The challenge for many business owners is determining where you will receive the maximum ROI for the dollars that you spend. The question is, when should you be hiring a website designer (or marketing expert or SEO expert), and when should you try doing it yourself? The question comes down to…what’s your time worth? Where can you best invest your time and energy?
Smart business owners understand that having a marketing budget is vital to growing a new or existing business, but it can also feel like you are hemorrhaging money as you grow your business through branding and marketing.
My goal is to supplement my clients’ skills and provide the best value for their efforts. This ranges from complete design and implementation, to hybrid implementation and consulting, to full consulting, where I educate my clients on what actions they can take.
Truthfully, full consulting rarely happens because in the time it takes for my client to learn the best practices, and then implement it, send it to me for feedback and then revise post it, it’s still more cost effective to hire me to do it.
This applies to most marketing practices, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and even website design. With over 14 years’ experience in all these areas, the amount of information I understand and implement is more cost effective for me to do it than to try to teach all the nuances of it.
This is true for most marketing and SEO. As a business owner, your main role is actually marketing your business. But that doesn’t mean you have to do it all yourself; it means that you hire the right people to implement the information you have about your business.
I can take your vision and implement in terms of your logo, business cards, website, marketing strategy, email campaigns, SEO, and more.
Marketing is both an art and a science and to understand the fine balance of the ‘rules’ as well as to master the art of it takes time, research and experience.
How to Hire an Expert Vs DIY Your Website & Marketing
Full Implementation
For some clients, I design, develop and launch their website, and then provide on-going maintenance for their website. Their time is more valuable in other areas of their business and to have me manage their website and online marketing is far more valuable with my experience than for them to try to learn it.
I’ve had several clients who wanted to learn it themselves first and I happily taught them. After a few attempts, or weeks, of self-management they decided that it was a better ROI to have me manage it for them and to invest their time elsewhere.
Hybrid Implementation & Consulting
For other clients, I offer a combination of implementation and consulting services to complement their current skills. They may have a more technical background, or more experience in marketing, but also understand the limits of their skills or how their time can be best spent. For them, the most effective plan is a combination of marketing strategy meetings and then targeted actions where I support them on their website, marketing or SEO efforts. Our regular meetings (weekly or monthly) then determine the actions that we will each take to help them reach their business goals.
Full Consulting
In full consulting, I help clients strategize and plan their marketing needs, and help them determine what next steps they should take. I will act as editor or reviewer of the content created, but they develop this all themselves. I rarely stay fully in this option and often end up taking on individual projects because time is money and my clients’ time is more valuable in other activities.
Every situation is unique and I always offer a free initial consultation with clients before determining how we can best work together. I am happy to customize my services to best suit your project needs so that we can maximize your skills, time and budget to create results for your business.
