December 19,2014
By Chris Fidis
SEO Services Cost & Pricing – How much should you have to pay for excellent SEO?
For the answer to the above question we need to break it into 2 questions. The first question is how much does SEO cost and the second question is how much should you spend for SEO services. Let’s try to answer both questions with real examples with experiences I have collected over time in the SEO services industry.
Why do you need SEO?
Before talking about cost the first obvious question to answer is why do you need SEO services. Below is about the benefits of SEO for businesses in these articles:
•Small business in simple terms SEO
•Small businesses benefits of SEO
•Small business owners 10 SEO tips for startups
SEO, Internet marketing can and will help your business grow faster than any other medium or method. A Google study points out, businesses that use the world wide web are more likely to grow faster than businesses that don’t. SEO will help your business use the world wide web more effectively. This will produce a greater return from your online investment.
How much does SEO Cost?
The first question many small business owners ask is perfectly normal to know in advance and before making a decision. How much SEO will cost your business depends. There are 3 different pricing models when it comes to buying SEO services:
1) Per hour
2) Per project
3) Monthly
SEO Services per Hour
Per hour is the most popular pricing scheme. You pay the SEO Company or SEO consultant a fixed rate per hour. You make an agreement in advance of the activities to be performed with the estimated hours needed. At the end of each month (or project) you are given a report with the details and the actual number of hours worked. You then process a payment to the SEO company / SEO Consultant according to the agreed hourly rate.
Define the SEO hourly rates range?
The rates range for SEO services goes from $20 per hour to $200 per hour.
This huge difference depends on a certain number of factors, some are explained below:
Region – According to different studies SEO services in international countries costs more (on average) than services from a United States SEO company / SEO consultant.
Company size – The bigger the SEO company the more money you will pay for SEO
Exceptions to the rules.
For example our hourly rate at the moment is $50 and we offer SEO + Internet marketing services for small and medium businesses
(see details below as to why we can offer lower prices).
SEO Services Per project
Different than the per-hour pricing scheme.
You agree with the SEO firm a standard price for the project as a whole regardless of the hours spent.
Typically there is a 33% down payment and the rest paid in predefined milestones (i.e. completion of campaign, go live for a redesigned website etc.).
This method is better in most cases when you are not sure how many hours are needed for tasks and it is preferable for budgeting purposes.
SEO Monthly Services
Many successful SEO campaigns will expand over one month. One of the best solutions is to agree on a monthly charge.
The most common monthly range is $500 – $1500. This is our most popular package and what most of our clients prefer
especially located in the US.
What is the best pricing model?
The best pricing model is using a combination of all 3 above.
What we do with clients is come to an agreement where:
•Any clearly defined tasks (like a website redesign) has a fixed charge
•We agree on an hourly rate and a monthly ceiling.
In other words we combine both the hourly rate with the monthly charge.
For example if our current rate is at $50 per hour and the client has a budget of $600 per month,
then we agree that the max number of hours worked will be 12.
SEO Services how much should you or your company spend?
Now you have an idea of the hourly rates and the most common pricing plans.
Next decide on how much should you spend on SEO services.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ answer since it depends on;
The type of business
Current Internet presence
What you want to achieve from SEO and many more.
The following guidelines below will help you decide how much to pay for SEO services:
SEO is not a cost but an investment – SEO is not a cost for your business, but it is an investment (and probably one of the best investments you will ever made). Once you start practicing SEO the results will be visible both in the short term but also in the long term. Have SEO done on your website this month, and start getting more traffic that will continue to grow over the next 12 months. Possibly more traffic without having to do anything else.
What percentage of your profits come from your online presence?
If your business depends on online traffic i.e. you have customers online, then SEO spending should represent your biggest budget.
Associate that with your monthly profits i.e. the more profits you make the more money you should allocate on SEO and Internet marketing.
If you are mainly working offline and you just need to have a proper internet presence then a fixed monthly budget would be more appropriate.
Hiring an SEO consultant or firm for 20 hours per month is sufficient to keep your presence (web site and social media) in good shape.
Start with a low SEO budget and then go with a long term SEO budget. This is better than a high SEO budget and short term.
SEO takes time and is a known hard fact. It may take up to 6-7 months for an SEO campaign to generate optimum results.
Have this in mind when fixing your budgets. If you have $10,000 to spend on SEO this year,
then better make it 12 months x $1000 rather than 2 months X $6000.
How much do we charge for our SEO services?
We utilize a combination of all 3 methods, allowing the lowest rates in the market.
The reason is that we have managed to keep our costs low by adopting a better form of SEO business practice.
This allows us to pass the savings on to our clients in the form of lower prices.
Our most popular SEO package is the bronze package which consists of 15 hours per month.
The cost is $750 per month which the package includes a range of services that go beyond traditional SEO like social media marketing, keyword research, competitor analysis, email marketing, content marketing and many more.
Before starting our monthly work with a client we usually do an SEO Audit.
This helps us understand the amount of work required to optimize our client’s internet presence.
It also helps the client get a warm fuzzy feeling of our quality of work.
General advice to give anyone when you decide to work with an SEO company / SEO consultant, have these thoughts in mind:
•How to outsource SEO without paying a fortune
•What to look for when hiring an SEO company?
Conclusion
SEO services does not have to be an expensive service. If you take into account the benefits, and the high (ROI) return on investment.
Prices vary per company, type of services offered. Small businesses that need to have a good presence on the web, with
social media should allocate a monthly budget in the range $500 to $1000 for SEO services.
SEO Services Cost & Pricing – How much should you have to pay for excellent SEO? By Chris Fidis
