Is it smart to hire a SEO expert?

Can it fit in your budget?

I think there is more value in distributing your content around social networks than hiring a SEO expert for now. Figure out your demographic and find an alternative way to market to those individuals without spending money on SEO. The big time players dominate the first couple of pages on search engines, so it might be hard to compete in the beginning. Find keywords that you can be competitive in and do a little SEO research yourself. It can save you money and go a long ways...especially if you get an understanding for it early on. I would personally get a second opinion on pricing, so you have something to counter with.

Thanks for your advice everyone. I just don't see myself spending $250-$100 an hour for SEO engagement. I'm happy I got a good response from the community. I will definitely dodge the "SEO Expert" from my graphic designer and take a look into seobook.com and seomoz.org for myself and start learning the basics. Thanks again for commenting and sharing insightful information.

I have been doing SEO for ten years with excellent results. In my opinion:

SEO is warranted when top rankings are critical for your success. I focus on professionals for whom a new customer is worth at least several thousand dollars over the life of the relationship. For them, it is a no-brainer; it pays to be at the top, where the business is. The fees are more than covered in the first dozen customers.

I respect great design, but I have yet to encounter a graphic designer who demonstrated effectiveness of their SEO knowledge. That is not to say there aren't any, just that designers have been known to stress design considerations over effectiveness of a site in getting traffic. Many designers use Flash, which is difficult if not impossible for spiders to read. What is necessary for SEO often doesn't please designers.

My suggestion would be to have a knowledgeable SEO practitioner work with your design team from the start.

You may have a difficult time finding the right SEO person, as many claim to understand it, but few do. A marketing background is helpful. It is not as easy are reading a book and adding metatags.

SEO involves the architecture of the site, the domain name, the design of content, and the wise use and placement of the appropriate keywords, which are usually not the ones someone might think are appropriate. People search using "problem words," but businesses often use "solution words" on their pages. When the two don't match, customers will fail to find the solution.

With that said, I would add that for most sites, we don't charge a monthly retainer to tweak the site. A one-time payment to do it right the first time is often sufficient. Our clients continue to stay at the top. I am astounded to see the number of businesses paying SEO firms large monthly fees where no SEO services were ever performed. It pays to educate yourself.

SEO can be the most cost effective way to obtain business, far more effective than PPC, in many cases.

Good point about using social networks.

Pricing of SEO is problematic, because price often bears no relation to results. Someone is always willing to give you a lower price. Perhaps it may be better to find someone who can give you the results you want at a price that makes sense for your business model.