I know that you’re thinking – “why would an SEO agency publish a blog post explaining why people shouldn’t hire them?”
It’s a good question. I honestly debated with myself as to whether or not this was a good idea. After all, it doesn’t seem like a smart thing to do when it comes to job security. However, I believe that regardless of how this post is received, there actually are reasons why hiring an SEO agency could be the wrong option for you and your business. Let me explain.
1. You Don’t Mind Long Hours
Workaholics should not hire an SEO agency. Why is that? Because true workaholics love the idea of working two or more full time jobs. Effective and successful digital marketing is more than just posting a few pictures to your Facebook page and paying your hosting bill. When you love the idea of coming home from an 18 hour day running your business, you are going to get really excited about having to read three to four marketing articles from Moz, Search Engine Land, Neil Patel, Mike Blumenthal, and Local Search Forum.
After you’ve read the latest SEO industry news, you’ll be fired up to spend the next hour or so researching and writing new content for your website to apply the new information you have learned. Don’t forget to log into your Google Analytics account to annotate any changes you have made in your website so that you can track your progress. Also, not to mention Google Analytics, you’re gonna need to know how to use it. Those who like very long hours will love taking and passing the 4 Google Analytics certifications (which need to be renewed once every 2 years). There is also Google Analytics 4 that will be completely replacing the original Google Analytics starting July 1, 2023. Better start setting up all of your data with Google Analytics 4 now so that you will have plenty of data to work with come next year.
There is so much to learn to mater digital marketing. Of course, you don’t have to do that, but, don’t you want your online marketing to succeed?
Don’t hire an SEO agency if you are proficient with the following marketing activities:
- Updating and maintaining a website to safeguard it against hacking (and un-hacking it if it happens to get hacked)
- SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
- Graphic design
- Video production, optimization, and promotion
- Social Media posting and advertising
- Learning and using HTML, PHP, and JavaScript, among other coding languages
- Subscribing to Moz Local, Moz Pro, BrightLocal, Ahrefs, and many more. These subscriptions typically range from $30+ per month to more than $500 per year
Long hours never killed anybody. At least I don’t think they have. But you get my point. If you don’t mind putting in the hours for a longer work day, don’t hire an SEO agency. Arcane Marketing’s services are meant to help make business owner’s lives easier so that they can focus on doing what they do best – serving their customers. Don’t hire us if you don’t like the idea of less work.
2. You Don’t Trust Anybody
When you hire an SEO agency, you will be expected to share the following with them:
- Access to your website
- Access to your hosting
- Access to your Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts
- Access to your social media accounts
- Access to proprietary business information
- …and much more
That is a heck of a lot of access to very sensitive and private information and, in many cases, you’re sharing it with people whom you have never met! It takes a lot of trust to allow strangers access to the very things that make your business competitive. So, if you have reservations about trusting other people, don’t hire an SEO agency.
Trust is tough to earn. How can you simply trust an SEO agency with the keys to your digital business? Well… you can’t. Not unless you’re willing to take a risk, that is. Many businesses have taken a risk by hiring Arcane Marketing and all of those businesses have come to trust us with their marketing strategy. If you don’t trust us, that’s okay. Hiring Arcane Marketing is a risky business decision. Just remember, however, that no reward has ever been realized without a calculated risk in the beginning – trust me when I say that. Or, don’t.
3. You’ve Been Burned Before By Another SEO Agency
It seems that just about every day there is yet another spam message in your inbox that says “we can get you to the top of page one in Google for $150,” or you get a robocall that says “your Google My Business listing is at risk of being deleted.” So, you tried them out. How did it go? Did that $150 get you to the top of page one? Did your Google My Business listing get “fixed?”
No?
You got burned.
Nobody enjoys failing and almost everybody will be reluctant to take a risk like again. After all, there are thousands of so-called “SEO agencies” in the world and if one has burned you, chances are high that another one will burn you, maybe worse than the first time.
It is important to realize that not all SEO agencies are the same. Some are fly-by-night outfits (the “$150 results” agencies fit into this group) while others have spent years perfecting their skills and honing their marketing teams. It’s those marketing agencies in that latter group who are the real victims of those fly-by-night outfits. Do not get me wrong! If you’ve been burned, of course you’re a victim and I recognize that. I am not at all trying to downplay your misfortune. What I’m trying to say is that when unscrupulous SEO agencies screw over real businesses, oftentimes great agencies like Arcane Marketing are simply viewed as “guilty by association.” And, that sucks. But it is how it is.
So, if you’ve been burned by an SEO agency in the past, don’t just go and hire the next one that promises you the stars and the moon. It doesn’t take a genius to know what will happen if you do. If you really want to try your luck again, however, be sure to do your research. Ask the agency to produce case studies. Ask them if you can talk to one (or more) of their current clients. Ask them what they will do if things don’t turn out the way you expected. If an SEO agency won’t do any of that, then you should not hire them.
In Conclusion
You now know why you shouldn’t hire an SEO agency to help you with your online marketing. You may be thinking “okay, Chad, now that you’ve convinced me to never hire an SEO agency again, how are you ever going to get another client to work with Arcane Marketing?” The answer is quite simple, actually:
- We love long hours. It’s what we do. We answer our phone after business hours. We respond to our client’s emails at 2:00 a.m. We let our clients text us on our cell phones. We are there for our clients.
- We inspire trust. When our clients take a risk by hiring us, we take their business seriously. By always being available for our clients, we build their trust. When we hire only the best and most qualified talent to work on our team, we solidify that trust.
- We are not “just another SEO agency.” We have established ourselves in our community and have proven our worth time and time again. Just ask one of our hundreds of satisfied clients. Arcane Marketing is a household name in eastern Idaho. And, we’re growing rapidly. We know SEO. We live SEO. We breathe SEO. SEO is what we do (also, we do this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this).
CONTACT US
We would love to show you why you shouldn’t hire just any SEO agency. Give us a call at (208) 938-5988 and we’ll be happy to talk smack about other SEO agencies with you. It’ll be fun.
