SEO has proven its effectiveness for businesses, especially in recent years. It has been so commonly utilized to the point that the competition for businesses has tightened from merely gaining visibility, to butting heads in order to reach rank number one. Some businesses get creative in an attempt to edge their competitors, like acquiring services dedicated solely to SEO or allocating an outstanding amount of budget for their SEO.
Most businesses tend to have this misconception that spending more would guarantee standing out in an already crowded — and continuously growing — marketplace. However, there are actually several affordable SEO services in the Philippines made available particularly for starting businesses; these provide quality services just the same, if not more.
The benefits of SEO have already been established; however, the cost for good services may vary depending on a business’ set of goals and which strategy would be the most appropriate to use. But it’s also important to note that no matter how much you budget, costs for implementing SEO are considered as an investment, and just like any other investment, one of your primary concerns should be aiming for the best outcome or ROI.
But how much is enough in terms of spending for SEO services for your business? What are the factors that you need to consider when looking for the right candidate, and more importantly, how much does quality and ‘good’ SEO initially cost?
Determine Overall Digital Marketing Budget
The first step in determining how much you should spend on SEO is figuring out your budget for your digital marketing campaigns. Once that’s been determined, it would be easier to allocate a portion of that budget to your SEO. For starting businesses, it’s advised to invest heavily in content creation in SEO to establish and strengthen their online presence, while it’s expected for older businesses to already have foundations present online. They are instead advised to focus on possible technical issues that their websites might have. These technicalities may also be one of the factors that could prevent some existing businesses’ ability to appear on top search results. Businesses that have these technical problems involving broken pages or unresponsive links should devote a larger amount of budget to improving the technical aspects of their SEO.
Factors that May Affect Price
When figuring out the right price ranges for SEO, it’s important to consider that there isn’t a standard that could cover everything for every business. There are varying factors that could affect the cost of every service, such as experience, scale, and pricing model. Agencies and firms that naturally have more experience would charge more, but expensive costs don’t always guarantee better work. You get the results that you paid for.
Acquiring more services would cost more, and SEO specialists whose line of expertise is within local campaigns are more likely to offer affordable services compared to those who specialize on a national or international scale in SEO. The pricing models also vary for different firms. Payment models include the hourly rate, which has an average cost ranging between $100 – $150, project-based with $500 – $1,000 depending on the project or campaign, performance or results-based varying depending on your needs, and monthly rate with an average of $500 – $1,000 per month. These pricing models and their variations in costs were surveyed from 350 agencies in 2019.
Finding the Balance Between the Right Budget and Efficient Results
Deciding on the amount of budget you should spend on SEO could either make or break your entire strategy. Some spend too little, while others spend too much yet are still left with an unsatisfied campaign on their SEO efforts. Finding the balance between your budget and the results you’re hoping for is extremely important, yet could be complicated. Again, SEO costs vary according to a company’s set of goals, which means there is no ‘right’ budget that will fit all. The amount of budget to allot for your SEO should depend on the amount that you would need to rank.
Consider how much existing visibility your business already has established and if you have little competition. On estimate, a good amount of budget especially for starting businesses would range between $1,000 -$3,000 per month. Many starting businesses find this price range as the right balance for it gives enough room for them to scale their spending up or down depending on the results they would get from this initial budget. When done right and effectively, the ROI is typically high in this investment.
One important factor when determining the right budget for your SEO is to always remember that it would depend on the goals and needs of your business, and there is not a single amount that would guarantee the same results for every business. Spend too little and you’re risking getting low-quality SEO; spend too much and you would seem like you’re wasting money. The key is to find the right balance between the right budget and your expectations in results.
