I was recently reading Brick Marketing’s blog – SEO Firms in India: Are They Any Good? – and it got me thinking. Digital C4 uses an India-based service provider for our back-end SEO-related services and we couldn’t be happier with the service, results, effort, and thoroughness of what they deliver. But that said how we went about forging this relationship is most likely MUCH different than how most do it.

I get no fewer than 2 emails each week from an SEO provider in India touting how they can provide me with cost savings and service that is unparalleled and I delete them all. I’ve heard of horror stories from people that tell me they Googled ‘India SEO firm’ and it didn’t work out. Does this really surprise anyone?

If you’re a company that depends on web traffic for your business – or in our case a company that is building its livelihood on SEO as a service – then you really need to spend time (and money) vetting providers to get what you really want. Oh, and it’s not easy! My business partner, Jason, has been to India, where he spent time with what became our team. He got to know them personally, reviewed their business processes, and watched them in action. Our team has been to the States and spent time with us. Over the course of the last 3-4 years, we’ve forged a working relationship that is now based on trust and understanding. To say that we now have a well-oiled machine would be an understatement.

All of the cons that Brick Marketing mentions in their blog are definitely worth considering…

> Price – you do get what you pay for. I would say that we definitely didn’t go with the lowest cost provider, but we’re still the best value in town!

> Marketing-minded – there are many that are over-focused on just SEO. This is why we spent the time we did finding the right partner. Our team thinks holistically about SEO, SEM, web development and how these all fit into the greater picture. They work tirelessly with us to make sure we fit into our clients overall marketing strategy.

> Language barrier – definitely takes time to work through this, but if you put in the work and find the right partner this can easily be overcome. You’re going to have to do some writing and editing, but share this with your team and they will get better and better!

> Time difference – there is one, but use it to your advantage. While you’re sleeping, they’re working, so we always get all our needs over to our team by the end of the day. When we get back to our offices, we usually have what we need to deliver to our clients.

Is outsourcing SEO your best bet? I would say it depends on what you’re looking for. But, I’ll say this,  I’ll put our results, and work, up against any locally-based provider any day of the week. Our clients are all seeing results and I couldn’t be more proud of the work we – as a collective team – do day in and day out.