Are you considering SEO for your small business? Yes? This post will help you.
When we talk about online marketing, SEO or Search Engine Optimization plays a crucial role. It is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of website traffic.
If you are not considering SEO in your online marketing strategy, you are missing out on so much. Although SEO can take some time to work & generate results, the efforts are worth it.
SEO Vs Paid Ads
Many marketers often get confused between SEO and online paid ads. Choosing between the two can be quite difficult because both have their own pros and cons.
With SEO, you can generate organic traffic to your business website. While with paid ads, you will be paying money for driving traffic to your website. If you are looking for a long-term online marketing strategy, then SEO is perfect for you. If you want to generate quick results, then running paid ads can be a good idea.
Depending on your marketing budget, goal, and other factors, you need to determine whether you want to focus on SEO, paid ads, or both.
SEO
Search engine optimization won’t just help your website get organic traffic; it will help you build trust and credibility as well. People trust the top results provided by search engines. When your website gets a top position on giant search engines like Google, it will help your business increase visibility and build brand awareness.
Over time, Google has introduced various algorithmic updates. The purpose of these updates was to provide the best experience to visitors and help them get the right information. Earlier were the days when ranking on Google was possible with low authority backlinks and keyword stuffing. Google updated the algorithm and started prioritizing the websites that deliver the quality user experience.
No matter how much effort you put into generating backlinks, optimizing the content, etc., if your content is not good, you will have difficulty getting higher rankings on Google. High-quality and relevant content is something that can set you apart from the rest of your competitors.
What Includes In SEO?
Before you go ahead and get started with an SEO campaign, it is imperative to understand what includes in the process. We can categorize SEO into three parts – on-page SEO, off-page SEO, and technical SEO.
Each of these three parts are so important. If you want your site to get on the top faster, you can’t neglect any of these. On-page SEO is all about optimization techniques performed within site. Off-page SEO is about optimization techniques performed outside the website. And, technical SEO is about fixing technical issues in the website.
On-page SEO consists of the title tag, meta description, header tags, content optimization, etc. Off-page SEO consists of backlinks, social bookmarking, directory submissions, etc. Talking about technical SEO, it consists of sitemap generation, robots.txt file, site loading speed, etc.
Performing these three types of SEO in a correct way will help you provide a quality experience to your users and stay apart from the competitors.
Hiring An SEO
Rather than DIY, it is a good idea to hire an SEO professional. Hiring an SEO would be an investment for your business and not an expense. By hiring an SEO professional, you can focus on the main tasks essential to your business.
Before hiring, it is essential to check out the agency’s/freelancer’s past work, experience, etc. This way, you will have an idea about what you can expect from the services.
How Much Does SEO Cost?
If you want to get SEO service for your business website, the first thing you need to know is SEO is a long-term process. Many people think that SEO is a one-time development process, which will keep generating results once it is done. However, this isn’t the truth. In order to keep getting results from SEO, it is important to keep putting in efforts.
An experienced SEO professional will focus on providing the best user experience by doing on-page, off-page, and technical SEO of the website in a correct way. If you have not hired an SEO professional before, you might be confused about the cost. The cost will vary based on so many factors. It all comes down to your requirements. Apart from pricing, another thing that affects the SEO cost is the experience of the SEO professional.
Obviously, an experienced SEO professional or SEO agency will charge more money than the new SEO professional. If you are planning to hire an SEO agency or SEO company, make sure it has enough experience and expertise in the field. This way, you will be ensured that you will get results faster.
Coming to the cost, it will also vary depending on the location and whether you are hiring an agency or a freelancer. On average, the hourly SEO packages for agencies is $100 to $150 per hour. For SEO consultants, it is $75 to $100 per hour. While, for freelancers, it is $41 to $50 per hour. If we talk about monthly SEO costs, it generally starts at $500 per month, and it can go up to $2000 per month and more. It will be based on the scope of the SEO project.
When you hire an SEO agency, SEO freelancer, or SEO consultant from countries like India, you will have to pay a lower cost. SEO professionals from India charge lower prices because their cost of living is lower than other countries like United States, United Kingdom, etc.
Generally, SEO agencies in India charge Rs. 6000 (<$100) to Rs. 25,000 ($350) a month. These are the average pricing plans. The pricing can vary based on so many factors. For a small business, getting started with a plan costing between $200 a month to $500 a month can be a good idea.
Final Thoughts
SEO is an essential type of online marketing. With SEO, you are building a long-term marketing strategy for your business. The cost will vary based on factors like your goals, agency/freelancer, experience, etc.
