Sorry for the long post here, I wanted to provide some context on myself and the business. I appreciate any feedback.
I operate a small tour company in Chicago, IL. I've been operating the business for 3 years, we've had what I would consider success. We've grown each year (more tours, more guests), are TripAdvisor reviews are very positive and we grow them each month. The business is at about a break even point with every indication that next year will be profitable. For the first time ever we're operating tours in the winter, we have a solid team of guides and relationships with local accommodations that will help (or should ..) feed guests our way.
It's important for me to call out that this is a side business of mine. For the vast majority of these 3 years in business I have been employed full time, except for the last 4 or so months (new baby). I'm going to be heading back to work shortly after the new year.
Back to SEO. Right now a lot of my traffic is generated via paid sources, primarily Google PPC. I also spend on Facebook, but I bucket that spend primarily into brand awareness vs looking to get bookings. I'm sure this strategy is debatable. But never the less Google PPC is generating a large portion of my traffic today. When I started the business 3 years ago I aspired to create enough content that by now I would be getting most of my traffic through organic searches. Most likely due to my lack of SEO knowledge and poor execution this hasn't come to fruition.
My site has ~40 blog posts, vary in size from 500 words to >4,000 words on a variety of topics specific to my location and travel. There are roughly an additional 20 pages. It's a Wordpress website and the name of my company is all a target keyword.
38% of my traffic is Paid, 24% is Organic. Ideally I'd love for those to be flipped.
I recognize that I have (most likely) not set my site up for success in terms of SEO from the get go. I also recognize that while I know enough to be dangerous I don't know enough to develop a plan, stick with it and measure the results. I also know that my Google PPC results - particularly over the last year - have been "all over the board". At one point 4-5 months ago I accepted a call from a Google-employee/search consultant/helper and they steered me into a Display campaign that was .. just dumb and expensive. I feel like they are adding more tools and changes and I'm not able to keep up. My fear is that my costs will rise for the same results. Weening my business off PPC is a goal of mine in 2019.
All of that being said I've made the decision that I need to invest into SEO. I'm considering engaging a company like The Hoth with their Hoth X product ($250 setup fee, $500/mnth) or a comprehensive (is it even comprehensive?) SEO course such as the one offered by Brian Dean's Backlinko company SEO that Works 3.0 ($4,000 one time payment or $400/month).
I'm torn. On one hand The Hoth would be almost entirely hands off and in theory I'd start to see results in 3 or 6 months. On the other side is an opportunity to teach myself a skill that could possible pay dividends down the road. But I'm not sure I'll have the time, energy or discipline to actually execute using my new skill set.
Anyone have thoughts on this? Outsource SEO or learn it?
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from Search Engine Optimization: The Latest SEO News https://www.reddit.com/r/SEO/comments/9v2dtz/seo_training_course_vs_outsource_the_hoth/>
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