Should you outsource or in-house search engine marketing

By now, your company has probably discussed some type of search engine marketing (SEM) initiative. You are not alone. SEM has become increasingly important to all who look to do business and use the Web as a marketing tool. According to the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) the SEM market is over $10 billion in North America alone. Therefore, the biggest question isn't if you should be utilize SEM (you probably should if only for brand awareness and direct sales), but rather who will manage your SEM campaigns.

Almost two-thirds of advertisers report they intend to manage 100% of their SEM initiatives in-house, with 57% of advertisers keeping their paid placement entirely in house, 61% of advertisers keeping their organic SEO entirely in-house, and 59% maintaining their paid inclusion in-house. This gels with other industry surveys that report that for the past two years 74% of respondents kept SEM in-house.

What should your organization do? Depends. When reviewing your options for in-house or outsourced search engine optimization (SEO) or pay per click (PPC) bid management consider the following.

Wide range of skills. Effective campaigns require a broad range of skills, far more than one single person can offer (although many might say they can). In addition to (1) a SEO specialist you will also need to consider a (2) copywriter to draft effective content, (3) PPC specialist to optimally manage your bids, (4) web stats analyst to monitor and analyze web traffic patterns, (5) usability professional to ensure your campaign is engaging the user and increasing conversion rates, (6) web designer to ensure the site landing pages are laid out in an attractive fashion, (7) web programmer to code the site, and last but not least (8) project manager to ensure everyone's efforts coordinate, remain on budget, and within the timeline. Bottom line: Be wary of trading breadth for depth by hiring one person for such an important marketing investment. Consider the total cost of ownership for your SEM program.

Rules, trends, and behaviors change constantly. Small changes are released to Google's search algorithm weekly and large ones monthly according to their search team's blog. An SEM firm is more likely to catch these changes as they are monitoring multiple accounts and staying up with trends. Being aware of these changes has a significant effect on your results. In fact, marketers who outsourced SEO saw a 110% lift in overall site traffic within six months, whereas in-house saw a 73% lift (MarketingSherpa). Bottom-line: If you hire an expert firm for your SEM campaign, you tend to get better results.

It's cheaper to outsource. Consider these numbers: you can expect to pay an in-house professional $85,000/year plus benefits. Also consider all costs of an in-house person or team -- time for hiring, managing, benefits, equipment, and ongoing training. On the other hand, most SEM firms charge $20,000 to $60,000 for a year-long campaign depending on your needs. What's more, if the company doesn't bear results, you can terminate the relationship early in the game. You may even get money back. Bottom-line: Time is money and most SEM firms can do in a matter of days what might take an individual weeks to do.

Before you engage in your search engine marketing campaign spend the time researching your options by performing a cost/benefit analysis on what outsourcing versus in-house will cost. Do the math and ask yourself what makes sense for you and your business needs.
In addition, when interviewing either individuals or firms, ask not only for case studies and experience history, but also references -- the more the better. In the end what matters most is results, and past performance is a key indicator of future success.