Many agency owners are still struggling to transition from traditional advertising to digital marketing. While this may seem hard to believe, in 2019 there are still many agencies that are focused on traditional methodologies and have not made the digital transition. By any estimation, the digital revolution is well underway and an agency that does not have a strong digital advertising and search engine optimization product will fall behind their competition
What is less well-known is the opportunity for agency owners to partner with outsourcing firms known as white label SEO companies. These are companies that specialize in delivering labor specifically for paid digital advertising, marketing and search engine optimization services, but are happy to operate in the background. This allows an agency owner to represent the product as their own through this process known as “white labeling.”
How to find a white label SEO partner?
So how does an agency owner go about finding one of these white label SEO outfits? While the profits associated with a wholesale SEO product may be very appealing, there are many pitfalls that need to be avoided as well. This is a product that your clients will see, and will have your logo on it. For these reasons it is critical that a thorough selection process appropriate due diligence be undertaker before any partnership is formed.
What to look for in an SEO partner?
The most important component to be evaluated when selecting a white label SEO company is if the overall SEO philosophy fits with yours. There are many different ways to complete SEO work as most marketers know. Some firms tend to be less transparent about their work and not share the details due to fears about what Google may or may not like. These firms are to be avoided.
A great partnership will be born out of transparency where information freely flows between the agency management team and the white labeled SEO team. In essence these two organizations are serving the client together, with the agency operating as the sales and account management group while the white label team operates as the fulfillment group.
Just as in any organization, you need these two groups to have highly functional communication patterns and high levels of trust. Without these two aspects it is nearly impossible to have a successful business relationship that puts the needs of the customer first. This should be easily discernible as you start your interview process and complete due diligence on any firm you’re considering partnering with.
What questions to ask
White label SEO teams will be accustomed to this process as they have worked with many small agencies in the past. If they do not have a long history in business you probably want to avoid them as you do not want to be a guinea pig. Select the team that has many positive reviews online. Also pay attention to how they handle customer service. This will predict the level of communication you can expect as you move into client engagements.
Strong white label organization will have clear process and strong results. You should be able to see this in customer satisfaction survey scores from previous agencies. They should be able to speak to their process and there should be well developed technology to assist how they deliver the work.
Ask specifically about link building
Paying attention to how the white label organization builds links will also be of critical importance. There are a variety of different backlinking tactics that various organizations undertake, some of which Google actively frowns upon. It will be important that you select a team that uses techniques that you are comfortable with and believe will produce great results for your clients. Of course it is impossible to know what techniques they use if they if there is not broad agreement to be highly transparent in the work being completed.
To operate at any sort of scale the white label SEO team will also need to be highly organized around a workflow process. Before you sign on to be partners ask to see how their workflow is actually managed. There should be a high level of organization to the various tasks they will be completing for you and it should be very easy for you to see when these tasks are due, and when they were delivered. The last thing you want to run into is delivery problems when you have the client’s at stake.
White labeled Dashboard
Any strong outsourcers will offer a white label dashboard as well. Through the vendors dashboard you should be able to easily see the workflow items mentioned above. It should be relatively easy to navigate into the dashboard and find what tasks are coming, when they are you, and what has been completed.
A white label dashboard is also integral to having a smooth customer service experience. You want to select the team that religiously logs every customer service incident in their white label dashboard and has strong response times.
With the goal of growing your agency to a very large size, it is critical that your outsourcing partner is able to scale with you. The use of a white label dashboard on both sides of the fence will facilitate communication so that work is never lost in the customers get their deliverables at the agreed-upon time. Ask for a demonstration of their dashboard and ask many questions about how discipline they are in using the various features as well as what features are visible for you.
Finally, it might be the case that the white label dashboard is available for your clients as well. This will offload some of the customer service work from your team. If you are able to have clients use self-service to look up various easy tasks you will save time. Of course this is not possible for all types of clients. Larger clients, in particular, expect to have things fed to them and will not be as interested in self-service. Regardless of who actually looks into the dashboard, it is essential that the technology has evolved to the point where it is reliable and able to handle a large amount of work.
Conclusions
Many agency owners are not aware that white label SEO providers can boost their profits and minimize the investment needed in staff. As more business owners move their agencies from traditional methodologies towards digital marketing, white label SEO outfits will become more in demand and onboarding will become easier and easier.