How much does a website cost? SEO

 

Without SEO, your website is exactly the same as a brochure or flyer. What we mean by this is that the only way your customers can find information about your business is if you provide them with the details directly. If you have no SEO, a business is equivalent to being a small fish in a big ocean, a needle in a haystack, a planet in a solar system etc. There are approximately 1.15 billion websites online at present. Check out how many websites are creating LIVE (http://www.internetlivestats.com/total-number-of-websites/#trend). every second.

So, there are 10 results per page on Google. If you are selling clothes(very competitive market)from your e-commerce site to a worldwide audience, do you honestly think it will be easy to beat all the competition for a high ranking? Obviously, the more competitive the market the more difficult it will be. A taxidermist in Banagher will have less competition than a Web Designer in Dublin. for example. There are numerous factors to account for and each business is different. This is why it is important to differentiate between “SEO” and the actual Search Engine Optimisation.

SEO and real SEO

There are specialist agencies that do this and if you take your online business seriously then you will be advised to go with them. Of course, there are web developers that are competent in SEO but just know the difference. If you think you are getting SEO and the price is less than €1000, forget it. The site might be optimised for SEO but if there is no agreement to continue a working relationship, then there is no SEO going to be done.

Hard Work

As the saying goes, “Hard work pays off”. It is the same when it comes to web design. The more work that goes into SEO the better the results.

Benefits of SEO

The benefits of having traffic coming to your website are obvious;
1. Sales
This is the overall goal of any business. Having customers come to you is the ideal dream. When you do not have to go out and try to sell and bring in revenue is one of the most difficult things any business is faced with. Having a product that people want and where people can find it easily makes things a whole lot easier.

2. Experience
SEO helps improve customers experience. It is designed to be customer focused. Your site needs to be up to date with all the latest design, be user friendly, fast, responsive and secure. The better the experience a potential customer has on your site inherently dictates whether they will buy from your site. Having your site designed with access to different information throughout your site makes it easier for Google and users to navigate.

3. Visibility
Organic searches far outweigh cold advertising when it comes to conversions. By concentrating on those who are looking for your service or product is more effective than outbound marketing strategies(cold leads) in terms of expenditure spend on each. Billboard signs, tv adverts, newspaper ads all are outbound marketing and are quite expensive. Why not invest that into a proper SEO campaign that:
a. is more of a long term approach
b. costs far less
c. you can contribute to
d. has a farther reach than most traditional forms of marketing

People no longer use Golden Pages or business directories. They use keywords on Google.

4. Return on Investment
SEO is not a cost but an investment. If you are willing to skimp and save on increasing sales for your business then you are destined to be skimping for a long time. You may not understand SEO but there are people out there that do. We understand that people are afraid of things that they do not understand. Just focus on the benefits and let the experts do the work.

There are many web developers that advertise themselves to do SEO but to what level?

SEO is an ongoing task that is not a “ONE CLICK SOLUTION”

The more you put in, the more you get in return.

5. Cost-effective
It is one of the cheapest ways to market your business. It does take time but it is cheaper than traditional forms of advertising and it is a long term solution.

6. Brand Awareness and Trust
If you are on the front page of Google for your keywords it not only increases brand awareness but just being there increases the perception of trustworthiness.

Many web designers have sites SEO ready, but that is the tip of the iceberg. There is off-page optimisation(Linkbuilding, blogs, forums posting, profile accounts etc) to take into account. The more references to a businesses site throughout the internet the better it is for your site. The more Google sees a particular site(without being spammy), the more authoritative the site is regarded and the higher the ranking it is given. It is not just about getting a site, and that be done with. No, no, no, NO.

So how much does SEO cost? That is impossible to tell anyone because it depends on the industry and competition involved, it could vary wildly. You can go to page 1 in a matter of weeks to months to even years depending on the intensity of the SEO campaign. It is not an exact science just like sales, somedays you win, somedays you lose. If you work hard enough at anything though, it will pay off.

So, having looked around at “Professional SEO” firms, the price per hour varies from €85 per hour to €100 per hour possibly more. Depending on the number of hours required per month and intensity of the campaign, the more hours required, the greater the hourly discount. Example

1 Hour of SEO – €100
2 Hours of SEO – €190
10 Hour of SEO – €800

For small companies, this looks like a significant investment. The income might not cover the cost initially but over time the business will gradually see that reverse. Obviously if a small business is entering into a very competitive market, the higher the investment required.

Check out our next blog next week. How much does a website cost? Conclusion