Best to use same company for design,SEO AND PPC?

[Maxwell83]

Hi. We currently have a website for our business - The Powerline Advisory Group (can't post links but its VERY easy to find via google) - which gets traffic mainly from PPC (adwords) at the moment.

Our industry sector is small - we have less than 10 competitors. I designed the existing website, did what little SEO I could and manage the PPC campaign myself but I am no professional; I simply wanted to test the viability of the business (and generate some income) before paying a professional to take our web presence to the next level.

However having seen the success my own DIY efforts have yielded (£25k profit in 3 months from online leads only), I am now eager to get professionals on board to take it even further. I feel that beginners luck had a part to play as things slowed in December (4th month of online marketing).

We are on page one (but not position 1) for most of our keyword terms, but on page 2/3 for what is possibly our biggest term.

What we would like is a redesign of the website, giving it a more 'professional services' look, SEO and PPC assistance. Is it better to use one company to do all 3 (discount & ability to have web design done with SEO and PPC in mind) or use different companies who specialize in each (specific expertise)?

Any recommendations? Please no PM to self promote, but recommendations will be looked into definitely.

Thanks

 

[Alan]

You should throw Analytics into the mix too. In fact (at the risk of being shot down) it should be in the centre.

Analytics & Optimisation (testing), Design (revision), PPC, SEO and Social Media Marketing all combine.

The issue you will find is getting all these skills in one shop. The smaller agencies tend to focus one or two of the disciplines, the bigger agencies have all in house, but then the bigger agencies only want to deal with bigger account.

 

[Maxwell83]

Do you mean Google Analytics - I use that too.

 

[Alan]

Do you mean Google Analytics - I use that too.

Analytics & Optimisation is the art of interpreting the data from your Analytics package (e.g. Google Analytics, there are others) and creating actionable insights from that data, then testing changes and measuring the benefit to optimise your site.

Having Google Analytics installed doesn't mean you are using it to add value, and infact most GA implementations are not implemented correctly for measuring & tracking & reporting. An agency that provides A&O services would start by auditing your GA implementation.

 

[Maxwell83]

Ah, I see. And you are right, I am not using it to its full potential - this is why I need the professionals!

And I see the logic in what you're saying - if i'm paying someone, they should be measuring, interpreting and optimizing based on analytics data. If they don't do that then how will they (or I) know that all their efforts are worthwhile.

Thanks for that.

Is what I'm looking for within what you do?

 

[Alan]

We used to do that (see http://roibot.co.uk , there are some useful pointers on our blog there)
but we are currently fully focussed on building our local and start up business websites business (as per signature)

 

[Maxwell83]

We used to do that (see http://roibot.co.uk , there are some useful pointers on our blog there)
but we are currently fully focussed on building our local and start up business websites business (as per signature)

I see. Thanks for the tips anyway.

I will certainly bear that in mind when assessing potential appointments.

 

[directmarketingadvice]

What we would like is a redesign of the website, giving it a more 'professional services' look, SEO and PPC assistance. Is it better to use one company to do all 3 (discount & ability to have web design done with SEO and PPC in mind) or use different companies who specialize in each (specific expertise)?

For the PPC and SEO part of the question, I'm not sure there's one right answer.

They're very different skillsets, but there's no reason why someone couldn't master both. And there are plenty of agencies who employ specialists in each area.

If I were to give advice, I'd recommend you find someone who can actually do SEO - these people are rare as hen's teeth (especially as google keeps raising the bar for SEO).

Then, if that person does PPC too, maybe use them for that as well.

Hope this helps,

Steve

PS There's a moderator on here called Tin who does really good SEO. He's done it for a number of my clients and produced excellent results.

 

[PPCForYourBusiness]

Hi Maxwell,

I don't think there's a right or wrong answer here, but I'd make sure you were getting specialists to help you whether you go for one company or three. Having worked with over 100 top PPC/SEO/web design specialists at top agencies, I doubt there are more than three people I'd trust to take on all three disciplines.

SEO and web design are probably closer together than they are for PPC, as SEO is a fundamental part of web design from the outset. The Paid Search part can probably sit separately as long as you're happy to help with communication between the different groups.

Whatever you do, make sure you get referrals and case studies, and meet the people that are going to be doing the work (don't just meet a salesperson/senior member of the team). If you go for too big an agency, you're likely to have your account handed to the assistants, who may not know much more than you!

Hope this helps,
Regards,
Peter

 

I general one should not be using a web design company for SEO as very few would have the skills to do a good job on the SEO side.

Not to say there are not some.

But Jack of all trades e.t.c.

 

[PPCForYourBusiness]

Agreed, not a jack of all trades person/team, but an agency which housed specialists in both would be beneficial as they should be working very closely together.

It always surprises me how sites can be designed with almost no concern for SEO until a late point in the process - if you can get people in the same building working on the project together, you should definitely feel a benefit. This isn't just a small business issue, £100m+ clients make the same mistake surprisingly often!

Pete