Wondering how much to spend on SEO?
The world of SEO is constantly evolving and many businesses are asking the question “How much should I budget for SEO Services? I’m writing about what you need to know and what you can expect from different types of services.
The answer is different for everyone. But, if you want your business to grow and succeed online, you must invest in the best digital marketing services available. This includes search engine optimization (SEO). And while many factors go into determining a budget for SEO services, this calculator can help you get started with an estimate of what you should be spending each month.
You deserve the best possible chance at success when it comes to your business online. That means investing in the right tools and resources, like SEO so that your website will rank higher than competitors. If you don’t have a lot of money to spend upfront, don’t worry! There are plenty of affordable options out there today – from monthly packages to pay-as-you-go plans – all designed with small businesses in mind.
One of the most important factors to consider when deciding your budget for SEO is where you want to be and how fast.
What I expected vs. what I got
SEO is expensive, but it’s worth the investment to get ahead of your competition. One recent survey found that only less than half of all small businesses have any money earmarked for SEO.
Those who invest in an SEO service provider, average just under $500/month and are rewarded with a higher ranking on Google search results pages or being more visible through social media sites like Facebook or Twitter where people spend much time searching and browsing for information about products as well as services offered by companies online.
Over $500/month, 53.3% of businesses report being “extremely satisfied.”
Many business owners are hesitant to invest in SEO. Is it any surprise? Most of them have no idea how search marketing works. They’re far too busy running their businesses, trying not to fail like the other guy, and they think investing time into learning about something as complicated as content or link building is a waste.
But you know what’s worse than being hesitant with your investments? Getting started late because you were skeptical only now there isn’t enough money left for good quality advertising! Businesses need both an investment at first when establishing themselves online and continued work on SEO months after launching; otherwise, all bets are off if they plan on attracting new customers later down the line without spending more money upfront.
Low-cost SEO
There’s a lot of people out there who pose as SEO professionals, whether they’ve given it any thought or not. Some are just looking for a quick solution and will take on clients without knowing what to do. The scary part is when noobs ask questions that show how little knowledge they have about search engine optimization (SEO). Expect many sleepless nights reading up on keyword research before taking this job!
The collateral damage from the use of “cheap SEO” can be much worse than a business owner might think. If throwing away money by hiring an incompetent, lazy SEO was bad enough, this type of work could potentially draw Google penalties and virtually wipe out the visibility on the internet for your site! You need to have these discussions before you hire someone so that they know what tactics will be used.
Planning Your Resource Use
One of the reasons Google is so difficult to rank for might be because there are over 200 different factors that go into the ranking. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and paralyzed when trying to figure out how you can improve your site based on all these various signals in order not only to reach a high position but maintain it as well.
There are some steps you should take to have an efficient SEO campaign which includes focusing even if you rely only on three factors, you can still succeed, no matter your niche.
The following points need your attention:
1. Structure of information
The site should:
- Search engines should be able to crawl and access your site.
- For SEO best practices, follow the Google Webmaster Guidelines.
- The user experience should be optimized to ensure high quality (pay attention to Core Web Vitals).
- The site renders well on mobile devices, tablets, and desktop computers.
2. Having backlinks
- It must be natural. PBNs and guest posts that require payment need to be avoided. Consider building links that will boost your SERP positioning instead.
- The quality of the links is crucial: A smaller volume of high quality/high authority/relevant links performs better than a large number of low-quality links.
3. Intended content
It is recommended that the content of your site conform to the Search Quality Ratings Guidelines with an emphasis on:
- Providing value and being unique.
- Matching search terms.
- User intent must be satisfied.
- The quality of being high.
- Getting fresh content to satisfy the algorithm.
Measuring what you manage – setting goals
Setting goals for a campaign is not as easy as it seems. First, one must define the specific goal they want to achieve and then measure their progress against that goal over time. There are many ways people choose to measure success but there’s no denying Google SERPs remain an important metric in assessing how well you’re doing with your marketing strategy
Setting goals for your business could be improving organic sessions by X%, increasing conversions by Y per month, and/or increasing revenues by Z%.
When you set goals, it’s important to keep a couple of things in mind. First, they need to be achievable. Stretch goals are fine as long as your not asking for the moon! Equally important – give campaigns time to work before measuring their success or failure according to Google “in most cases SEOs need four months-to-a year help implement improvements then see potential benefit.”
Establishing a Budget
To succeed, you need to do what your goals say. This means you can make an action plan and the budget to support it. However, it is not always easy to see how these factors move the dial when you’re stuck within your own company’s walls trying to manage everything by yourself with limited resources.
Things can be made easier while still being successful if one realizes they need help; this brings us full circle back around again- positioning oneself correctly so as work smarter!
- Do you have a competitive information architecture?
- What is the state of your content strategy in comparison with your competitors?
- Do you have any backlinks that you would compare against the most highly ranked sites?
The answers to these questions will determine priorities and the volume of work needed for you to reach your goals. The difference is that, in many cases, it’s likely that what you’re doing at a budget level “B” might be similar but only do more content than would need to be done with a lower-level budget like “A” so there’s an increased likelihood of success if you have twice
You need a budget that is affordable for you. You should be able to sleep without any problems. One year would be good, but twelve months would be better. It takes time to properly plan an implement your campaign in order to evaluate its success. The lower your budget, the longer it will take until you see any results from SEO efforts but as long as there’s no loss in the quality we are happy with how much our clients spend on their campaigns!
Local campaigns can range from $500 to 1000 a month. If you’re looking to launch an international campaign, the cost ranges between $2000 – $5000 monthly without any contract in place! Some firms offer “trial packages” at much lower prices for those interested before committing long term.
The world of SEO is like a maze. The sheer volume and complexity can be overwhelming for the average person, but it all starts with learning the basics. Learning to crawl before you walk will allow you to stand on your own two feet in no time.
Using SEO Cost Calculator to measure Organic Search (SEO) ROI
It is common to measure ROI in SEO (incorrectly) using the calculator below.
Calculating the ROI of organic search using a “one-shot” assumption
Example: Offering blue widgets
- In a given month, how many new customers were gained through organic search. = 10
- Revenue (profit) of order on average = $100
- Monthly profits from customers found using organic search. = $1,000
- Marketing budget (expenses) monthly = $2,500
- Monthly organic marketing costs ($2,500) versus new customers’ profits ($1,000) = ROI = -60%
The above calculator is flawed because it does not consider the lifetime value of a new customer.
Online retailers need lots of customers, so they can grow. A new customer may represent only a small portion of the retailer’s earnings on that purchase but over time they will become an invaluable asset as their lifetime value is calculated and revealed.
Adding lifetime value into an ROI calculator is the proper way to calculate ROI:
A calculation of the ROI of organic search assuming a lifetime value
Example: Offering blue widgets
- An estimate of how many new customers were acquired in a given month via organic search = 10
- An average of net income per order (profit) = $100
- Amounts earned by new organic search customers within a given month = $1,000
- Per customer average number of orders over a “lifetime” = 5
The average profit over a lifetime = $5,000
- (Expenses) for marketing on a monthly basis = $2,500
- The amount of money you will make from new customers ($5,000) divided by the average organic marketing spend ($2,500) = ROI = 200%
There is a significant difference in how ROI is expressed by including that one variable.
This is the takeaway
Organic search campaigns and SEO are often seen as an investment for companies. Unlike PPC, organic search will not yield immediate results but instead take time to show any benefits from the campaign.
If you want to see your conversion rates go up, it’s time for a change. Start by looking at the traffic you are getting from these channels and then make decisions on where to focus your energies going forward. We can help with that! Let us know how we might be of service today so we can get right down to business making those numbers rise and in turn increase sales.
