How Much To Spend On SEO
“How much should I spend on SEO?”
That’s a question we hear from many clients and potential clients who want to know, up front, how much of their marketing budget should be funneled to SEO services in order to see an optimal return on investment.
SEO, or search engine optimization, is just one part of Internet marketing. Whether you’re just creating a website, or you’ve had one for years, you should be investing time, money and effort into your website, and the best way to do so is with an effective Internet marketing campaign.
Internet Marketing & Your Business
Online marketing, or Internet marketing, is comprised of all the actions you perform to promote your company online. There are a lot of actions that fall into Internet marketing, including advertising online, social media marketing, building a network of links, SEO, and even content management.
Traditional marketing can lend a hand in helping you understand Internet marketing. Just like traditional advertising, you can use adverts to help reach your customers. However, finding your potential consumers can be easier online thanks to Google Analytics and other marketing tools. Online advertising can include ads placed on websites, paid-for links on search engine results pages (SERPs), and Pay-Per-Click ads.
You can also set up ads on social media pages, like Facebook, Twitter and Google+. These allow you to reach your target audience while attracting new users, followers and customers.
The overall purpose of an Internet marketing campaign is to improve profits, but other goals can be simultaneously accomplished if you have the right strategy. Through Internet marketing, you can build a better company reputation and improve brand awareness, reach new audiences while appealing to your target audience, and of course, rank well on search engine result pages.
The Power Of SEO
The most recognizable form of Internet marketing is search engine optimization (SEO). This process optimizes websites (and individual web pages) so that they can rank higher on SERPs and drive traffic to the site.
SEO can encompass many different actions. While it can focus on optimizing the text-based content on your site, it can also require changes to page titles, headlines, meta tags and more.
So, why do you need SEO? To put it simply, you need SEO because your competitors are using it to improve their websites and reach their audience. If you don’t compete using the right SEO strategies, then you’re allowing your competitors to scoop up all the potential clients that could be yours!
At Gainesville Marketing, we develop custom SEO strategies for each of our clients in order to optimize with the keywords that are most likely to get consumers to your site. If you optimize for the wrong keywords, or for keywords that your clients aren’t using, then it doesn’t matter how much money you spend — you still won’t be No. 1 on Google SERPs for relevant keywords.
As you can see, there’s a lot to SEO, and all of these actions can take time. Not only do you want to create original content using the most relevant keywords, but you also need to have a website that is user-friendly. Highly rated sites are generally easy to navigate and are mobile-friendly, providing the user with a better experience overall.
What Is Link Building?
Link building is just one part of SEO, and although it is an important part, it can also be one of the hardest tasks to accomplish.
Inbound links on a website are important. Not only can you increase the number and variety of users who head to your site through inbound links, but you can also improve your website’s authority. When many sites point to your website, search engines take notice.
So, what kind of websites should link to your site? It depends on the industry and content, of course, but also the type of consumers you want to target. An blog focuses on your industry could send hundreds of potential consumers to your site, but you have to be willing to ask for the link. And some bloggers might turn you down.
TIP: Don’t forget to ask your friends, family and colleagues to share a link on social media sites!
Blogs, forums and online media sites (like newspapers, TV stations, and magazines) are all great sources of inbound links. But don’t forget about schools, non-profits and chambers of commerce. If you are sponsoring or hosting an event, get the local media and government pages to link to your website, your blog discussing the event, and even your online press release!
Creating a vast network of links doesn’t require any money, so many business owners assume it is the easiest portion of SEO. However, getting other companies and authorities to link to your site can be complicated.
Ranking With SEO
Without SEO, your site won’t rank on Google or the other major search engines. In order to be on Google’s first page, you’re going to need an aggressive approach to SEO. And if you want to be in the top 10 or top 5, then you’re going to need a competitive Internet marketing campaign.
It’s true that newer websites can be crawled and indexed at a much faster rate than was possible just a few years ago. However, if you plan to compete with a large national site, or even a local site that has been well established, it’s going to take time. Your competitor might have built up a network of thousands of inbound links over the years, in addition to creating high-quality, original content, connecting with users on social media, and having a solid brand recognition/company reputation strategy.
How Much Should I Spend On SEO?
Now we get down to it: How much do you need to spend on SEO?
It depends. The cost of hiring a professional Internet marketing and SEO service agency will vary based upon the size of your website (how many pages you need to optimize), as well as whether you’ve been implementing any SEO tactics over the years. The cost of SEO will also depend on how many services you want to use, and whether or not you have a current website.
At Gainesville Marketing, we provide proven SEO services at competitive prices. Not only do we have several SEO packages from which you can choose, but we are available to help you through every step.
- Content Creation: If you don’t have a knack for writing, our team of content writers can create original content for every page on your site, including your business blog.
- Local SEO: Reach your local audience through our innovative tactics and drive traffic to your site as well as your store.
- PPC Advertising: Take control of your advertising budget and make sure that, no matter where you land on Google, users can find your website.
- SEO: Our SEO strategies can set your website apart from the competition, attract traffic to your site, and improve your organic search engine result rankings.
If you have a lot of competition, then you may need to amp up your SEO strategy. However, if you’re in a niche, then you may not require such an intense SEO plan.
One thing to remember is that SEO is an ongoing process. You must keep a watchful eye on search trends by users and make sure that your website content remains aligned with the keywords that users search for — otherwise, consumers will never find your site!
Let Gainesville Marketing help grow your business with our strategic Internet marketing services. Contact us today and work with the best!