SEO (search engine optimization) can be considered the backbone of digital marketing for many companies today. And if you're looking to grow your company's online presence in search engines like Google or Bing, then SEO will likely play an integral role in that strategy.
But what exactly is SEO and where do these services come from? What makes them so valuable to businesses? How should they be priced? These questions are answered by understanding some basics about SEO as well as how it helps drive traffic to websites. We'll also look into the different types of SEO services available and compare their prices.
In general terms, there are two main categories of SEO: paid and organic. Paid means paying money directly for SEO work done on your website. Organic refers to natural rankings within search results pages, which typically happen through optimizing content, links, social media, etc., without any direct payment.
If you are building out a new site, especially one with high-quality content, SEO might not yet be necessary but it certainly could make sense down the road. If you already have a website up and running, however, SEO becomes more relevant.
This is because while good content alone won't necessarily get you noticed by people searching, having great content along with solid backlinks and other SEO elements can boost your page ranking significantly. As a result, SEO is often included as part of larger advertising campaigns across various channels, including PPC ads, display ads, email blasts, and even offline advertisements such as billboards.
In addition to this, most agencies offering SEO services only include certain components of the service depending on whether you want a basic package ($500-$1,000), mid-level package ($2,000+), or premium package ($5,000+) -- though some smaller SEO firms may charge less than those listed here. For example, a popular option is to bundle SEO with AdWords PPC ad spending, creating the "AdWords + SEO" package. This type of package can range anywhere between $3,000 - $10,000 per month depending on the size and scope of the campaign.
The bottom line is that SEO has become a big deal for both large and small companies alike, due to its potential impact on conversions and overall revenue generation. It's therefore no surprise that many businesses choose to invest heavily in SEO over time.
As mentioned above, SEO plays a major role in getting your brand seen by customers who don't know about you yet. But beyond simply being visible when someone searches for something related to your product/service, SEO offers several other key advantages. Here are three examples of ways SEO helps improve your business.
It increases conversion rates: According to HubSpot, 60% of consumers research brands before making purchases. That's 3 billion people every year! So if you've got a brand name that doesn't show up organically when someone performs a keyword search, you're missing out on potentially millions of sales opportunities each year.
A strong SEO profile creates better customer experience: Because of the way search algorithms work, it's difficult to rank highly unless you provide lots of useful information on your pages. In fact, according to data analyzed by Moz, providing just 6 pieces of information improves your chances of ranking 1st for a given query by 12 times compared to sites with fewer details.
Your target audience knows you exist: When people see your domain name, logo, or phone number, they assume that you must be a reputable organization. So as long as you optimize your webpages properly, create compelling content, build relationships with industry influencers, and establish yourself as a credible source of knowledge, your prospects will trust you enough to take action sooner rather than later.
For the purposes of this article, we'll focus primarily on SEO for small businesses. The reason for doing so is simple: Many of us operate solo or as very small teams, meaning that our budgets are limited, too. However, if you understand the basics behind SEO and how it operates, you can learn to apply similar strategies to your own projects, regardless of budget.
When it comes to SEO, the first thing you need to decide is what kind of SEO services you actually require. Are you planning to start a blog? Do you want to add videos and podcasts to your existing website? You may even consider hiring freelancers to handle specific tasks instead of investing in full-time staff. Whatever you decide, remember that SEO isn't a stand-alone endeavor. It requires careful thought and execution, something that shouldn't come cheap.
Another key point to keep in mind is that SEO is always evolving. New technologies emerge constantly, meaning that it's crucial to stay abreast of trends so that you aren't left behind. Otherwise, you risk losing visibility among savvy searchers and gaining nothing in return. To avoid falling prey to outdated practices, it pays to regularly review your current efforts and identify areas for improvement.
As explained above, SEO provides numerous benefits for businesses. And although it sounds intimidating at first glance, SEO really isn't complicated once you break it down. With practice, anyone can master the art of optimizing websites effectively. All you need is patience, creativity, persistence, and dedication.
To begin, you'll need to determine the keywords that will serve as the basis of your SEO plan. While you can use broad phrases ("best pizza restaurants"), you'll probably find that you generate more clicks using exact match words ("pizza restaurant"). Then, think about what your competitors are doing to win the attention of search engine users. What kinds of tactics do they employ? Is there anything unique about them that you can leverage to gain advantage?
Once you've set those goals, it's time to move onto writing content. Content creation isn't rocket science, but mastering it takes effort. Start off slowly and gradually increase the frequency and length of posts until you feel comfortable producing regular articles and blog entries. Remember to optimize your texts for SEO and ensure that you include targeted anchor text throughout.
Next, it's time to implement link schemes and develop backlinking strategies. Most importantly, never try to game Google or trick it into thinking you created a duplicate version of another webpage. Instead, aim to earn genuine backlinks based on value and relevance. Finally, you'll need to monitor performance closely, analyzing stats like bounce rate, average session duration, total sessions, and referring domains.
With proper guidance and support, you can easily achieve success with SEO. Once you grasp the fundamentals involved, you'll realize that it's far easier to manage than traditional marketing methods. And since SEO remains largely unchanged over time, you can rest assured knowing that your investment will pay dividends forever.
SEO has become the most important digital marketing strategy that businesses must have in order to compete effectively with their competitors. In fact, many companies are spending more than 50% of their budget on search engine optimization and other online advertising strategies. So if you're a freelance web developer or even someone who runs your own business, there's no doubt that having a good SEO plan will help increase traffic, improve conversion rates, and ultimately boost sales. And since getting organic traffic from Google and other major search engines can be very expensive, hiring someone to do this work for you might seem like the only way out. But before you decide to hire some one-man band to do the job, you need to know exactly how much you'll pay them.
The first question you should ask yourself when deciding whether to buy something is "how much?". This applies not just to buying anything but also to finding ways to save money, which is why it's so important to understand how things actually cost. You want to make sure that whatever solution you choose makes sense financially, otherwise you may end up losing money instead of making it! That being said, let's take a look at two different types of service providers -- those who sell their services wholesale (and get paid per hour) versus those who sell their services retail (get paid by the project). We'll talk about each type below.
There are several factors involved here including your qualifications, experience, market value, and so forth. The main point is to find a fair rate based on these factors rather than simply charging too little or too much. A lot of people think they can't charge enough because they don't believe they deserve it. However, you really need to remember that everyone needs to eat, right? If you go around looking for food without paying anyone, then eventually you won't have any left over for yourself either.
If you were able to sell your skills directly to clients, would you still be doing it? Of course you wouldn't -- you'd be working full time somewhere else. It's the same thing with SEO. Instead of selling your services directly to customers, you're selling them through another company. Even though you'll probably earn less commission, you'll likely enjoy better perks such as vacation days, health insurance, etc. Plus, you'll never run out of projects to complete.
When you purchase SEO packages from agencies, usually they come in three forms:
1. Project basis
2. Hourly basis
3. Monthly basis
Let's talk about the third option first. When you buy a monthly package, you typically receive discounts from various vendors such as hosting companies, software, domain registrars, etc. These discounts vary depending on the vendor and the amount of usage you provide. For example, if you use Cloudflare every day, you could potentially save $200/month. On top of that, you'll normally get added bonuses such as unlimited SSL certificates, website migration assistance, extra bandwidth, etc.
But it doesn't stop there. There are plenty of additional offers available for monthly plans, such as referral program discounts and bonus credits. Some agencies give away hundreds of dollars worth of vouchers a month, while others will throw in thousands of dollars' worth of credit cards. You can see where this goes...
On average, we've heard that SEO packages range anywhere between $100-$300/month, although prices for individual campaigns often start at $500+. Keep in mind that the higher the number, the more difficult it is to get results. Also keep in mind that most SEO packages include a certain level of guaranteed visibility within the first 30 days or 60 days after signing up. After that period expires, you can expect to wait until you reach the next tier of results.
In general, hourly pricing ranges anywhere between $25 - $50/hour. Most agencies prefer to set prices based on the size of the contract, but sometimes they'll quote you individually depending on the client's requirements. As far as the scope of the project, you can generally expect to be charged for everything except minor fixes and tweaks. On rare occasions, however, you might receive a few hours off the invoice for special circumstances.
Finally, let's discuss the second form of billing. When you buy SEO services on an hourly basis, you'll be billed for every single task completed during that time frame regardless of its complexity. When you buy packages on the hourly basis, you're basically handing over the keys to your car to whoever drives it whenever he wants. Nowadays, almost every professional is busy running multiple websites simultaneously, meaning that it's impossible to stay focused on one particular project for long periods of time. At least that's been our personal observation.
That means that when you hand over the keys to an SEO expert, it's going to be hard to tell him/her what to do and when to do it. Because of this, hourly pricing tends to be cheaper than regular packages (although it's certainly not always the case). Generally speaking, you shouldn't be expected to bill more than 5 hours per week unless you have exceptional knowledge and expertise. Otherwise, you're risking turning into a contractor employee and taking home nothing but peanuts for weeks upon weeks.
At the end of the day, you shouldn't base your decision solely on the price tag. Every SEO package comes with a list of features that determine how effective the campaign will be. You should consider both the qualitative aspects as well as the quantitative ones.
For instance, do you know that Google penalizes sites that contain duplicate content? Well, guess what happens when you create pages containing duplicates? They get penalized again. Do you know what that means? Yes, this means that you're wasting precious resources when you try to optimize your site for search engines using outdated methods. Or maybe you should check out the latest updates from Google Penguin 4.0. Or perhaps you should learn about schema markup.
As you can see, SEO isn't all black & white. Sometimes, it's better to invest heavily upfront in building a solid foundation so that you can reap maximum rewards later on down the road. Other times, you might want to focus on short term gains and skip investing in infrastructure altogether. Either way, you need to figure out what works best for you and stick to it.
Now that we've gone through the basics behind SEO pricing, let's answer the burning questions of what it costs to build a successful website and what kind of return you can expect once you launch it.
What it takes to build a profitable website depends entirely on the industry you operate in. Since every field has different demands, it's nearly impossible to say what percentage of revenue you should aim to generate from a given website. Nevertheless, we've compiled a rough estimate of roughly how much revenue you should expect to gain per year from a typical ecommerce store.
A basic WordPress installation with WooCommerce will cost you approximately $40. Once you install a theme, plugins, add custom fields and taxonomies, you can easily exceed $150. To build a fully functional website, you'll need to incorporate social media integration, email marketing, analytics tracking, and more. Depending on the niche, you can expect to spend upwards of $1000 to develop a truly viable product. With this information in mind, it becomes clear that building a profitable website requires quite a bit of investment.
However, this doesn't mean that creating a website is worthless. While you're waiting for your profits to show up, you can always turn your passion into income. Here are five quick and easy ways to make money blogging:
Write articles and share them across platforms.
Offer courses related to your area of interest.
Create guides and tutorials.
Start affiliate marketing or join a network like ClickBank.
Become an influencer and monetize your audience.
Most importantly, remember that investing in your blog is like putting money in a bank account that earns compound interest. Just like banks, blogs grow if you consistently put money in them. By regularly updating fresh content and offering valuable insights, you'll soon attract new readers and potential buyers.
Lastly, bear in mind that SEO remains one of the most reliable ways to promote your brand online. Despite all the changes that Google made recently, SEO continues to play a crucial role in driving traffic to your site. Not only that, but you don't necessarily need millions of visitors to convert them into actual leads. According to HubSpot research, 80 percent of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family above all else. That means that if you can successfully position yourself as a trusted authority among your target audience, you can quickly drive targeted traffic to your website.
Are you looking into outsourcing or starting an affiliate program that would allow you to sell other people's work? If so, then the answer to "what is price white label" could be important to your business and its success.
The concept behind white label SEO services is simple: an outside organization (referred to as a "white label partner") takes on another person's brand identity in exchange for payment. This allows someone who doesn't have the time or resources to do something like this themselves to get their own product without having to invest any money upfront.
This can come in handy if you're trying to launch a new service but don't want to put up with the expense involved with hiring employees. Or maybe you just need some help growing your current site because you've been doing everything yourself. Either way, using white label companies makes sense when you're working within certain budget constraints, especially if you aren't willing to spend hundreds of dollars per month on marketing alone.
But before we dive deeper, let's talk about what exactly white label means in terms of SEO. What are the advantages of white labeling? How can they benefit you? And will these perks truly make a difference for your bottom line? We'll take a closer look below!
A white label SEO provider offers a package of services geared towards helping clients grow their businesses online. They typically include things such as backlinks, social media postings, content creation, keyword analysis, website optimization, etc., which are usually provided by third-party software and done via automated processes.
In short, these providers hire freelancers from around the world to handle various tasks for them while still allowing them to maintain ownership over their brands. So instead of spending hours every week dealing with tedious tasks, you can focus on more valuable aspects of running your business.
Yes, it certainly is! In fact, there are plenty of ways to save tons of cash on SEO. Some of those methods involve going through a white label service. But since each one has different features, costs, and capabilities, it might be hard to decide whether or not it's right for you.
So first off, know that there isn't necessarily anything wrong with outsourcing if you don't feel comfortable taking care of certain parts of your business. For example, you may only need help creating landing pages, managing your email list, or writing blog posts. You wouldn't even need to pay anyone to do all three of those things.
And while it may seem difficult to find a good fit among the many options available today, remember that there are lots of places where you can go to see examples of similar products. Sites like Fiverr or Upwork are great for finding freelance workers who specialize in specific skillsets.
Another option you might consider is setting up an Amazon affiliate account and selling other people's products directly from there. While this method comes with its own set of challenges -- mainly due to traffic concerns -- it can also provide you with additional income streams beyond just SEO.
Even better, you can use this approach to build your own network of affiliates who promote your own products too. Plus, there are several tools you can use to track sales, commissions, and conversions.
There are definitely times when it makes sense to outsource certain elements of your business. Whether it's because you don't have enough experience to deal with certain tasks or you simply prefer to delegate responsibilities to others, it's perfectly acceptable to turn to a professional.
However, the same goes for SEO. As long as you understand that you need to dedicate time to learning how to properly optimize websites, you should always keep the knowledge inside your head. Because no matter how competent a third party is, they won't be able to give you the insight necessary to succeed unless you show them your process.
It's also crucial to realize that most SEO jobs require both technical expertise and strategic thinking. That being said, it's impossible to really learn how to perform either task effectively if you don't practice. The point here is that you shouldn't expect a single person to teach you how to become proficient in SEO overnight. It requires years of study and trial & error.
If you want to avoid becoming frustrated along the way, try getting familiar with these basic tips first. Then once you start seeing results, you can begin scaling up your efforts.
Finally, it's important to note that SEO isn't guaranteed to bring in revenue. Even though it helps drive traffic to sites, Google changes its algorithms frequently, so there's no telling how well a particular campaign will fare. Also, it's often easier to rank high initially than it is to stay above water after gaining popularity.
That being said, there are two types of campaigns that tend to produce consistent profits regardless of competition: search engine marketing and PPC advertising. Both of these tactics involve paid advertisements, so you'll probably end up making less overall compared to traditional organic SEO strategies.
On top of that, there's the whole issue of traffic itself. Since you're essentially relying on ads to generate leads and customers, it's vital that you choose the right ones. Otherwise, you risk wasting money.
You've likely heard stories about companies that spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on Facebook ads only to lose millions when their audience suddenly disappeared. There's nothing worse than investing heavily in something only to fail miserably later down the road.
All of that being said, there are plenty of opportunities for marketers to earn decent amounts of money through SEO. However, the key word here is decent. To maximize potential profits, you must be patient and persistent. Don't expect to reach millionaire status overnight.
As mentioned previously, there are plenty of reasons why you'd want to outsource your SEO activities. The main advantage of doing so is saving time and energy. Instead of worrying about traffic generation, analytics tracking, and other complicated issues, you can concentrate on other areas of your business.
Of course, there are also disadvantages to outsourcing. One big concern is that you'll be giving away control over your assets. When it comes to SEO, this means losing access to data and insights. Unless you're happy with whatever information you receive, you'll inevitably miss out on opportunities to improve performance.
Additionally, you'll also lose direct interaction with your client base. Although you technically remain in charge of your reputation, you'll never actually meet your customers face to face. After all, you won't be able to ask questions about problems and feedback. You'll also have to rely entirely on verbal communications.
To ensure you retain full authority over your projects, you should create a formal contract between you and your outsourcer. Make sure to specify how many revisions you'll get during development, how you'll share intellectual property rights, and how you'll split payments.
One final thing to consider is the amount of effort required to manage a successful project. A lot of freelancers will take shortcuts to finish projects quickly. Sometimes they'll rush through assignments or skip steps altogether. These mistakes can cause significant setbacks and waste countless hours fixing errors later on.
Fortunately, there are plenty of reliable vendors who adhere strictly to industry standards. Many of these experts follow SEO practices recommended by major organizations, including the Search Engine Land Institute.
For instance, they'll generally employ standard link building techniques, write compelling copy, and conduct proper keyword research. Most importantly, they'll place a strong emphasis on user experience. By focusing on the needs of users rather than advertisers, they can develop effective websites that convert visitors into buyers.
Lastly, it's important to recognize that SEO takes patience and persistence. Just because you hired a vendor doesn't mean you can rest easy knowing that your job is complete. On the contrary, you'll need to continue monitoring progress throughout the entire lifecycle.
Keep in mind that you should regularly check rankings and analyze reports to determine if improvements occurred or if there were any negative repercussions. This step ensures that you can identify problems early on and fix them before they escalate further.
Once you establish trust in your relationship, it's okay to stop following up on updates occasionally. Doing otherwise can lead to unnecessary tension between parties. However, if you notice things changing drastically, you should contact your contractor immediately to discuss what happened.
Hopefully, this article helped clear up any lingering confusion regarding white label SEO packages. Now that you have a solid understanding of how this works, you should have fewer doubts about deciding whether or not it's appropriate for your business.
Just follow our battle-tested guidelines and rake in the profits.