How Much to Pay for SEO Services?

Paid SEO Services

The question comes up often. SEO services have burned many people, but SEO services have also rewarded many. Like any business transaction or purchase, you should only spend your money when you feel comfortable.

Your comfort zone should pull from various dependencies, such as how well you know this business, how long have you been doing business with this person or entity, what is your first impression, and how you feel about this person or entity’s ability to provide this service, and how well you have done your homework.

The truth about SEO services is that it is normally not hard work, but that does not mean it’s easy. It still takes time, dedication, effort, strategy, technique, method, skill, and experience to perform quality SEO services.

Anyone can use SEO services because it is within your reach to learn, but not everyone can apply sensible strategies to make SEO work. That is why SEO engineers are needed to accomplish the almost impossible, but the question is, how do you know you are making the right choice and not overpaying for SEO services?

I can honestly say that SEO service providers are on the up and up and want nothing more than to do professional business and provide quality SEO services. Identifying every shady SEO service may not be possible, but I have some recommended advice that should help anyone get a fair and quality rate for SEO services.

– Set yourself a “realistic” marketing budget and goal

– Shop around

– Do not buy until you feel comfortable

– Remember, “cheap does not always mean better.”

– Ask for references / referrals / portfolio

– Verify references / referrals / portfolio

– Ask for statistical growth and progress reports.

Set Yourself a Realistic Marketing Budget and Goal

This simply means do not kid yourself and think you can pay $200, and overnight you will make thousands. Instead, create a budget based on your marketing needs, competitive industry, projected output, and length of time.

If you are looking for your website to rank in the Top 10 search engine result page for a particular keyword or keywords, then expect to pay in the thousands, often tens of thousands, for quality, professional, and reliable SEO services, almost always dependent on the competitiveness of the keyword.

If you want to rank in the top 10 for the keyword “Google”, in most cases, it is impossible, but I am sure some SEO companies will accept the challenge but will charge in the thousands, if not millions, to attempt this insane marketing goal.

Shop Around

Find the most appealing SEO services and compare those to other competitive SEO services. Do not settle for “cheap” or “inexpensive” but set for “effective” and “strategy”. Anyone can do SEO work, but not everyone can improve results using SEO services. This is because SEO is about technique and strategy. It’s not about just throwing thousands of links around the web and sitting back waiting for the explosion.

It is actually a lot more complicated than that, as it is about having a strategy, technique, and competitive edge. You must find SEO services that live by this principle and can offer you the strategic road map you need for success.

Do Not Buy Until You Feel Comfortable

You should always feel comfortable entrusting your money to an SEO service provider’s hands. If you have special needs, such as you want to sign a contract, you want a specific pay schedule, or you have any questions, make sure you get answers and are comfortable with the projected exit, then move forward. I suggest getting a contract that outlines the projected income and any other bullet points, then also exploring the consequences or possibilities if the projected output is not met.

Remember, “Cheap Does Not Always Mean Better”

This is a buyer’s beware notice. When someone offers $20 SEO services or even $200 SEO services, I would say “buyer beware”. There may be a handful of highly skilled SEO providers who can offer you SEO services at a discount or for extremely low rates. Still, most of the time, these providers either do not know their service worth or exactly what they are doing, but may have had a lucky streak.

You will have to pay top dollar or aggressively, yet still affordable for quality, strategic, and experienced SEO services. SEO engineers are what I like to call them. These are SEO’s who understand the SEO concept, pioneer SEO methods, and do not always follow the trends but know the trends.

Most SEO engineers will not be cheap but well worth every dollar space. Consider other marketing and advertising platforms, such as television broadcast advertising, print advertising, large tradeshow / fair booth advertising, etc. Internet marketing and search engine optimization cost peanuts compared to these other advertising methods and have a farther audience reach.

SEO services can easily cost between $1,000- $25,000 per month, it can even be much more than this, depending on your needs, but this is far more inexpensive and cheaper than other advertising platforms. So, next time you think that SEO service costs too much, think about the other advertising methods and their rates, along with return on investment (ROI). SEO services come out on top whenever compared to these other advertising platforms.

Ask for References / References / Portfolio

Any SEO service provider should be able to point you to their qualified work. Your SEO service provider should be able to present you with affectionate websites on which they have performed SEO work. This can even be the SEO service provider’s personal website, and they should be able to point you to their rankings in the search engine as well as some result-driven SEO work within the site or across the web.

Verify References / Portfolios

Verifying information is not always easy or accomplishable. You should attempt to reach out and verify what you can. If a shady SEO business was going to scam, then I am sure this is where they would start, with testimonials.

I suggest verifying what you can but do not get overwhelmed with referrals because it may be the shady SEO business giving self-praise. I have some good verification tips, but that’s another article all within itself.

Ask for Statistical Growth & Progress Reports

The SEO service campaign should include periodic progress/performance reports so you can track your website progress. Tracking your website progress is important in many ways.

First, it tells if the SEO engineer is doing their job. Second, it tells you if the SEO methods, strategy, and technique is working or not.

Third, it tells you how well the search engines reciprocate your SEO efforts. And lastly, it tells you how much progress is being made and at what rate. All of this advanced reporting information and trend tracking can give you an overview of your website potential while allowing you to design or redesign your landing pages to increase your return on investment (ROI).

Okay, to wrap it up, be sure you stay out of shabby internet neighbourhoods and when making any online transaction, do your homework first. Also, remember “cheap does not equal better”.

Think about it, would you rather pay in the thousands to one SEO company for quality SEO work, which will produce results and increase your website’s overall performance, or would you rather pay a cheap $200 to many different SEOs who do not ever really give you the results you deserve.

If an SEO engineer can increase your website’s sales and exposure by 80% without your site ever reaching the top 10 search results, then you still got a good deal. This is the effect of skilled and experienced SEO services. The only difference between your website and the websites in the top 10 is those websites have SEO engineers working for them who understand SEO.