SEO is a very fragile industry to build a business on. It's constantly changing, the results are inconsistent and obviously you have absolutely no control over the rankings in the search engines...

Does it sound like something that you would like to get involved in? I wouldn't.

The smart way to do it would be to offer some kind of SEO tools, like rank trackers or keyword research software, etc.

You know the saying - "Don't dig for gold, sell the shovels"...

It's very relevant to SEO.

You can expand your business in this area however for you to make the most money look into outsourcing to another country like India or Philippines,

Do the leg work yourself find good ethical companies in these countries start by looking on outsourcing web sites.You secure the work and the clients,

oversee what the clients needs are then you outsource the work,the client starts to see results and you see bigger pay days

Find the right people and you are laughing

SEO is a tedious job; zdebx is right on its first two sentences.
If you are interested in SEO then you must at least have knowledge or learn more about it; whether you are outsourcing or not.

You can create a cool attractive portfolio site....

I run a web design business. I know simple SEO which I implement on the sites I make but not to the extent where it will get them fantastic page ranking results.

I have found a program where I have access to wholesale prices and I can mark up accordingly. I think this will be the avenue I take as I really want to be able to offer customers SEO services!

[QUOTE=Is it a feasible idea to partner up with an SEO expert, get prices from them, and then mark them up so I can make a profit.[/QUOTE]

I think as long as you do actually find a good SEO expert and not someone that just tells you they know what they are doing and you are able to deliver good value to your customer why not mark up the pricing as your the one arranging it. It's no different than hiring someone in your company to do this but your really hiring them in a different way via freelance work. Absolutely no problem with that but again you have to be sure your able to deliver what the customer pays for. I guess you can always ask your SEO expert for references to be sure your not getting involved with a so called SEO expert that can't deliver.

J

I would recommend you outsourcing the SEO for a company rather than getting in partnership. It would reduce your work and cost.

Well, I wouldn't do that without solid knowledge. Take a risk not knowing exactly what I'm doing? No, ser.

I have been working on my own theory of SEO, and the bottom line is no you should not out source your SEO work.

the reason behind my conclusion is a little complicated but will hopefully be a small revolution for anyone reading this.

Firstly go to google and type in a major keyword in a major industry, i suggest your type in "Movie Streaming" now you will notice that the big companies such as netflix, amazon instant do not show up as an organic result until a few pages in where nobody goes!!! they will however appear as a paid ad at the top, where they may be paying 50p per click.

This is surprising as they are the most trusted and well known sites in this industry/niche, so what is the reason behind this? well it is in my theory simply becasue anyone who knows how to get top the top of google does not and will not work for netflix or amazon in an office somewhere 9-5 on a £30k salary when they can make at least 2x as much working half the hours at home for themselves, as organic google traffic is the golden grail of online marketing but only if you can stabilise your rankings!. you will notice the sites at the top for our keyword "movie streaming" has sites most people have not heard of, this is because they are built by groups of SEO jedis working together or even individually to get to the top and taking all advertising and affiliate profits for themselves.

So if you outsource to a company that says it will get you to the top then there cannot be any seo jedis who actually know what their doing as they wouldnt bother working for such a company.

If you want someone else to do the SEO for you then you will want to find someone who has proven they can get to the top of search engines with a portfolio of high ranking websites and then is wiling to help you, but not for a cost but as a partner in your business who is taking a helathy % of your profits, anyone who is willing to do this is clearly confident in their potential SEO results, although you will be sacrificing a chunk of your business you will have someone doing a real heap of the work.

It annoys me when seo companies tries to sell their services to people and give so called free advice and criticism, if their staff is so good at SEO why are they working in an office 9-5 on a middle class wage? I have worked in offices for numerous companies and have seen their SEO efforts within the IT departments and their efforts are absolutely laughable and their techniques completely wrong, this was when i realized i had to work for myself as my own sites had much more organic search traffic, and i was just 1 man who updated and worked on seo for my sites rarely. when i put a few hours a day in i saw results sky rocket as i was doing the right things rather than the wrong things that my previous employer was doing and is still doing as i like to fully analyse their site for curiosity?

I would like to hear others thoughts on this?

Well outsourcing SEO could be good as well as bad. There are a lot of great seo experts which you can outsource, But keep in mind a wrong decision can also make a negative impact on the website.So always try to hire someone with good reviews and reputation.And never ever use Fiverr for buying links or something, beleive me its a waste of money as well as time.

Just an update on how I went with it. I'm outsourcing to a local SEO company who are giving me wholesale prices then I'm marking up. Have a nice client base so far and it is growing. Thanks for all the answers. I have found outsourcing SEO to be a very profitable practice.

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You should definitely outsource your SEO and expand your activities (not with ukrainian hackers )

Check north american companies FROM search engine rankings (a great indicator)

Then check their portfolio of clients ! There are some great SEO compagnies out there, ready to bring the best results for your clients

When outsourcing/reselling SEO, you have to keep in mind that whatever results people get, you'll be the one responsible. If the SEO pro penalizes your clients' sites, it's on you.

I would suggest you familiarize yourself with the process before considering this as an option, and after that working only with transparent partners. By having some understanding, you'll be able to communicate with your clients properly, and if the situation calls for it, step in and take things over.