There’s no denying it – SEO (search engine optimisation) can take a lot of time, patience and money to get right. It sounds like a pain, to be honest. If you’re here, you’re probably wondering if putting your time into SEO is really worth it.
There are so many other things you could be focusing on in your business – and only so many hours in the day. So, what should you invest your time in?
In this blog post, we’re going to take a look at the pros and cons of investing in an SEO company and if it’s the right choice for your business.
Do You Need SEO?
Basically, YES.
SEO is one of the most important components for attracting ongoing leads to your website and making sales. Now, a website can’t succeed in a competitive market without it.
It’s always the goal to have consistent growth in your business, but unfortunately, most small businesses fail in their first year and only 30% of businesses make it past 10 years.
To stand a chance of outdoing your competitors and getting new customers, you have to be at the top of the first page of Google. Why? No one scrolls to page 24 and says ‘hey, these guys look legit, let me spend my hard-earned cash with them’.
How do you get to the top of Google? SEO.
It’s in the name!
Despite what some dodgy people might try and tell you, SEO is not a purchase-once, completed-overnight kind of thing. SEO is an investment (you already know that) – it takes a lot of time, effort and skill to get right.
Once you have got your place on top of Google, you’re visible to everyone – including your competitors. And rest assured, they’re going to do everything they can to take the sweet spot from you. They’ll have to put in as much effort as you have to get on top of the search engines – which is why you should never stop developing your SEO strategy: stay on top and reap the benefits.
SEO delivers high-quality traffic (and more of it)
It’s a well-known fact at this stage that people don’t like adverts. You don’t want to watch them on the telly, menus in restaurants lie to you about how your food will actually look and the amount of ad block plugins that are installed on a daily basis is incredible.
You can pay to get to the top of a Google search and you will appear as an ad but the chances are a user will scroll past all of the advertised websites until they hit the organic searches. Why? Because the user will see this website as being more trustworthy as they didn’t have to pay their way to the top.
Good SEO relies on high-quality content that’s relevant to what your ideal customers are searching for. When you write original, interesting stuff on your website that your customers click on and spend time reading, Google takes notice.
When you’ve pushed ahead on Google for the content you’re making, based on searches customers have made, your website is promoted to more people that search for similar phrases. By targeting search areas your ideal customers respond well to, Google delivers you more of those kinds of visitors.
SEO effects last longer than PPC and are more cost-effective
Woah Woah, ok we know we said SEO is an investment and costs money – but it still works out more cost-effective than PPC (Pay Per Click) advertising.
With PPC ads on Google, Facebook and other sites, you literally have to pay every time somebody clicks on your ad. This can cost anywhere from pennies to hundreds (or thousands, depending on what words/phrases you’re bidding on). All for one click. Not a guaranteed customer – just someone clicking on the ad and being taken to your website.
On the other hand, SEO works on building up your organic clicks from the search engines. Not only are you considered more trustworthy than paid-for ads (see our point above, who likes adverts), but the hard work you put in now will last months, if not years. The great thing about SEO is, its influence and effects build up over time.
So, if at this moment in time you’re spending a crazy amount on PPC but getting a crap conversion of actual paying customers, getting a proper SEO strategy down can seriously help your online efforts. As well as increasing organic clicks, it’ll help your click-through rates for paid ads – because a well-executed SEO strategy will also enhance your website and make it more user-friendly.
So, how much does SEO cost?
First of all, you have to remember that SEO is an investment. When it comes to talking about costs you should consider the future of your business and not just how it affects it at this current moment in time. When you build a website, add relevant content and optimise it for search engines you are building an incredibly important asset for your company. Your website is your 24/7 sales machine.
For every pound you decide to put into SEO it will provide you with leads and conversions continuously. If you use PPC yes you’ll get some instant traffic and maybe some sales but once you stop forking over the notes, it all goes down the drain.
So, given that SEO is an investment, how much should you invest?
The amount you should invest in SEO varies depending on a number of things:
- The agency you use
- The niche you operate in
- How extensive your strategy is
- How long you invest in it for
- Which SEO tactics you use
SEO packages can range from £200 per month to £8,000+ per month. It’s entirely dependant on what a company’s needs are.
Is SEO Worth It?
Yes. How are you still asking this question?
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