Hiring A Pro
The question of what kind of professional to hire is largely dependent on the size of your business, and the needs that you have. I'll try to give you some clear guidelines though.
It is important that you understand the concepts that this site teaches, so that if you DO hire a pro, you'll know whether they are promising you realistic things, or whether they are using effective tactics, or worse, Black Hat strategies that could harm your site. The issues are pretty much the same whether you do them personally, or hire someone to do it for you.
Now, each professional will emphasize the importance of the different strategies just a little differently than others, but they should have a balance in the things they recommend, and they should not just focus on one thing to the exclusion of all else.
If your business is very small, your primary SEO assistance is going to be one of the following professionals:
Your web designer. They should be able to do much of what you need done as the site is built, or as an improvement to the site. You may have to choose the keywords, write the title, etc, but they should be able to insure that the site is search engine friendly, install the proper tags, etc.
A good copywriter who is experienced with SEO issues, but who also understands the need for cost containment. Remember I said that good quality text content is the most important feature that your site can contain to be accurately indexed? A good copywriter can make a huge difference for you if you cannot write the text yourself.
If your business is growing, and you have a larger budget, and a need to do more things than what are listed in the chapters on The 6 Most Important SEO Strategies, and More SEO Strategies, then you should consider hiring someone who specializes in SEO issues. Make sure that they are going to do more than what your web designer can do before you dive in though! And be prepared to pay more for someone with the expertise to do more.
SEO can be VERY expensive to make minute changes, so even when you hire, you need to talk to the pro about how to do the things that will make the biggest difference for the least expenditure first. Don't let them waste your time or money doing things that cost a lot, but yield relatively little in comparison to other possible strategies.
A good professional will have many options, and will recommend an improvement on the things previously done, plus an additional array of tactics to fine tune the function of the site. They will also be up front about costs, and realistic about potential returns.
If they mention a need to eliminate a redundant domain, or that you should remove outbound links from your site to protect your pagerank, or if they bury you in technical jargon that they cannot logically explain to you, RUN!!! The first two things are myths that only amateurs or shysters waste your money over (they are pure myths), and the last is an indication that they won't be able to work with you in a comfortable way.
Never EVER hire someone who promises miracles, or who promises fast results. SEO is a slow process, it can take months for changes to appear or have an effect. They should be able to give you a reasonable plan, and a way to know if it is working, but expect it to take several months, and for good results to be an IMPROVEMENT, not a rocket ride to the top.
Learn the facts for yourself, and be involved in the choices. You'll be more pleased with the results if you do, and you'll keep yourself from being taken advantage of.
