SEO : Questions to Ask When Budgeting for Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
In the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) industry, there is a lot of question and debate regarding how and what to charge for SEO services. Because the SEO industry itself is still in its growth stages, determining how to set pricing and package SEO services can be exceedingly difficult. Even more difficult is the task of the site owner trying to compare and price SEO firms. Obviously, this makes budgeting for SEO difficult as well.
It is amazing that so many site owners and large corporations opt for huge Pay-Per-Click (PPC) budgets in lieu of SEO simply because the SEO process (including pricing) seems foreign and confusing. PPC is usually fairly straightforward from a cost standpoint, or at least it can seem so. Actually, it is a shame that a customer would rather spend more for fewer results (in the long run) simply because the Search Engine Marketing industry as a whole has developed a pricing model that is difficult to understand.
The intention here is not to be negative about PPC; it definitely has its place and purpose. However, when compared to Natural SEO, the long term impact is not nearly as cost effective.
So, how do you budget for SEO?
You can start by answering the following questions before throwing a random number in a spreadsheet or your "SEO RFP":
•Was your site professionally built? This can impact the amount of work an SEO/Development team will have to do to make it Search Engine-friendly.
•Is it performing well/at all now? Do you know your current Search Engine Referral Rate? Are most of your search referrals using your brand name to find you or are you getting traffic from generic product/service phrases?
•Your competition: Are they optimizing? Do they have professionally built sites?
•Your market: Are they a tech savvy group? Heavy online users? This will give you an indication of how much business you might be missing out on by overlooking SEO.
•What are your expectations? Do you expect the web to contribute significantly to your sales? If you start by answering these questions, you will begin to understand how important Search really is (or could be) to your business. It will also help you to realize the state your current site is in and whether or not you should allocate a significant portion of your marketing budget to Search Engine Optimization.
At the end of the day, good SEO is not going to come cheap. It can cost anywhere from $10,000 per year for a small business to a few hundred of thousand dollars per year for a large business with a huge site. In the budgeting process, it is worth it to take your time and answer the above questions honestly. Only then can you begin to correctly plan your Search Engine Optimization budget. Your SEO budget should not be a function of the surplus funds available in your IT or Marketing budget. Instead, it should be determined by how much work there is to be done, and how important results are to your business.
Jennifer Geh is a search engine optimization specialist & web marketing manager with The Karcher Group, a web development and search engine marketing firm based in North Canton, Ohio. Jennifer is responsible for ensuring The Karcher Groups clients' SEO goals are met each month as well as providing online marketing strategies for each of them. Jennifer also manages our pay-per-click clients, works on optimizing Web pages for natural search listings, and handles off-page optimization efforts. As part of The Karcher Group's SEO Training Seminars, Jennifer presents on Pay-Per-Click Marketing.
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