Marketing comes with a cost and every business has to decide what cost it wants to incur for its marketing strategies and has to make a calculation regarding how much his investment will pay back in terms of profits, loyal customer base and user engagement. And it is not untrue if I say Search Engine Optimization also needs a careful planning.
Every business person asks his marketing team,’ how much should we put in for the SEO costing?” Here are a few tips that will help you in deciding the amount for investing in SEO services, cutting your extra expenses and help you rank better.
Payment models and SEO costing
Business persons have a similar doubt everywhere regarding the costing incurred in SEO and what they are expected to pay. Here is a consolidated list of survey of cost range depending upon the payment models.
● Monthly retainer
Customers who have a limited budget and can spend depending on the income, they usually go for this payment model where they retain the services of the SEO agencies and pay on a monthly basis. The ROI is higher in this model making it the most favoured model.
The cost range varies from $750 to $5,000 a month depending upon the size of the business and the extent of services expected from the agency. The smaller SEO agencies are at the lower rung since they can provide only a limited amount of services to the companies. And on the higher rung are the agencies that can offer a wide selection of services to their clients and are full-fledged SEO agencies. Moth companies pay $2000 to $5000 to their monthly retainers.
● Fixed prices for contract services
For a company that is foraying into SEO and are looking to test the waters, contract based services is the best choice. Most agencies also work on contract basis where the customers want a set of services completed before they decide upon hiring the agency on monthly basis.
Contract based SEO services include SEO copywriting which is priced $0.15-$0.50 per word, site content audit priced $500-$7,500, link profile audit priced $500-$7,500, and social media site setup priced at $500-$3,000.
● Pricing based on project
Customers who are looking for a pricing structure that is tailor made to suit the needs of the project usually prefer this payment model.
For every company there are bound to be various projects, ranging from small to big, thus, creating the demand for project-based pricing which can be anything from $1000to $30,000 depending on the size of the project.
● Consultation rates
Companies who do not want to invest extensively in SEO services or are simply entering the SEO grounds, hourly based consultation rates are also an option for them, which ranges from $80 to $300 depending upon the expertise of the marketer.
Tips on investing in SEO
Before finalising on the SEO investment, every business person should take into consideration these four vital points and only after proper deliberation should he or she plan on the SEO investment.
– The overall marketing budget
Having a proper marketing budget will give you an edge while you are selecting the agencies for your SEO needs and will be able to better determine the level of investment you can make for SEO.
– Your competitors and the target audience
Having a clear picture of who your target audience are will help you narrow down the keywords and the key phrases that the potential customers are likely to use when looking for a product or service that you are selling.
Also, keep an eye on your competitors’ websites and see what is helping them to better.
The main aim of any SEO strategy is to show your website in the top two positions of the search results and if your website manages to do so, that means your website is already optimised and you can invest less in SEO.
– The best payment model for your business
Earlier we have understood the various payment models and their costing, thereby, making it easy to understand the needs and requirements of the projects or the company as a whole, you can decide on the model you want to choose for your business.
– Finding the right agency
An agency that guarantees hundred % results and 100% ROI is a big no-no as there is no guarantee how well your SEO tactics are going to work. Keep you goal in mind and see if the agency is capable and reliable enough to get you to reach that goal.
