Most respected SEOs will tell you there is no such thing as cheap SEO. You get what you pay for in respect to hiring an SEO consultant. And that remains true. Whether you are hiring an agency, independent consultant, or hiring in-house, the best SEOs are going to know the value of their skills and its impact on your business. Going for the lowest cost option (bad SEOs, scam artists) is what gives good SEOs a bad name. Please, don't be one of those (read SEOmoz!), and don't hire one of those.
On the other side of the coin, I was also a small business owner at one time (independent consultant), and I know that you can't always afford the best in the beginning. There are a number of options available to small business owners on a budget. You don't have to forego quality to get good, cheaper SEO advice. Just remember that the less you pay with these suggestions, the more you might have to contribute your own time and learning. You are going to have to think about each of these in terms not just of cost, but also cost of your time. Doing cheaper SEO options means more time on your part learning. But ... with the right time and dedication, you can get the same results those bigger competitors are getting.
Remember the Marketing
From Distilled's Co-Founder Duncan Morris: If you are not an SEO, running your own business and looking to do this on your own, remember that the best SEO you can do is build your business right. You should network and find contacts, grow a mailing list, deliver awesome customer service, and maybe acquire another company. Do remarkable stuff, write interesting stuff on a blog, and tell people about it.
In the end, it's about getting people interested in your business. SEO is not the answer, it's yet another tool in your marketing arsenal.
Local Conferences
Matt Cutts and Vanessa Fox on a Site Review Panel at PubCon
Photo Courtesy of RentVine
If you want to get the most bang for your buck and good suggestions for your site in real time, attend a local regional conference and submit to a site review panel. The key here is to find one in your area to reduce the costs as much as possible.
There are many you can choose from, a few from the past year include PubCon South, SearchExchange (no new one has been scheduled), SEMPDX SearchFest, and SXSW Interactive. There are many conferences in larger metropolitan areas, but they tend to be pricey. Look at the agenda ahead of time and make sure they have site reviews. On the day of the conference, get there before the session starts and give the moderator your card with the site address, and sit up front. I can't say that Matt Cutts will be the one reviewing your site, but regardless, these shows offer some of the best and brightest in the business.
Cost: Varies Wildly. About $200-750 for the conference (plus any travel costs)
Time: At least an hour for the session, but plan staying the whole conference, about 2-3 days
PodCamp, BarCamp, WordCamp
These are much like a local conference and meetup, but they are unconferences. They are usually free, day or two day long, with the key being that the content is user generated. Topics are about anything from new media (PodCamp) to WordPress (WordCamp), or really anything (BarCamp). There are many local experts you can meet here and ask about anything you need help on. These are the definition of community.
Cost: Free - usually
Time: A day or two for the Camp, and then applying what you learned of course.
Exchange Services
Exchanging services is one of the best ways to get services that you might not be able to afford right now. For instance, I got some awesome shirts "for free" in exchange for some PPC help for the company that printed the shirts. At the time there was no way I could afford the $500 for the shirts, but in exchange for my time? That was easy. If your company offers a service or product, talk to an SEO about an exchange of services.
It is also possible to offer good links for pro bono work. And on that thought, you could exchange your products and services as a link building tactic. Think about donating your time and services and getting links in return. This is a gray area (hat wise), but if you let them decide what to do ... it's cool. It's all about the intent and if the new link is useful to the users of the other site. Keep that in mind.
Cost: No money changes hands.
Time: It's going to cost in time however much you make the deal for your own time.
Visit Local Meetups
Check for local search marketing meetups via Meetups.com or contact your local chamber of commerce for any possible training that might be upcoming. The other option is to Google SEO group in your location - there might be some that aren't formal groups. Local professionals speak and attend sessions and are usually more than happy to answer questions and give advice to other attendees.
My pointer is to look for those meetups and groups that offer training for small business owners. For instance, in Austin, there is the Austin SEO/SEM Meetup through Meetups.com and that is a more training based group, however the AustinSEM.org group is for professionals only. Just be sure you are in the right group.
Second and biggest piece of advice: Don't go there for advice, hound the speaker, and then leave. They are people too. Be a friend, get to know before launching into your issues. Never expect free advice. Go there to learn and maybe you might get some good free advice as a bonus.
Cost: $0-$25 typically
Time: Substantial. An hour for the meetup generally, but there will be many of these over the year, you'll want to attend most of them you can find. And then you have to apply the knowledge.
Twitter (Read: Social Media)
Put simply: Get onto Twitter and make friends. Join in the conversation, don't be creepy, and be genuinely interested and interesting. There are many intelligent SEOs on Twitter that are happy to help friends. But you can't just get on there and ask. Building the relationships is what takes the most time and why this is one of the free options. You have to spend the time conversing and learning from what is being tweeted in addition to building the relationship. This cannot be automated, but once you are friends with an SEO, they are more likely to take time out of their day to help you out.
Cost: Free
Time: This one is all about your time. Hours, months, years is what I am talking here.
Simplest: Read
Read SEOmoz, SEOBook, Google Webmaster Blog, Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal, BlueGlass, Distilled, and so many more. For the most part (at Distilled this is true but I can't talk for everyone), we don't hold much back. If there is something new and cool that can help others with their campaigns, we share it via blogs. You just have to take the time to read them and apply the knowledge to your situation. This isn't easy as examples are not usually just like your situation, but with the right time and dedication you can learn much just reading.
Cost: Free
Time: Less than building relationships, but still high in personal time involvement.
Join a Community
Become a member of a forum or other Q&A type community like Webmaster World, SEOmoz Q&A, SEOBook, SEODojo, StackOverflow (more technical), and ExpertsExchange.
Webmaster World is free to use and the community responds to the questions. Each section has a few moderators, but your question isn't guaranteed to be answered. So there are pluses and minuses to that setup. I learned a lot there when I started, and the community is fantastic. They even have Google and Bing employees drop by to answer sometimes.
SEOmoz Q&A on the other hand comes with your membership to SEOmoz at all paid levels. Your level determines how many questions you can ask per month. At the PRO level, you get two questions a month. These questions are answered by SEO/PPC/Local/Mobile specialists at SEOmoz, Distilled, and across the globe by associates hand picked by the SEOmoz team. All the people answering are true professional experts and your question is guaranteed to be answered by an associate.
While I don't know much about SEOBook and SEODojo, I can tell you that there are many friends of mine that love these communities. They provide an area where you can ask questions and get answers from some of the best minds in search. I hear that Aaron Wall responds to many of the questions himself on SEOBook.
Check out all your options before committing but a community is very helpful at every stage of business or your career.
Cost: From Free to $300 a month at the lowest levels
Time: Good amount. You get direct answers in communities like these to questions about your specific situation, but you still have to learn and apply the advice you are given.
Adopt an SEO
If you have family and friends that are SEOs the chance is that you can get SEO services for free or at a highly discounted rate. So why not adopt? I kid. I kid. This isn't a suggestion for everyone, but if you do have a friend or family member in the business, you can make it their Christmas present to you for life if they will help you out. Most will be more than willing to help, unless this is your 17th "great money making opportunity."
Cost: A Lifetime - no really, you can't buy this one, sorry.
Time: Nurturing for an estranged SEO takes a lifetime, this is a big dedication on your part.
Look to your Family/Friends
Stock Photo Courtesy of Shutterstock
So if you have family and friends that are willing to help out but they aren't search marketing professionals, fret not. Enlist family/friends for help in content generation and link building. Everyone has a talent, and your family and friends can research and write about a number of topics. They can help you contact local businesses for linking opportunities. If any of them are interested in search marketing, you might even get them to read and join the communities we spoke of earlier. It's a win-win for anyone looking for a new career (maybe hire a student!) and your business that needs help getting the word out.
Cost: Minor
Time: Minor. It's your family and friends that are learning, so they get a benefit as well as the satisfaction of helping you.
By your standards, what do you consider "cheap"? For example, I worked as the SEO specialist full time for a company charging quite a bit over $100 per hour for their SEO services. I would compile and implement SEO strategies for approximately 50 clients at a time and I know I'm good at what I do. When I decided to go into business for myself, I wanted to focus on small businesses and tailored my prices as such. I charge $50 per hour (although this is soon to increase to $60), which is quite inexpensive for SEO services in my area. I charge lower and focus on small businesses because that's the kind of environment and people that I prefer to work with. I'm not out there to get rich - just to be comfortable and most importantly be happy with what I do. Sure, mine may be a "cheap" price. But am I a scam artist or "bad" SEO? No way. I work to stay on top of the latest SEO developments and providing measurable results for my clients using white-hat tactics. I'm not sure why cheaper prices are always associated with scams.
Hiya Liza. I'm certainly not Kate's spokeperson, but I'd bet a kangaroo that she was NOT talking about your situation. You qualify as a professional that markets to small business.
I'll warrant that she was talking about the scammers like whom Mike Tekula refers to in 8 SEO Scams That Won't Die. The kind that promise the small business that for $29.99 a month they'll guarantee #1 placement on Google.
He is right, that's exactly what I would say. There are some that expect to pay $10 per hour for the best out there. It is totally possible to find that (hiring a student or someone new in the business) but it is very rare to find great quality there. This was meant in no way as a slam on anyone getting started. We all started there, I was paid $8 an hour at my first job. This is more for the businesses that want to find other ways to start their campaigns rather than hiring a consultant. Many can't even afford the $50 per hour. Everyone should be able to have a well optimized site, and that is why many of the speakers at conferences speak. it's less about the money and more about helping small businesses.
Kate, I wonder about that sometimes as a focused 1 hour session at $100 is better than 2 hours of unfocused dribble... you are still potentially getting the same results... but people seem happier paying for more hours than more productive hours...
The other point is that if you need spend 5 hours working on their website to get results and they are only willing able to afford/budget for 3 hours, it's often a tough decision to stop the work half done as they won't get results.
The payment in kind is always popular with clients but they always work to move the goal posts so all of a sudden they are only wanting to give you 1/3 of what was promised for twice the work.
And remember the Lindzie Boost Ranking Button for the same 29,99 bucks ;)
[actually our Lindzie does not sell that service, but she told of some selling it]
hey but it works... its called AdWords...
I think the point of saying cheap SEO is a scam, means that it is usually the offers that are too good to be true the turn out being, well....too good to be true!! I think your pricing is not cheap, just a reflection of your lack of overhead and the value you are offering to your clients. When I freelance on the side I usually charge around $40 an hour, it is similar to the amount of money I earn at my full-time position. I might be cheap compared to a big SEO company that maintains offices, admin staff and other expenseses but I dont' think that is what is being said in this post.
Cheap SEO more-often-than-not is not really SEO at all, you can find these scammy/spammy posts all over forums on the web. Overseas non-English speaking people offering to Get You To Number 1 in Google Guaranteed for $29 a month. I write about many SEO scams on my blog also https://www.torontoseofirm.com/category/seo-scams/
I really do like the part of this post saying that pretty much everyone could do their own SEO if they devote the time to learning. I know I could probably fix most of my own plumbing problems at home if I devoted a few hundred hours to begin learning the trade but I know my time is much more valuable spent earning the money to pay a professinal plumber.
I believe there is no such thing as cheap SEO, unless you have all the time to learn SEO by yourself. Every SEO know that SEO takes time, pratice & experience to perfect the SEO Skills. If your just starting with SEO you should know you have long way to go.
Lets face it just doing basic SEO wont give you super results or boost your ranking, you need to understand the complete SEO process to be on the top.
SEO blogs, Forums & E-books are great way to start but takes lot of time & effort to understand the concepts for a newbie.
There is one way you can get done your SEO Cheap, it is where you yourself knows all SEO well & hire an SEO intern to help you with your SEO tasks, its not completly cheap but it will help for sure.
It seems to me there's a valuable message across all of these points - If you don't have the money, you'd better be willing to spend the time. I get frustrated by business owners who think they deserve to succeed because they built a $500 site or rented a storefront for a month. If you don't care about your own business enough to get out there and participate in your industry, learn new things, sell and market yourself, and generally pound the pavement until your feet are raw, then don't be an entrepreneur.
If you don't care about your own business enough to get out there and participate in your industry, learn new things, sell and market yourself, and generally pound the pavement until your feet are raw, then don't be an entrepreneur.
Sad to say Pete, most new business owners aren't entrepreneurs. They are simply people with cash (accumulated or borrowed) that decide to try a business. And when they hit a wall (low sales, rising costs, payroll, etc.) they fold. The business owners that are real entrepreneurs do what you suggest and when they hit a wall, they regroup and try scaling it again. If that doesn't work they look for ways around it. If that doesn't work they look for ways to blow a hole in it.
Those are the few. The proud. The real entrepreneurs.
You mean this isn't a get-rich-quick industry? I have to agree with goodnewscowboy that the entrepreneurs that will succeed are the ones that understand what they're buying and not just forking over cash for something they think they're getting.
Couldn't agree more!
Also, I find that charging $80-$100/hour is the best way to keep myself focused on the highest-impact tasks for my clients, providing them the most value, and paying myself a fair wage relative to managing my own website(s).
Pareto's 80-20 rule works quite well here for me.
As for reducing cost without sacrificing quality, I love the ideas about exchanging services. I've done this in one situation, and it produced a fantastic symbiotic relationship that eventually turned into a paid client. Great post!
I think most people who do consulting don't have never really lost money. My biggest learning experieinces are when I lost money in SEO. But I decided to learn since I needed to be more conservative.
Even with more expensive options, knowing a little about SEO before you part with time or money is important. Read up -- the Beginners Guide is a great place to start: https://guides.seomoz.org/beginners-guide-to-search-engine-optimization
Another possible suggestion is taking on a consultant on a sales-commission basis so they only earn when you earn. It may cost more in the long run, but you could always revise the terms of contract later? What it does mean is you get the full schabang right upfront when you need it most. What it depends on is a ballsy enough consultant to take you on! :D
"Another possible suggestion is taking on a consultant on a sales-commission basis so they only earn when you earn. It may cost more in the long run, but you could always revise the terms of contract later? "
This is a rip-off deal for any seo consultant/agency. The problem with your so called sales commission basis model is 'how do i protect my investment' in your business. While you hold all the assets, i hold only the risks. You want me to build equity for your site from zero and when you start ranking for money making keywords then you want to part your ways.
The working on commission is a great idea Ed, but I'd only do it with those I totally 100% trusted (which for me would leave out a boatload of businesses.)
Sure, so teething through a contract beforehand with conditions on when either side can walk away.
You could protect some of the risk by working on a low per hour basis, but with a sales commission on top.
Kate,
I enjoyed your post and appreciate your suggestion that those attending groups bring something to give too.
I lead the Philadelphia SEO Grail Meetup and our meetings are always much more valuable when attendees come with their own experiences and questions. We often do site clinics and discuss specific challenges that area businesses encounter when trying to improve their online business. Our goal is to give everyone something to walk away with, so if nobody shares their experiences we wouldn't be as successful as we've been.
For anyone in the Philadelphia area, I invite you to join the Philadelphia SEO Grail Meetup.
Good post Kate, I deal chiefly with small businesses at my company and the reason I started my company was that I saw that a lot of smaller companies with little online marketing knowledge were getting ripped off and not getting the results they deserved.
There are plenty of places/websites here in the Uk where you get people willing to give advices, many business forums have sections for SEO/PPC etc that have people willing to help. I also offer people free advicve if they give me an email or message on Twitter.
I strongly recommend that people do consider doing their own SEO by using resources such as the beginners guide on SEOMoz and blogs on my own site and other seo blogs. If people don't have the time for that then look for companies that focus on small businesses such as my own.
Nice article kate :-) I've 'exchanged services' a few times, and have always felt it was a good deal for both parties: nice of you to make this recommendation.
I've been doing SEO for quite some time and one of the biggest considerations is that "not all SEO projects are equal". I never charge the client that's on page #2 for his keyword the same quote as the client that's nowhere to be found in the search engines. "Cheap SEO" gets a bit of a bad rap, people think cheap they think inferior. However, I try to realistically work with my client's budgets and come up with realistic expectations. If you have $50/month to spend, you're not going to rank for "payday loans", however if it's a plumber in Monowi Nebraska...that's a different story. That's what led me to start [my business]. Some clients want a small boost, others want to get maximum exposure and some pick packages right in the middle. I don't force a "I charge $XXX/hour", rather I give clients the ability to select a package. Some agencies offer what I call "garbage SEO", building poor links and wrapping it up into a package. This doesn't work, it will never work however there is the stigma when somebody hears "cheap seo". In a nutshell, I believe in charging per job rather than charging one flat rate. Often we see many agencies charging a flat rate, when very little work is actually involved...Sometimes it's just a bit of on-site SEO!
Edited for link
Ok, i think you are right on most of the points. I totally agree to the professionals that there is no such thing as cheap SEO and i really miss the meetups and conferences that happens on the other side of the world as i am not in the countries i called SEO Orientated countries :)
I am from a country where SEO meetings (hard to think anyways...) are 1. costly and 2. the so called professionals are good for nothing and only making their own money and thats it!
from my point of view conferences, meetups and other things (i like the idea of Exchange services... never thought about it) are really important but for the people like me who are not in SEO orientated countries Blog reading and forums are the key!
wonderful post Thanks!
You should try creating a meetup yourself Moosa. I see your active in Twitter, so try a tweetup for anyone web related (SEO, Design, Coding, etc.) Even if it just starts with 3 people, it could build into something useful.
Yes,
that is a wise suggestion... if you're active on Twitter it can be easier to organize a barcamp or a meetup.
For instance, it was thanks to twitter that I finally contributed with the organization of the 1st SEO Congress here in Valencia.
SEOMoz Q&A is one of my very favorite features of the SEOMoz membership. It's like getting consulting from expert SEOs for much less than it would cost to hire a consultant. You can also trust the advice because it is from SEOMoz approved SEOs. I also subscribe to Ian Lurie's Fat Free Guide because I can ask a Ian a question each month.
I have found good value on being part of multiple meetup groups with other business owners, sooner or later you can either exchange services or hire an up and comer for a reasonalbe rate.
Hey Kate,
Thanks for this post. I’m always searching for new ways to improve my knowledge of SEO – whether it’s reading the latest SEO books, blogs such as this one, or pursuing my masters of Internet marketing certificate, I do everything I can to stay on top of this ever changing art of SEO.
I really like your suggestion of ‘visiting local meetups’ as well. I feel like this would be a great way to network as well as learn valuable advice from SEO professionals for relatively little cost – if any. And like you said, “just be sure you are in the right group”. You wouldn’t want someone leading you down the wrong path.
Thanks again Kate, always look forward to your posts.
This post really got me thinking. I haven't thought on how to get cheap SEO or anything for that matter. Will definately look into that option from now on.
Many of these can really be changed into "how to build your brand/image" or how to help others as an SEO. Glad to get someone thinking on a Monday morning. :)
Regarding SEOBook with Aaron Wall -
I started off in SEOBook. It is a great forum and you get everyone's opinion usually within 24 hours. At the time I was a subscriber the monthly subscription was $75/mo. Now it is $300/mo! Hat's off to Arron Wall for the forum because all the free forums I know of have a lot of 'chit chat'.
The reason I came to SEOmoz was the tools. While SEOBook had good tools and a great forum, SEOmoz had the tools I was looking for. SEOmoz doesn't have a forum for it's paid members, but no need to step on Aaron Wall's shoes.
Rand has freakin' awesome tools which are all integrated in his new web app. That's the real reason I came over here to SEOmoz.
- Cisco
We all pay for services and skills we could learn with a bit of self study, but let’s face it you wouldn't attempt surgery on your friends just cause your watched a documentary last night and it looked pretty easy! so why should a business owner want to be an SEO expert over night?
I am not saying that our SEO skills are equal to a surgeon's, but it's all about knowledge over time..if your SEO person has 9 years experience with a portfolio of happy clients and proven ROI's that is what you should be looking for. If you decide to take the SEO challenge and 'do it yourself' you could waste hours of time which should be valuable to you as a business person to achieve less than half the results.
Haha, very true Chris. I like the surgeon analogy. :) And yes, it would always be best for someone to go to a specialist, but sometimes it's just not a possibility for some time. This post is more for those people that want to try. We would rather they start off with the right knowledge than bad knowledge, and then leave it to a professional to fix. I know I prefer it when I get clients that just want to go to the next level rather than fixing past mistakes.
This post is much like sex education. No one recommends teenagers take things too far, but if they do, they should know the tools and information about consequences rather than sending them out blindly into the world. We are just making sure that DIYers have the best information available. :)
I think its more like changing the oil on your car. Sure we can all do it ourselves with a little bit of learning and effort, but a pro will do it better and faster. This is particularly true for small business - where SEO isn't rocket science (although some SEOs would like to think that it is). Again, its better to hire and SEO, but if a business owner doesn't mind spending some time and effort to learn basic SEO, he can probably get by with it (depending on the industry).
Hi Kate,
Nice post but not a very special one. Still I'll give it thumbs up. I think you have posted it in wrong category - On page issues. Seems like already in holiday mood :-)
Regards,
Preet
OUCH! Gosh Preet, don't sugar coat it, tell Kate what you really think! :-p
And I'm giving you a holiday thumbs up for thumbing Kate up even if it wasn't your favorite post.
Hi Preet,
Sorry about that, I wasn't exactly sure what to post this one as. I'll get some suggestions from the crew and reassign the post. Thanks for the thumbs up, I try to post especially awesome posts here, but sorry this one missed the mark for you. Have a great holiday season and I'll work on getting you an especially awesome one next time.
Kate
Perhaps a new category could be SEO for Small Business Entrepreneurs?
(Subtitled: I want to be making enough money to hire an professional for this part of my job!)
I really like the part about doing seo and sem with friends and family. I guess thats how we all started our business, "hey sister, do you know how to do press work?" :)
Kate,
Great post on SEO on the cheap. A lot of your recommendations are good steps for small businesses just getting started in search marketing. Hiring an SEO consultant though could save the business owner a ton of time that could be better spent doing what they do best, building their business.
Every business owner should know at least SEO 101 information to help weed out the bad SEO services, beyond that I recommend leaving it up to the pros. Some initial consultation when getting started could save countless hours of trial and error. A consultant can also help a business steer clear of common mistakes and misinformation.
-Sean
I think conferences and meetups are great places to network with people. You can potentially form your own network, exchange ideas, and help each other. It's such a dog-eat-dog world in SEO, it's hard to even allow people to help you.
I have been that friend / family member that people call on for some "free" SEO. Of course I'm always willing to help. I know every SEO has a similar story. It's like that one guy that has a pickup truck in San Francisco and everyone calls him when they're trying to move apartments.
Anyway, I just launched a service called QwikTalk.com to help those without well-informed SEO friends. I believe it's a great way to get cheap SEO advice. Would love to hear what you think.
Cheers,
Josh
Just saw this! I want to thumb multiple times!
Want cheap SEO, go invest in yourself. And even then, the cost and time involved in learning SEO is not cheap.
Nicely done, Kate.
I usually love the stuff you come up with Kate. I am not much of a critic but this one really felt like an ezine 101 article to me with very little helpful or actionable information. I think beginners looking for SEO help on the cheap are going to be found wanting. Just keeping you on your toes to let you know you can't slip a lazy susan by us :)
I will add. This is not a perfect solution, but I think Lotusjump.com is a good resource for a beginner that needs to be told what to do.
Not that this is needed, but here is an article "I used google" on how to link from one site to yours https://www.echoecho.com/htmllinks01.htm start your road to seo nirvana by getting 5 people you know with websites to link to yours using the keyword phrases you would like to rank for. -No go into the world a better person ;)
Sorry you didn't like it. It was something that many people were searching for and so I thought we might broach the subject. It is very beginning, but many people visiting SEOmoz are just starting and looking for good resources. A large number are small business owners doing this on their own. I am just hoping it helped some of them. I'll work on something deeper for you next time, deal? :)
It all depends on how much creditial that person have and can do.
Their proven track record.
I have worked for Marketing Agency doing SEO and fortune 100 company doing inhouse SEO and own a free lance web design & SEO company.
I know exactly how these businesses do their SEO and how to manage SEO.
I do free lance SEO and sometime only charge $300/month for small business clients but my work and advice is still exceptionally the best for such a cheap price.
You have to be cheap on price for start up than you can start to be more selective as you pick up more clients.
Yikes Kate! This is what happens when I have the morning off. I start chatting with commenters and before I know it an hour slides by. I'd better comment on the post before lunch sneaks up on me :-p
Really great idea for a post. I can see why there are many above that take the "hire a professional to do a professionals job" as I see myself as an SEO professional.
But at the same time, I've been involved with a small business for years and I learned early on (painfully I might add) that there wasn't the same pot of money to throw at things that I had access to while working for a larger company.
The very biggest obstacle doing things for cheap usually presents is time. It takes a lot more time to learn and do. So if you have the time to get involved with the SEO community and learn via SEOmoz, et al. then it's a GREAT option. But if you need results right away, then it's not so great.
PS - I really enjoy your posts and wish you could post more. ;-p
Thank you soo much! I try to post as much as I can. :)
It was fun to write this as I am a consultant and we always prefer seeing someone come to us from the start. I agree with everyone here that it is just best to start with a consultant but as you know, sometimes it just isn't possible.
I know it took most of your morning, but I have enjoyed the comment immensely. You have been dead on. Thanks again for taking time out of your day. Have a great week and a happy holiday.
I totally agree with seo-himanshu regarding the opportunity cost. Any business owner would like to concentrate on the core business and improve upon that thereby increasing sales, after sales and thereby profits. SEO services do demand a lot of time and attention continuously.
The business owner can keep in touch with the latest and enhance his knowledge regarding SEO whenever he has time so he can understand the qualitative SEO changes on his site. The SEO he hires can only be the best person for educating the client regarding this. I myself keep on doing this training bit for my clients provided they show a keen interest for it.
Related article on : https://www.searchenginejournal.com/educating-the-client-about-seo/25714/
In fact what the business owner should not delegate according to me is the social media interaction. He should keep learning more and more about social media which will help him in interacting with the existing and potential clients directly and also supplement the SEO efforts.
Many times this kind of a decision of DIY can prove to be penny wise but pound foolish. But, again it can be situational depending on how much interest and potential the business owner himself has to do justice to the SEO service.
Just recently a small business owner running a Movers And Packers business approached us to get the SEO done on his site. He had been struggling since a long time trying to do it himself but to no gain. In fact he could have put that time in other fruitful business strategies and paid for the SEO services long back and gained more for sure.
Majority of the times I have seen people who try to do the SEO themselves may think that they are saving but end up losing in the long run.
Some SEOs may charge less for various reasons but just because they charge less does not mean that they offer low quality services. As the costing of the services may vary from place to place depending on the cost of operations and the various other reasons.
Specialization is the keyword and time is money. If you save on money and lose on time which can be put to much beneficial alternate uses reaping greater dividends then you lose on both many times money and time. Money lost can be earned again but time lost never comes back.
SEOs help the business owner get the online business and establish an online brand and visibility so that they earn from their core business and please let us (SEOs) earn from SEO services . SEOs boost the economy in a way by helping the clients get global leads and presence and I think real growth comes when all industries flourish. SEO is one of them.
I just don't get the "adopt an seo' part of this post. Why one should expect free seo services from a friend or family member? SEOs charge for their time and efforts and assuming they will put same level of efforts on their friends/family sites, there is no reason to provide/expect free services. I wonder why seochat forum is always discriminated. Me and Rand both are graduates of seochat and I am not that bad seo. Am I? Allow me to share the wisdom i have acquired over the years from that free forum.
First of all seo can't be done cheap not even by DIY (Do it yourself) small business owner. The opportunity cost of not hiring a professional seo means lost of potential sales,leads, branding opportunities and strategic relationships while you try to learn and implement the seo in a way it should be done to get optimum results. Second disdavantage is the competitive edge your competitors will get becuase of your ineffective ways of capturing the SERPs and eventually the market share. Third disadvantage is the loss of valuable time which could be better spent in optimizing your offline business operations. What can be more costly than this for a business owner? If you are really serious about your business then take a loan and hire a seo professional.
Nice spanky new avitar Himanshu! Who is it?
First of all seo can't be done cheap not even by DIY (Do it yourself) small business owner...If you are really serious about your business then take a loan and hire a seo professional.
Speaking as an owner of a small business there are sometimes (most times really!) that there just is no more budget left for things that would be good for the business. And you have to prioritize the things you need to throw your cash at.
I totally agree that leaving money on the table that could be realized profit seems foolhardy, but borrowing isn't always the best idea for all. Very very often there are many things you have to either learn to do without or learn to do yourself.
(It is my most recent photo. I was using my young picture all this time :) Ok jokes apart. This man is the british equivalent of 'Donald Trump' and comes in the UK version of 'The Apprentice'.)
Everything boils down to Risk management, ROI and opportunity cost. If you are confident about your product/service and equally confident about your seo, then their is no reason why you should not borrow money to hire a seo. With professional SEO you can generate sales that will pay most of your seo fees sooner or later. With DIY approach you can expect little to no returns for a long period of time and a -ve ROI cos of your high opportunity cost.
Hi! Yes, I agree that many business owners should bite the bullet and hire an SEO, but there are times when money is just too tight. Duncan too pointed out at the beginning of this post that a business owner's time is better spent on the business and not SEO, but we can't dictate someone else's business style. It is in these cases that I offer this advice.
The Adopt an SEO part is more of a joke than serious. I know I do work for family and friends for a far reduced rate or for free. Like I said above, it is not that you can duplicate that part, but if it is a reality, then just ask for some help.
Thanks for your comment, very true, but we aim to help everyone on the spectrum, even those trying to do it themselves. Who knows when someday the newest mind in SEO starts because they started a businesses and ended up in SEO because of that. You never know what a new mind can change in the industry.
My dad has done a good job adopting me as their SEO! I've been trying to teach him out to fish so that he can do more himself. His new adwords landing pages are awesome, haha. They are even ranking well in SEO now (ya the geo-focused adwords landing pages).
-Brandon
If some one get paid 10USD/hr or 100USD/hr, it depends on the services, it depends on the ROI.But the main issue is good services allways having a good price, but it could be cheaper one if its 250usd/hr, if that consultation or service make happy the client in terms of ROI.
I have worked with people who require "cheap SEO" in the past it usually end up in client who expect way too much and do not want to pay any thing. I would much rather work for corporates who want to pay $200 a hour and not complain. Also their are many benefits working for big business you work on portfolios of clients people know and trust not small brands no one has ever heard of. Sure I advise every one to get a taste of all business I personally have worked on the Cheap SEO - Small business side, SMB business and now work for big corporate companies, all have their positive and negatives.
I have recently realized how "Un-affordble" SEO is for a lot of business where the owner does not have time to go to local meet-ups, read alot of blogs etc... So what I have done is started to do link building consulting and seo coaching where i am not doing the link building, or the SEO work necessarily but I am simply critiquing the work that a noob beginner, part time employee might be getting for you. So it s a sort of slow training at a low cost. Almost a "Quality Control".
What this does it allows a business owner to hire a part time employee for next to nothing (or do it themselves) teach the part timer the basics of link building or SEO and then have a link building consultant or an SEO coach help them improve by evaluating there work.
Just a thought... :)
Very helpful news. I am a small business owner in Charlotte NC, and I looking for someone who can help me out with some SEO for my website. I have a small local floor service business. Any help will be appreciate . Thank you.( I am looking for fair rates)
Very informative! I'd like to add that SEO that the creative apsect of SEO is often underrated. You can use all the smart tools and techniques to be around and get some attention, but it easily has the effect of spam in the long run.
Having said that, these 100 tips might be of some use aswell https://bit.ly/i5R5mu
Nice post, and happy to be a member of SEOMoz now.
I agree. Dont need SEO we still exist and develop. SEO is only one of marketing effects. CRO is more important.
Dear Vietik, I suspect you did not understand the meaning of this post. It says that also without huge resources is possible to do SEO, and not that SEO is not needed. Simply answer to this question: let say you have the most accessible web site... Its buttons are green (or orange), it's funnels perfect, the call to action worth a marketing prize... But it doesn't receive a visit but yours because in the Google desert zone because it is not optimized for the search engines, because it has no links but a few insignificant directories ones... Still are you thinking that SEO is not needed?