Skrentablog

Rich,

You've talked in the past about Topix's success at SEO. Do you do this internally or do you use an outside firm?

I'm getting a small site off the ground and I'm wondering if it's worth it to outsource the SEO. Did you guys actively build links in the beginning, or was it more a matter of setting up the pages right and aggregating a bunch of stories?

Any advice to someone just getting started would be much appreciated!

I would start by first reading everything you can find... The seo bloggers on the right rail of skrentablog are a good place to start, and there are many more. All of Danny Sullivan's stuff is great too.

We never did any outsourcing, most of it was just about getting the site hygiene right. See http://www.skrenta.com/2007/01/appropriate_discoverability.html

For the record, just because someone decides to do SEO "on his own stuff" by itself doesn't mean that he/she has attained any level of success or appropriate skills.

I know several optimization specialists who simply don't enjoy working directly with clients. Working with clients (most still don't "get it") in such an early-phase market is a prime reason why some SEOs might want to move on to something different.

In fact, I'd suggest that those who build their own websites in order to market affiliate programs are whoring themselves out even more than agency or in-house SEOs because they are likely promoting products solely for financial gain rather than for belief in the company or clients they work for.

I'm not really sure if Hagans ever really was an "SEO consultant", I'd call him more of a "link builder" or "link baiter". But yes, it's good to see that more "SEO consultants" are moving towards leaving the "SEO" industry and working for themselves exclusively.