i dont want to deal with clients except at the keyword generation phase.. that’s an AE’s job.. plus i’d rather be working on the clients website than doing sales presentations, account management, proposals, phone calls, etc..

i do have to deal with the client sometimes.. but that’s pretty much when i want to insert myself to help them reach better goals.. plus when i have to deal with IT depts of big fortune 50 companies.. it’s kinda of a good thing to “talk amongst the geeks” instead of being the lead client contact… they have a job, i have a job and we collaborate a lot better than when it is the AE’s telling the IT peeps..

Joking aside, I’ve now run the gamut of working in-house for a large company, as a specialist for a few agencies, and now as a consultant on my own… The entire time I’ve almost always recommended working with a consultant rather than an agency. I personally think the pros/cons for a consultant far outweighs the pros/cons for an agency.

I agree that there is a good fit for consultants over agencies in the right situation. I have also seen the situation you describe regarding small businesses not getting the attention they deserve. In that case the agency should really take a good look at it’s business model and not take on projects they cannot properly serve.

Plenty of SEO consultants are out there doing the “fake it til you make it” game. If you made a list of the top 5 SEO blogs I know 2 of them that were playing this game until the past year or so.

Poor management, whether it’s a managing a company or a consultant managing the multiple hats they have to wear is what kills a business.

As far as profits go, I’ll take a company’s 25% profit on $2m in sales over a independent consultant’s 50% margin on $200k any day. But that’s just me and my capitalistic tendencies.

Some consultants have really figured out a system for themselves in terms of running their own business and may be a much better fit for some kinds of projects.

In other situations, like enterprise SEO for example, a company’s resources are needed – for both short and long term consulting as well as oversight of implementation.

There’s no need for too much attention on the grammar in comments.

“Oh dear” is right. I have a personal example to share.

This blog ranks #2 on Google for a phrase with over 560 million search results – “online marketing“. I suspect the top two PPC ads (Google and Yahoo) wouldn’t mind that spot.

Last year we received just a mention, albeit a very positive one, in an article in The Economist. That mention brought us FAR more actual business than the “online marketing” ranking has in 2+ years.

There’s nothing wrong or unprofitable about successful mass market visibility.

Yes, trying to appeal to the masses is dead.

I, for one, am happy!

Oh dear, I would really hope (yes, this time just a keyword as I strongly suspect you actually believe that) that was just a kind of ‘attention-grabbing shock tactic’.

I’d suggest you research the history of SEOmoz and consider again what effect traditional media, particularly niche periodicals, actually have, and how that compares to even top placement on a competitive (over 50 million) results search term.

Seriously, if there’s any SEO agency or consultant that wouldn’t give up a year of page one placement for the phrase “SEO” for just one feature article in one issue of Time magazine, they are certifiable. )

Barabara, I would certainly hope that *all* agencies and cnsultans involved in web marketing ated in the contex of the market in question, the client’s position in that market, their marketing plan, and ultimately their business plan. I think that’s a basic assumption for all true marketing activities.

Lee,
just because I don’t often comment (think this might be my first here) doesn’t mean I’m not a fairly regular visitor. You usually come up with some pretty good topics of interest each month, so its rare I’m not by at least once in that time, and often more frequently.

The issue with consultants offering their knowledge for implementation by junior staff within the client’s company is the lack of professional oversight. Most U.S. companies that hire SEO services do not implement recommendations at all, or properly.

For example, the value of site audits is only as high as the implementation, not the quality of the consulting. While the consultant’s job is done after report delivery and consultation, improper implementation is often attributed to the consultant, not the in-house teams.

At the same time, I see an increasing number of requests for exactly the situation you describe, where companies what to hire a certain consultant because of their reputation in the industry. That and word of mouth from other clients.