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Basic SEO -
How to
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Sunday, 29 June 2008 23:23 |
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One of the most difficult aspects of SEO is determining how to budget for it. If you have no previous exposure to internet marketing, then it may feel like plugging a number into the SEO line of your budget is like taking a shot in the dark. Many newcomers to the world of SEO actually choose not to include SEO in the budget at all, believing that the costs are negligible, or that leftover money from other line items can be used for SEO. But not having a budget at all is more detrimental to the success of your business than budgeting inappropriately. Including SEO as a line item, even if your estimations are incorrect, at least indicates an awareness of just how important SEO really is. Fortunately, there are some reliable ways to
determine how much of your business’s budget should be dedicated to SEO. The first is to consult with an SEO professional. A short consultation is relatively affordable for all but the smallest businesses, and you can easily come away from the meeting with a clear idea of how much you should be prepared to spend on a complete internet marketing campaign. If you’d like to determine your budget without an initial outlay of money to a professional, consider how important organic SEO is to the success of your business. How well is your site performing currently and how much overhaul do you anticipate will be necessary to make it reach its full potential? How are the websites belonging to your competition performing? Is your target audience computer savvy and are they doing most of their research online? Finally, is your website your primary mode of making sales? Answering these questions will help you determine just how important SEO is to the success of your business. Another option is to simply dedicate a certain percentage of your marketing budget to SEO. The average across all industries is 6%, but you may consider dedicating more since more and more of your competitors will likely be implementing SEO techniques if the future, if they aren’t already doing so now. However, if you determined while answering the questions above that the majority of your customers will find you some way other than internet search, you may be able to lower the percentage of your marketing budget used for SEO to 2%. Before determining how much you should spend, do a little research to find out what the standard is in your industry. For a small business, you can expect to spend anywhere from nothing (although it’s certainly not recommended) to $10,000, depending on what you hope to get out of your SEO and how much you have to spend. It’s no secret that spending more will result in higher search engine rankings in a shorter amount of time, of course, so while spending $10,000 may seem out of reach, consider the return on your investment. You will find that that your profits increase exponentially as a result of good SEO, and that the amount spent in hiring a professional will seem miniscule when compared to the benefit you receive in return. In summary, SEO should never be an afterthought in the budgeting process. Instead, it should be one of the first things you consider. After determining how important search is to your business, consider what percentage of your marketing budget you’d like to dedicate to SEO, remembering that your return on investment may be surprisingly high. Or consider a quick consultation with an SEO professional to determine how to best budget for the task. |
