My excessively long day of networking, socializing, and overall conferencing, has finally come to an end.
The Governor Hotel proved to be a great venue for an event that showcases Portland’s search talent, and brings speakers and guests from around the nation.
Guests gather for a wonderful plated breakfast at SearchFest
SearchFest 2010 was filled with great sessions, some of which were standing room only. I moderated a session on PPC for Social Media with Luther Lowe of Yelp and Marty Weintraub of aimclear, followed by a session on In-house Search Marketing with Derrick Wheeler of Microsoft and Laura Lippay of Yahoo!
Lots of great take aways… and its always great to catch up with all my search friends and colleagues, most of which I only see at conferences.
SEMpdx put on a great show – and received more media attention than ever before (thanks to Amy Rosenberg). I’m already looking forward to SearchFest 2011!
For those of you that don’t already know, SEMpdx’s Searchfest moved to a new location this year. Though the Oregon Zoo was a unique and fun environment for our show, we finally outgrew it.
I am at the event right now, which is being held at the Governor Hotel in Downtown Portland.
So far, I would rate this as our best SearchFest ever. Though we have a much larger crowd, and our location gives us a much more professional, maybe even elegant appearance; we are still the same down-to-Earth group we started out with.
Too make sure everyone knows this, we gave all of our speakers a custom Snuggie, and are offering these as prizes and give aways as well. I bet you can’t name a search organization that has ever given away Snuggies! Now that is SEMpdx.
So far, I’ve watched a fantastic presentation by Stefan Weitz of Bing, and a great competitive intelligence, look-behind-the-scenes-of-your-competitor, presentation by Spyfu creator Mike Roberts.
Now I’m off to our morning break where we will hear from the folks at the Oregon Humane Society about some of their wonderful pets looking for a new home. More to come…
