The Top 7 Tips For Becoming A Better SEO Manager
If you’ve been tasked with managing a team of SEO professionals then this blog post is for you.
If you’re a webmaster who is outsourcing SEO work to a 3rd party agency or contractor this post is also for you. In SEO like many business ventures, if you have the right talent and can coordinate that talent in a productive and efficient way, you can succeed beyond your wildest dreams.
Unfortunately this rarely happens.
What you see more often however is an SEO team led by an SEO expert who wants to dig deep into the SEO details all day, essentially doing all the work his/herself. This leaves inefficiencies all over the place and more importantly, a lack of real leadership and coaching on behalf of the manager.
This blog post breaks down specific tips an SEO manager can follow to be better at leading an SEO team. To achieve more results and to create more of a „team” atmosphere. Here they are:
1. Hire Outside Expertise For Consulting
Take the Abraham Lincoln - „Team of Rivals” approach and start reaching out those you consider as good or better than you at SEO. Seek their advice and consulting. Pay them to sit down with you an answer various questions that you need their opinions/answers to. You’ll be surprised how much they know that you don’t!
2. Listen To All Ideas From All Team Members
No idea is a bad idea. This must become your mantra. Listen to all ideas and treat all ideas with the upmost respect. Every once in awhile one of these new ideas from someone on your team will save you!
3. Spend 1 Hour Per Day Looking at Analytics
Analyzing data. Somebody’s gotta do it? Who better than the SEO manager. Analyzing data will allow you to „script the critical moves” as it’s famously described in the book „Switch.”
4. Spend 1 Hour Per Day Learning
You’ve got to stay on top of your RSS Feeds in the SEO industry. 1 hour per day should help you accomplish this. Otherwise you risk being out of the know.
5. Spend 1 Hour Per Day Strategizing
Somebody on the SEO team has to constantly have the clear vision of the business and of the SEO strategy in particular. That’s you, the manager! Brainstorming and taking notes should be your favorite time of the day.
6. Delegate. Delegate. Delegate!
I recommend using a project management tool like Basecamp so you can manage tasks and due dates on specific projects. Spend quality time delegating instead of doing. Empower and trust in your people.
7. Allow Your People Room To Take Risks
Don’t suffocate the members of your SEO team. Give them room to take risks. It may cost you early success, but in the long run you’ll gain more success from those individuals than you otherwise would have. Allowing people to take risks is the best investment in their education.
SEOs are a unique group of people. To be a true SEO means you’ve had to do countless hours of research and testing on your own to find answers and solutions. SEOs are problem solvers by nature. It’s the very material that makes an SEO an SEO. Which can complicate things at the manager level. That same personality that gives SEOs the ability to learn on their own often times hurts them when they become managers because they want to continue to do everything on their own.
The successful SEO managers shake themselves free of this „do it yourself” mentality when they hit the managerial level. They learn to leverage the expertise of those around them and more importantly, they learn to trust! I hope these tips help you better manage your SEO agency or reseller SEO agency. Good luck.