What Should SEO Cost Per Month?

What Is SEO?

Do you know what SEO is? SEO is actually the way or technique that you can use for creating a better ranking and online presence for your business in the digital world. An effective SEO strategy can involve the use of the right kind of description for the business, utilization of some keywords associated with your industry, creation of backlinks along with various other activities. With the success of these activities, you can expect an increase in the level of sales and the customer base. So, it is one of the most appropriate forms of marketing that you can spend your budget on. – billlentis.com/what-does-an-seo-person-do

How Can You Manage To Incorporate SEO Marketing To Your Business?

If you need to establish a strong online presence in the target market, you will need strong SEO services for this purpose. There can be two options for availing these services. You can either do them on your own or hire an individual or a digital marketing firm for this purpose. As a starter in the business, you might not want to spend some time learning the process and applying it to see if it really works. So, in that case, you will have to hire an SEO expert who can provide you with the suggestions for maintaining a better rank in the digital market along with the actual implementation of these suggestions for getting the things done.

Cost Of SEO

Once you have made the decision of getting these marketing services from the others, then the question is about the cost that you will have to incur on getting these services. Asking it generally from the experts, the first answer that you are going to hear about the cost is that “it depends”. No doubt, it is a frustrating answer especially if you are dealing with too many things for a startup but believe us this is the most appropriate answer that the marketing experts can give you as an initial response. SEO is not something simple or customized for which the price could be set and told to every customer in the same way. Neither can a single strategy would be workable for different customers, serving different niches, nor would the marketers want to put their services in the customized box. All this makes the cost of SEO one of the subjective topics that would require handling it from different aspects before a particular statement could be made.

In order to initiate this debate on the cost, you will probably want to know the working hours of the marketers on a certain project and their expectations regarding the remuneration for each project or each hour. So we have broken down the cost element into smaller bits of information that you can get and analyze for finding the right price of SEO that you would pay to get the best services from the right experts.

Factors Impacting The Cost Of SEO

Up till now, you will be aware that the cost of SEO services cannot be determined with the help of a yardstick rather it is a subjective category of service where factors ranging from the expertise level to the size of the business and the ultimate objectives under consideration. So here, in this section, we have discussed the various factors, which can have a strong say in getting you the “price” of your SEO expert.

1. Competition In The Industry

With this heading, you will be probably wondering that this is something that your products or services will handle on their own and you might not need an SEO expert altogether. Isn’t it? Then just let us clarify the importance of the competition in pricing and the role of this factor in the price estimates. The competition in the industry impacts the requirement of effort and the number of activities that must be taken up by the SEO expert for getting your business to a better position. If there are multiple businesses providing the target audience with the same product or services, then you’ll have to make sure that there is something unique for the audience to listen to your message. Same is the case with the search engines. The search engines can recognize each of the business that is available online in that particular category but when it comes to showing the result, the search engine will give preference to the business, which has a more online presence with neatly sorted content. So, your SEO expert will have to work harder for that impacting the cost of SEO that you would have to pay. We hope that you have understood it fully now.

2. Local SEO Or Overall SEO

Getting a name registered in the target market is a difficult task, but the level of difficulty differs with the number of people and the location that would have to be considered for this purpose. If you are looking to get your name registered in the local area, it is particularly easier because of the limited competition and lesser reach requirement. However, when it comes to the registration of business in the metropolitan or the entire country, managing the SEO gets difficult. This level of difficulty determines the cost of the SEO. According to one of the research works, the local SEO experts are known to charge $96/hour whereas the worldwide SEO experts are known to charge $114/hour.

However, one of the things that you must consider here is that local SEO is not easy when it comes to the real terms. Here the comparison of difficulty has been made with reference to the activities that need to be performed for local SEO and the countrywide SEO.

3. Industry Of Business Matters Too

In some business, the application of SEO creates enormous impacts whereas if the same activities are performed for the others, the results are not very prominent. This is because of the overall amount of traffic that is associated with any industry. Once you will contact the SEO expert for getting a high ranking in the online market, he or she will have an idea about the situation of traffic and the effort needed to make it better. Based on it, you’ll get a quote or the price for your SEO handling.

4. Existing Condition Of The Business

SEO of your business is highly dependent upon your website, so the condition of your existing website is important. Additionally, the number of backlinks, keyword rich content availability, listing of your website is some of the other aspects that must be considered in the “existing condition of the business” from the perspective of SEO cost. Then comes the question that whether you have used SEO previously or not, as it will impact the effort required by the business. In case the SEO has been handled poorly previously, you might have to pay extra money to get it right too. In the online world, a step taken in the wrong direction requires more effort and time to get it to the right track.

5. Where You Want To Reach?

You can ask this question from yourself before you look for the SEO experts to help you. Why? Because this is, the question that a professional would ask before getting starting. SEO is a vast dimension and so are the results. If you are nowhere on the internet, then being on the top will require a lot of your effort and time and you might not even be ready for it. So, answering this question will help the marketing expert in finding the outcome that you are expecting from your website and thus the efforts that must be put in.

Imagine, if you have just started your digital business without any experience in SEO marketing, you’ll probably want higher efforts for improving your position. But if you are already in the stream of improvement, the efforts required will probably be lesser than the first attempt. The case changes further if you are amongst the top service or goods provider in the industry. at this point, the SEO activity would have to be focused and probably more regular to get you the result you desire. So finding where you want to reach with this ranking tool can help you find the answer about the cost that you could be paying.

6. Time Available For Job Completion

Getting to the top in weeks would require your experts to use the SEO strategies without a break. He or she will probably have to manage dozens of activities for helping you to improve your ranking. With such a hectic routine and efforts, you can expect a higher rate but with a slow approach for improvement, you can get a better rate. So the time available for improving the ranking of your website is an important determinant of the price that you should expect for your business.

7. Quality Of SEO

You might find experts or people who are willing to provide you with effective SEO within a few dollars a month. You might be tempted to avail those services but one thing that you must consider is that the quality of SEO is something that would help you in getting most of the results from this activity. Without quality, all your efforts and money would be in vain. What do we mean by the quality here is the type of links generated to your page and the audience attracted. The people who are offering cheap SEO services often have a link of websites and networks, which are used for the generation of backlinks, and this is probably the only activity that such folks commit with you. So what’s wrong in that? one of the things that are problematic here is that linking to a specified website without any sort of relevancy might create a warning for you by the search engines. This would lead to a decrease in equity and placement of your business in the negative books of SEO. So, you must not get involved with any such task that can create problems for you in the long run.

8. Marketing Agency Or Freelancer?

The choice that you would select between the marketing agency and freelancer will also impact your cost. In most cases, you would expect marketing agencies to charge high rates for their services as compared to the freelancers. The principle of “the brand” that works in the industries works here too. you’ll have to pay higher if you are looking for the branded services, but if you are going to settle for the non-branded one, you can lower your cost. What’s the average difference in the rates? Well, after knowing this difference, you’ll probably inclined to have freelancers performing this service for you. On average, a marketing agency can cost you $100 – $150 per hour whereas the freelancer can cost you $40 – $ 50 per hour, which is actually a difference of around 50%. You can definitely use freelancer services but one thing that you must consider here is the skill of the individual that you are hiring. You might ask for the past experiences of the freelancer or a profile containing portfolio etc., as it will help you in selecting the right candidate.

9. Experience Of SEO Expert

If you are considering the marketing agency, then the presence of the company in the market and in case of freelancers, their experience are also the important factors in the pricing of the SEO services. people and agencies with more experience in the market will charge you more as their experience will be translated in handling the issues faced by your website. The average rate according to the retainer pricing model for an SEO expert with 2 years’ of experience is $1,266.31. but for the people beyond 2 years of experience, this average rate increases to $2,563.20, which shows that the experience matters in this industry a lot.

Pricing Models Prominent In SEO Industry

Now when we have discussed some of the activities and variables that can have an impact on the actual pricing of the SEO industry, let us get you through the three pricing models that can help you in getting a slight idea about the ways that you can use for settling up your price dealings with the expert that you have hired. There are three models available, which are discussed below.

1. Project-Based Pricing Model

It is one of the most prominent models of pricing that is used by a number of firms and marketing experts present in the industry. in this pricing model, you’ll be charged for the entire project of building up your ranking from the existing point to a better position. However, no commitments for the improvement of ranking are made in this model rather the activities that are responsible for the increase in ranking are managed for a fixed price. the fixed price of the projects can be dependent on the size of the business and the existing ranking position. This is why the prominent slots that we can mention here for your convenience include $1001 -$1500, $1501-$2500, $2501-$5000, $5001-$7500. After analyzing your business, the markets can provide you with the right kind of slot where your business requirements for SEO would fit in.

2. Retainer Model

In this pricing model, you can hire the experts or the marketing agency for a particular period of time by paying a monthly fee for their services. they’ll keep on helping you and building up your reputation online with the search engine till the time of the contract or the payment of the monthly fee. you can say that by adopting this model, these experts can become the part of your team and can be there for you whenever you need any help regarding the online ranking of your website and the overall business. The fee being charged is dependent on the marketing agency you have hired. Typically, two price ranges are prevalent in the industry. these include $250-$500 every month or $2500 – $5000 each month. You might consider that the difference between the two price ranges is a lot but this difference signifies the expertise of the SEO expert and the size of the marketing agency hired.

3. Hourly Pricing Model

The last model that you can have is the hourly pricing model. You can pay your SEO marketing expert for the time he or she has spent in managing your page SEO. This rate can range from $80 to $150 for each hour, with a variable number of work hours. In this case, one of the things that might create problems for you is the exact number of hours that you’ll count towards the payment. Your opinion about these hours could be different from the marketing expert. So, if you are thinking to go for this pricing model, you’ll probably consider this aspect under consideration and would come up with a strategy that will create a win-win situation.

Three prominent Activities To Consider For SEO

If you are a business with limited resources and you don’t want to spend the high costs for hiring an SEO expert for your business, then you must consider these activities to be done for getting a better ranking in the digital world even without an expert. These activities include:

1. Architecture Of Your Website

You must ensure that the architecture of your website is easy to handle for the search engines. The page speed must be fast because non-responsiveness of the websites lowers the ranking and credibility of the websites. Moreover, the presence of mobile-friendly websites together with the websites one can help you in getting a better ranking. So, you must work in this dimension.

2. Attractive Content

The content of your website must be attractive both for the search engines and the audience. The use of keywords in the natural form, maintaining the natural keyword density and satisfying the fresh content algorithm are the prominent aspects that must be handled and included for managing the attractive content.

3. Building Backlinks

You must build backlinks to provide the element of credibility for your website. But you must consider that backlinks must be of high quality and not paid, as it would not bring you benefits rather they can destroy your existing reputation with the search engine. So beware of that.

Conclusion

With all the information that has been provided above, we are sure that now you would have some of the idea about SEO techniques and its pricing. There are various internal and external dimensions, which can impact the pricing of SEO. So, you can make a few decisions before you start searching for the right individual to do this job for you. Firstly, you must decide the objectives of your business and SEO. Secondly, you must decide a budget for this activity as you might find an expert in your budget too. Thirdly, the decision about hiring a freelancer or a marketing agency is important. After answering these questions, you can actually analyze some of the prices that we have mentioned above to get a rough estimate for getting the SEO Expert. Overall, your cost would remain in the range of $1000 – $5000, a month.

We know that this cost for a small business might be too much but if SEO will be handled efficiently, you can expect higher business and more customers for your business. So get in touch with an expert today to know your final quote.