What’s a fair price to pay for SEO?

Introduction

Most businesses recognise these days, that if they are not investing in seo, that they are missing out.

That’s to say if your not investing, well you can bet your competitors are. So as their online orders stack up, you could be missing out.

But that’s pretty obvious right?

What’s not so obvious is knowing which agency to choose. After all, most have rather funky and catchy names.

So this is where most businesses use an approach they are used to, and that’s let the price of the services guide their decision- but is this a good idea?

Well, we think no, and the reason being is seo quotes can vary massively. That’s to say some agencies charge such low prices its obvious that there is no real work going on, that’s because no employees would be working for such a low fee.

Yet, on the other hand you may have your more established agencies, and the rates that some quote well they may just be too high for a lot of businesses to afford.

So this brings us back full circle, how much should a business be paying, and what is considered fair?

It all depends on the competition

Now, before you go handing any money over to an agency, you must consider this, and that is what you should be paying for seo should be dictated by the level of competition you face as a business.

But don’t think for a second that all agencies that chance their arm and charge high fees are the best in the business. The reason is it is well known that some agencies do not do a good job.

However back to the main point, and that is which every agency you choose, they should weigh up the competition prior to offering you a quote.

So your fixed fee, we can offer the world type agencies, well you guessed it, these can sometimes be a waster of time.

After all, what’s a £1000.00 a month seo investment going to do if the business operates in a really competitive business sector, like car insurance, well in reality its not likely to do much at all.

The reason being is the competition, i.e the other car insurance companies are likely to be spending many hundreds of thousands, if not millions to ensure that they grab all the visitors they can get.

So the name of the game is this, the client has to be realistic about what can be achieved, and also the client needs to watch out for agencies that over promise, yet are likely to underdeliver.

Cheap seo normally = rubbish results

Now we may well be going over old ground here, as we have just said something rather similar above.

Yet, it’s worth throwing this item into the mix for consideration also, that is not all methods of seo will help your website.

That’s to say it doesn’t come down to all seo agencies offer the same types of work, as they do not.

SEO work can vary massively, from high quality work that will help to increase sales, to the low quality, rather rubbish seo.

Now rubbish seo can actually mean that a website incurs a penalty. For those of you that do not know a penalty can have severe implications, which means your businesses website drops in terms of where it ranks.

Also, keep this in mind also, really rubbish seo, well that can mean a website is removed altogether.

The reason being is the search engines, i.e Google may well think the website is spam. And this means that the search engine will think you are trying to fool the algorithm, and this can mean the business loses where it ranks completely.

In a nutshell

So basically picking an agency comes down to more than just money. The reason being is pick the cheapest quote you can find, and then the agency implements rubbish seo, well then it could cost you a lot more to rectify the problems that the agency caused.

What we mean by this is rubbish quality backlinks, well it could mean another agency has to spend days disavowing rubbish links, and this could result in a hefty bill.

So a word to the wise, invest in a respected and knowledgeable seo agency.

Quality matters

If you take away nothing else from reading this article, it should just be this one single piece of advice, and that is when it comes to seo quality matters.

So whether your agency is building business citations, ensuring that the businesses nap signals are consistent, or writing a new piece of content marketing, just make sure that the work is quality.

If you would like to receive a no obligation quote from our business, then why not give us a ring?

 

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How long does it take to get a business ranked on the first page of Google?

Introduction

It’s a question that’s asked to most SEO agencies on a daily basis. And that’s with good reason, as most businesses would like to start reaping the rewards that a business can obtain from being ranked on the first page of Google.

However, most business owners do not take into account the mountain that has to be climbed in order to secure first page rankings for a business.

This after all is to be expected, as it’s us seo agencies that should be doing all the confusing technical stuff, right?

Well yeah, that is true, however we think a bit of knowledge can go a long way. So, in order to bring seo companies and clients onto the same page, let’s have a look at what it takes to get a business ranking on the first page.

The bar is already set

Okay, we apologise in advance, but we are going to have to get a bit technical here for a second, that’s in order to explain how Google ranks websites.

All websites have something that us SEO’s refer to “ranking signals”- now this may sound a bit technical, but let’s water this down a bit. Ranking signals are parts of a website that get assessed in order to work out how strong they are.

So, a website ranking on page one, well you guessed it, that website will have super strong “ranking signals”. Now a website that’s on page 10 of Google, well that’s likely to have weak ranking signals.

Now in order to get your business onto the first page of Google, you have to have stronger ranking signals than the websites that rank above your business currently. Now this may sound really easy right?

Not really, as the goal posts are always moving. A website that is on the first page of Google may have already had a taste of success, in terms of more sales.

So, this means they are not willing to move down the ranks, not without a fight that is. With this in mind they will partner with an seo company, and invest in seo so that they also hold onto where they rank.

This is why when a business invests in seo, and their business is then ranked on the first page of Google, well it’s not a matter that investment can stop there.

That’s because there will always be other businesses that are quite simply looking to take your position.

Quality matters

When it comes to seo, quality does really matter. If a business was to cut corners, well its often the case that the website will incur a penalty. Now a penalty can mean that a websites rankings will drop, and this is why rubbish seo is never worth investing in.

It can take a very long time

There is no point beating around the bush, in order to get a business ranked on the first page of Google, it can take a long time.

As we mentioned earlier, a website has to have stronger ranking signals than its direct competitors.

Now with this in mind, a business may have been investing in seo for a long time, this often means there is much catching up for some businesses to do.

However the rewards of getting a business onto the first page of Google are often worth it.

Does your business require help with its online marketing?

If you require help with your companies online marketing, then why not give us a call today?

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Which digital marketing agency should we use?

Introduction

Most businesses now recognise that they need to invest in SEO. Without it, well your business could be potentially missing out on loads of sales.

The next logical step is to therefore choose a digital marketing agency. Now, this may sound pretty straightforward right?

Afterall there are tons of marketing agencies that can be found in most cities now, so you may be forgiven for thinking you are absolutely spoilt for choice.

And this is somewhat true, however the real dilemma is choosing an agency that offer’s high quality work, yet is also affordable.

Why the cheapest option is sometimes not the best

When shopping around for a rather generic office item, like a bunch of new desks, the actual price of the item normally sways the decision maker one way or the other.

However, when it comes to SEO, the price of the service shouldn’t be the only thing that makes you opt for that agency or not.

The reason being is rather simple, if rubbish seo is implemented, then this could result in the business incurring a penalty.

A penalty can mean that a website drops in terms of where it ranks, and sometimes the business can get its listings removed altogether.

Then you may well be shopping around in order to find a new agency, one that fix the penalty that has been placed on your businesses website. Yet an agency that has to sort out the rubbish seo that the other company has implemented before it may charge rather expensive prices.

This is why choosing the cheapest quote is not always the best approach to take.

Don’t just opt for the most expensive neither

Okay at this point, you may well be thinking you guys are offering advice that simply contradicts itself.

That is one moment we are saying don’t go for the cheapest option, then you are saying don’t go for the most expensive neither.

So which option do I go with?  

Well, some business owners take the opposite mindset of choosing the cheapest option, some automatically think that the largest agency, the one with the most expensive prices must be the best.

Well in some accounts this may well be true. Yet, on the other hand, we think its far better to judge the agency based on who is actually managing your seo account.

We say this because you may go to the most expensive agency thinking they are the best, yet your account may well be assigned to a junior member of staff.

Quite often most agencies will have some seriously clever seo consultants, yet only assign these staff members to the most important, and the most profitable clients.

Yet, for what they view as the less important clients, well they may just assign a junior member of staff, that may well be learning about seo on the job.

So, our best advice is this, schedule a meeting with the member of staff that is working on your seo, and pick their brains, you may want to take your web designer along for help with this.

Local sometimes is best

A lot of businesses now prefer to have their seo company based close to where their business is located.

This makes a lot of sense, as often businesses will not just want a monthly seo report, but also to have a meeting now and then as well.

How we can help your business

We are a digital marketing agency that can work with companies of all sizes, in order to obtain a no obligation quote, why not give us a ring?

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How much should we be paying for SEO?

Introduction

Most businesses now recognise the importance of investing in SEO (search engine optimisation).

After all, if a business isn’t online, and isn’t investing in white hat SEO, then you can bet that the businesses direct competitors may well will be.

So, by not investing a business may well be leaving the door wide open for a competitor to form a strong competitive advantage over their business.

Now that’s blooming obvious part out of the way! However, what’s less obvious is what a business should be paying every month for SEO.  

And this is where things get mighty confusing for a lot of business owners. The reason things can get confusing is prices can vary massively between the various digital marketing agencies.

Also, some marketing agencies may try and pull the wool over a business owners’ eyes as to what represents a good deal. This means not using the best white hat seo methods, and instead cutting corners to save on costs.

Cutting corners when it comes to seo is a bad idea, the reason being is that a website can incur a penalty.

A Google Panda, or Google Penguin penalty can come from seo being implemented poorly. This can sometimes mean expensive bills in order to rectify and fix the SEO issues that have caused the penalty.

So, we had a bit of chat here with our marketing team, and we have come up with some words of advice for how much a business should expect to pay for SEO.

What should a business expect for less than £500.00 per month?

If you run a small business, and the competition within your business sector is low to medium, and you want to gain more sales within just one city, then a £500.00 pound per month budget is sometimes enough.

However, if you operate in a highly competitive business sector, such you own a solicitors practice or a high-end hairdressers for example, well these businesses will normally need more of a budget.

The reason for this is based on the level of competition, and your competitors may well be investing a lot into SEO. For example you may have a solicitors practice, that specialises in say employment law.

Well, those employment law solicitors may well spending thousands of pounds per month on SEO, so a new business with only say a £200.00 pound budget per month, well, often this will not cut the mustard!

What types of businesses pay £2000.00+ per month?

With a two thousand pound per month budget there’s more meat on the bone to conduct a strong marketing campaign.

This budget should be enough for most businesses that are investing in local seo. With that said, your more established larger marketing agencies may charge nearer to the £3000.00 per month for local seo.

Again if your business operates in a competitive business sector, let’s say you run an employment agency, well they may well be spending upwards of £2000.00 per month.

How much should a business pay for national SEO?

Now, national SEO is a totally different kettle of fish than local seo. The reason being is that at a national level, there will be so much more competition.

For example, let’s say you run a solicitor’s practice, and you specialise in divorce, well locally you may only have say 30 competitors. Yet, if you want to obtain customers from across the U.K because you have top solicitors working for you, well, you may well then have competition from over say a 1000+ businesses, so the cost of SEO will obviously correspond with the increased SEO that is needed.

Also, businesses will be competing with national high street names, or names that have simply massive marketing budgets.

With this is mind, you could pay anything from £3000.00+ per month, right through to £100,000.00 plus per month.

The difference between how much a business pays again will depend on the level of competition.

Car insurance for example is likely to be one of the most competitive business sectors there is, with businesses shelling out hundreds of thousands to be ranked high for keywords such as “cheap car insurance”.

How we can help

We can offer affordable high quality seo. If you would like to receive a no obligation quote, then why not give us a ring?

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How can content marketing help my business?

Introduction

You may have already spotted that some of your direct competitors are blogging at a rate of knots.

As you read why so many businesses add articles to their websites, you will discover that content marketing can help a business’s seo, which can in turn help increase a business’s sales.

This may now have you rather worried, that’s because you may feel that unless you start catching up soon with your competitors marketing efforts, then you could be losing out on customers.

But don’t worry too much, that’s because our friendly digital marketing agency is here to help. Plus, to provide you with some food for thought, here are some rather helpful pointers.

More does not mean better

You may have seen on a competitor’s website that they have written over hundred articles over the last few years.

Now, you may well be in the mindset that you have to write even more than that, that’s in order to surpass where that particular business is ranked.

However, a word to the wise, when it comes to writing content marketing, you should never sacrifice on quality.

That’s to say quality must come first, that is the information that you offer must be useful, it must really help your readers. Plus, it must be an interesting read.

This means if you manage to bore your visitors to death, well this is likely to cause your websites bounce rate to soar, and this is not good news from an seo perspective.

So, in a nutshell the work must be focused on one thing, and that is offering quality work. So, if in doubt about how many articles your business should be writing, you might want to contact a quality focused seo agency for advice.

Watch out for the Panda

Ever heard of the Google Panda updates? Well if not, it would be well worth brushing up on your knowledge of this important update.

Know your customers

Now, this may sound self-explanatory, but it’s definitely worth mentioning.

That’s to say you must take the time to understand the questions that your customers want answering.

Perhaps you are an online retailer of men’s clothing for example, and your customers want to find out what are the latest fashion trends are, well there’s no better way than adding a blog post to explain this.

But don’t just focus on writing the article for seo benefit, it’s far better if you write an article that your customers will want to read. So that’s right, the days where plugging the same keywords over and over again, in an effort to help your businesses seo, well they have been and gone.

Poor quality seo methods simply do not work, now the work you offer must be of a high quality.

Partner with an agency

Not all digital marketing agencies charge an absolute arm and a leg. Sure, some do, but there’s always an seo agency that will be suited to your business.

We work with many small and medium sized businesses, in order to implement quality seo at a fair price.

Don’t over do it all at once

Okay, so the weather’s looking rather miserable outside, so your thinking to yourself this is a great opportunity to write a billion articles for your business, right?

Well, here’s a top tip, do not do that! Adding a ton of seo articles all at once is likely to trigger one of Google’s spam filters.

As you may have neglected the blog section of your website for a great deal of time, then because you have decided in the space of a weekend that you want to throw loads of content marketing onto your blog, well this is not a good idea. Instead you need to space how often you add the articles.

Get it wrong, and publish too many seo articles at once, well it could look like your trying to spam the algorithm. Plus, if you’ve thrown a load of phrases into the work, that you want to rank for, then this is not going to help.

If in doubt always contact an seo agency for help.

Content marketing is essential part of the marketing mix

You may have read that every website is ranked according to the strength of over 200 ranking signals.

And this may have your cogs turning, you may well be thinking if there are 200 areas that need improving for my website to be ranked at the top, well forget writing endless articles that will take too long.

Hmm, we see where you are going with that. But, this is worth keeping in mind, content marketing is an essential part of the marketing mix, purely because all the other seo elements bolt on to this.

For example, without a good piece of content marketing there would be no where to add meta titles, meta descriptions, alt tags and so on.

How we can help

We can help your business with its SEO requirements. Why not give us a ring today?

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