The ever-evolving world of technology has continued to influence marketing and business strategies with tools like Google Analytics and other webmaster tools being a driving factor behind huge decisions and budget allotment.
There are some fairly impressive and compelling statistics about SEO’s potential for a business:
- “Nearly one-third of consumers in the U.S. use the internet to search for local businesses every day.”
- “ 76% of people who search for a local business on their mobile phone visit a related business 24 hours.”
- “More than half of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product while using a search engine on their phone.”
- “66% of people perform some type of online research before making a purchase online.”
- “Leads from search engines have a 14.6% close rate, while outbound leads (ex. cold-calling, direct mail, etc.) have a 1.7% close rate.”
What Is SEO?
SEO has been around since the mid-1990s with the launch of Yahoo and the idea that if a business was going to appear in the Yahoo search results, they actually had to manually submit their website to Yahoo directly.
That’s just not how it works anymore. These days, when you make a website publicly accessible, search engines will try to find your website and rank its content. The search engine ranking will determine when your site comes up on a list of search results for any particular query.
So, if you own a local gym and want prospects to find you when they look for gyms in your area, your search engine ranking matters a lot. If you’re buried somewhere on the 30th page of Google results, people won’t find your website, and it won’t help you get more members.
SEO is the practice of improving a website to help it on those search results. Standing for “search engine optimization,” this practice involves a lot of specific techniques that make your website easier for search engines to find, and they compel the search engines to rank you better.
There are a few key elements involved, but essentially, SEO pros will help you figure out what kinds of searches you should target (often called keyword research). They will help you develop content on your website that provides valuable information to people who actually type in those searches (known as on-page SEO), and they will help your website design to ensure that the search engines find and understand your website and its value (which involves off-page SEO).
So, how much is SEO worth for a small business?
While it’s difficult to put a price tag on the worth of SEO and every small business design, business plan, marketing strategy, and overall business budget varies, business owners across the world believe YES, SEO is definitely worth it.
In today’s uber-competitive market, small businesses across industries can use all the help they can get when it comes to attracting customers.
SEO has a track record of results, but it is an intentional marketing strategy that involves effort, consistency, and a budget. We feel a statement from an article by the Topflight Agency summarizes the worth of SEO nicely: “Appearing at the top list of search engine results exposes your brand and business to millions of potential shoppers, leads, and business opportunities.”
As a small business owner, you’ve probably heard two phrases that we feel are very accurate in describing the potential worth of adding SEO to your business and marketing strategy:
- You can’t make money without spending a little money.
- You get what you pay for.
So, at this point, you might be wondering, what does SEO actually do and what is this going to cost?
Effective Small Business SEO
In a nutshell, when it comes to digital marketing, you can connect SEO with where your small business website will rank on a user’s search results list.
There are many steps to putting successful SEO in place for your small business, but there are five bigs ones in our opinion:
- Keyword Optimization
- Compelling Content
- User Experience
- High-Quality Links
- Keeping It Local
So, What’s This Going to Cost?
Deciding to implement SEO into your small business’ marketing strategy is no small decision and many business owners actually lean on the expertise of an SEO consultant or agency.
Depending on your business, the return on investment (ROI) you want to achieve, and your overall monthly budget, SEO costs can vary greatly.
According to David Freudenberg of Seo with David, “The average monthly SEO cost is $500 to $1,000 per month depending on the pricing model offered, services, scale, and experience of the SEO agency or freelancer.” He also noted that, “Companies that spend over $500 per month are typically satisfied with the quality of their SEO services.”
It’s also important to note that SEO is a longer-term strategy, just like most marketing initiatives with a small business. You need the time to see what the data says and you need to crunch the numbers and do the analysis.
Experts like David mentioned above recommend waiting six to even twelve months to figure out if a current SEO strategy is working for a small business or not before switching gears.
Clearly, SEO has lasting value, and Fastech Solutions can help you plan and execute an SEO strategy. Contact us today to get started.
