The Truth About Internet Marketing – Outsource or DIY?

A good Internet marketing strategy is an essential part of selling your product online. However, with more and more consumers using the Internet to research products and find out about businesses, even brick-and-mortar companies must consider how internet marketing can help their business.

Of course, having decided to start an online marketing campaign, the next decision that needs to be made is whether to outsource to a specialist company or handle the job in-house.

When making this decision, there are a few factors to consider.

1) What is Your Own Level of Skill?

While it is entirely possible to learn about online marketing, starting from a basic level will cost you in both time and money while you learn on the job. Taking advantage of a specialist company allows you to benefit from experience, training and contacts that could take you years to establish for yourself.

The learning curve in online marketing can be quite steep, and while there is a wealth of information out there for you to learn from, much of it is contradictory, and following some of the advice you will find could lead to your site being blacklisted by Google!

2) What Are You Looking to Achieve?

While you may well have the skills to put together your own SEO packages and optimize your website, this is not the same as having the experience that is needed to envisage, plan and implement a whole marketing campaign.

Another important element to consider is whether you have the experience to recognize why a particular strategy is or is not working so that you can revise our campaign. When you outsource this work to another company, you can negotiate a payment schedule where you pay for results, meaning that you do not have to worry about the methods.

3) How Can You Best Spend Your Time?

One of the greatest advantages of outsourcing any business practice is that it gives you more time to concentrate on your core business. Online marketing is a constantly evolving field, such that keeping up with the latest developments and tweaks to Google’s algorithm is a full time job in and of itself.

Trying to split your attention between running your business and keeping up on your online marketing will cause both to suffer. Outsourcing to a reputable company allows you to oversee your marketing without needing to be involved in the nitty gritty of the day-to-day workings, while taking advantage of economies of scale that would not apply if you hired a dedicated member of staff.

While DIY web marketing is certainly better than no online strategy at all, outsourcing has benefits that should not be ignored.

Post by guest blogger Michelle, a writer who enjoys blogging about technology like internet marketing and Google analytics consulting.

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