SEO optimization can be very expensive. Does anyone have ideas for small businesses?
Does anyone have ideas for small businesses to improve SEO? Search engine optimization can be very expensive, I have been quoted from $500 a month to $5,000 a month for larger companies. Currently, I cannot afford this. Can folks share their 'Do it Yourself' suggestions?
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Jul 1, 2015
Q-Online Ltd. is a performance based digital marketing agency in Surrey offering unrivalled knowledge and experience of various services within online marketing.
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Jun 10, 2015
I know you are eager to get results, build traffic, convert visitors, nurture leads and close new business but DIY solutions can, and often do backfire. I am certified in digital marketing and new media by UCLA and certified by HubSpot in Inbound Marketing and I tell you man to man, you have to do it right or save your money until you can. There is just too much to learn and too much competition to expect any results by tinkering here and there.
My company charges a fee somewhere in the middle of what you mentioned above but I see a new approach being developed for organizations with smaller budgets. It referred to as "Dedicated Marketing". The reason it reduces the costs is that instead of paying for a standard size team of professionals and have to pay $4000 or so a month, a talented company can offer you 1 key, certified professional that works for you and your account only. So, you're not paying for the extra social media, blog or content creation personnel. You have 1 person who you can work with that learns your most important objectives and works with you to tackle all challenges one at a time, based on the budget you can afford.
Just don't try to do it yourself if you have zero experience because you will waste a lot of time and potentially even money.
Trying to help.
Jun 4, 2015
There is not any alternate of SEO but you can consider Social Media Marketing to promote your business. SMM can help in improving traffic to your website. It could be a much better option for you.
Jun 3, 2015
That's ridiculous! Blogging 2-3 times a week and being active in social media helps with SEO. Google looks for fresh, relevant content written for the human reader in natural language. Use the free Google Adwords Keyword search tool to find the relevant keyword for your biz and geo location and creatively use them throughout your site - especially the title and headings. Being active on Google+ also helps. If you have 100 active followers, your ranking can increase by 14 spaces.
Jun 3, 2015
I agree with some of the suggestions posted here, and disagree with others. In a nutshell:
• If you are not an SEO expert, DO NOT do it yourself
• If an SEO services company wants to charge you a flat fee, DO NOT hire them
• If an SEO services company guarantees rankings , DO NOT hire them
• If an SEO services company promises conversions, DO NOT believe them
• There is only one way to provide fair SEO services: performance-based pricing
With performance-based pricing, aside from the initial fee to prepare your website for a campaign, on a monthly basis you will only pay for actions that get you on page one of Google. If none of your key-phrases show up on page one during the month, you pay nothing.
A second option would be to go with Pay-Per-Click, which in the short-term is only as expensive as you want it to be. With PPC, you control your budget, and your improved rankings are almost immediate.
Never let anyone tell you that they will win you business; they can only get people to your site, after that it's up to you.
Jun 3, 2015
To add a different twist on the good suggestions already listed here:
I think the point of SEO in your case is to drive more bookings for your bartending and event service
If I were you, I wouldn't try to do SEO on my own since it takes a specialized set of skills to get good results and if you do things wrong, you can seriously damage your rankings.
Plus I think you should spend your time on the things you're good at--and not burn time developing new skills in SEO, especially since the rules of SEO change on a continuous basis. This means in order to be successful, you need to keep yourself updated on the latest best practices forever. Not a good use of your time, I think. Better to leave that to people who spend all their time with SEO.
Therefore, since you're concerned about the amount of money you should spend on SEO, I suggest you view your contracted SEO services not as an expense, but as an investment. The best way to do this is to find a local SEO expert who is willing to really stand by their expertise.
You shouldn't pay them a retainer fee but should pay them on a revenue share of all bookings that occur as a direct result of their SEO work. If they don't generate any new bookings, they don't get paid anything (or perhaps only a very small amount). But if they do generate bookings, you pay them a generous revenue share for their effort.
It is possible to track SEO-generated leads if your SEO partner sets up your web analytics properly.
This way, they are highly rewarded for their work but ONLY if they perform. This removes all the risk from your perspective. Yes, you do need to be generous in your revenue share of SEO-generated bookings, but this is revenue you are not currently earning anyway.
Jun 3, 2015
DIY SEO is one of the most dangerous things you will ever do. I wouldn't play with it because a little bit of information can do a lot of damage. You get what you pay for on the SEO front. Don't skimp.
SEO bleeds out into a bunch of different areas like social and PPC advertising. If you do the SEO wrong then you will hurt those other efforts.
Would you do your own taxes? Would you clean your own teeth? If they answer to either of those questions is yes you probably shouldn't be running your own business.
Jun 3, 2015
Hey I just had a look at your website. It looks pretty but a few things I would recommend.
Add a "Home" link to your menu.
Add Call To Action button on your website preferably on Home Page, Services Page.
Add Meta Tags like Meta Keywords, Meta Description on each Page.
Show a Testimonial on your home page rather asking them to visit your testimonials section.
We can consult you or can do complete work for you.
Jun 3, 2015
I agree with Mike. Many experts feel that SEO-for-SEO's-sake is going out of fashion in the spam-sensitive and social-networking-driven era; in any case, SEO was never optimally effective unless a solid brand and customer base were already in place. "Keyword padding" might draw a few additional curious looks to your site, but unless the site itself is maximally effective, the curiosity will never translate to new customers.
A few hints that will increase your SEO effectiveness at no charge: ask customers to post their compliments on social media and/or as online reviews; get yourself noticed by the media through press releases; and, if you have any kind of brick-and-mortar building or are active in the local business community in any way, mention your geographical location at least once on every "about me," "home," "services," and/or "testimonials" page.
Jun 3, 2015
I would approach the question slightly differently, and ask a different one? Why SEO? You have come to this conclusion, presumably because you want to increase your reach, find more customers? If you are a small business, this probably isn't the optimal approach, you need to have a seat at the table, and get the basics right (the other answers help here). But look at the bigger picture; what other means are there for you to get your voice heard above the cacophony of small and large businesses? There are 19 different channels for getting heard. SEO is one of those, but also consider avenues such as; Offline ads, email marketing, blogs, SEM, PR, trade shows, community engagement, business development and sales, social ads, content marketing.
There is a very good book on this (I am not involved in any way) called Traction - A Startup guide to getting customers (http://www.amazon.com/Traction-Startup-Guide-Getting-Customers/dp/0976339609)
Jun 2, 2015
SEO optimization these days are quite tricky and no doubt firms are getting costly. Let me simplify SEO to you. SEO has 2 sections. ON-Page and OFF-Page.
You can do it by yourself If you have idea about some basics.
Here are few points that will help you to understand.
On-Page
Place meta tags, description and keywords in every page
Use of H1,H2 tags with your desired keywords
Use compelling content with 2 to 3% keyword density
Alt tags on images
Add Rebots.txt file
Add Xml sitemap
Off-Page
Search Engine
High PR Online Directories
Business Listings
Link Building
Social Media
Press Releases
Jun 2, 2015
Hire someone on UpWork or Elance to do the SEO for you. Screen applicants there with caution for best results.
Jun 2, 2015
The SCORE website Darryl recommended actually has a section for assistance with SEO. There are basic steps you can take yourself, and you can get a mentor to help you. You're already doing something right. I checked "bartending services vancouver", and you are on the "B" position on the map, and you also have a sponsored ad on page 1. But, your listing in the actual organic listings is your listing on Yelp, and it's in the eighth position. You need to get your actual website in the top five organic rankings on page 1.
Once you've determined the keywords you need (NOT want) to rank for, make sure you use them in the content of the relevant page(s). Use keywords in the tags for the related pages. This may not help your rankings, but it can help the searcher determine whether or not you can provide the services they need. There's other technical things you can do, but that's what you pay the professionals for. Unless you know exactly what you are doing, you can actually harm your rankings instead of helping them. There are also several linking methods that are no longer valid that you need to stay away from. Yes, links are still needed, but the emphasis should be on reaching out to, and communicating with, your potential clients, through articles and social media.
As far as pricing for hiring a professional, you're better off with a custom marketing plan rather than a "package", based on your needs and budget. There are undoubtedly some firms that would make sure they use your entire budget, but an ethical firm would use your budget to let you know what is realistically possible, and if they cannot help you, they will not take you on as a client.
Jun 2, 2015
I have a couple of DIY recommendations for you. First, check with your local "Small Business Development Center" in your city. Locate your local SBA office to help you find a mentor at SCORE. www.score.org This will allow you to take advantage of free workshops on all things that are web related to your business. Also, lookup up some SEO tutorials on youtube. The more you understand what your business needs will help you make a more informed decision on what you need in regards to the seo you need for your business. I hope this has helped you.
Jun 2, 2015
SEO services for any business depends upon your marketing requirements and agency you hired.
If you are not well versed with all these things, I would like to recommend you to start with less investment. If you feel, that the marketing efforts made by the hired agency are doing well for your business then you can invest in their higher package to boost your website traffic.
You can judge the hired company's work through Google Analytics where you can check traffic sources including referral, organic, direct, and social.
We at FATbit Technologies, while interacting with our new clients, we suggest them to choose our basic package of $500 first so that they can judge our services and work . If they like it, they choose our booster package of $900.
Here is the list of services we offer to our clients in basic package:
- Initial Business Analysis
- Competitor Analysis
- In Depth Keyword Research
- Marketing Assets Creation
- Content research and planning
- Blog Setup, writing and submission
- Participation in business forums and communities
- Classified ads and local business listings
- Document Sharing and promotion
- Content Curation
- Microblogging
- Social Media Optimization including Facebook Fan Page, twitter cards, fb open graph implementation, LinkedIn Page, G+ Page, hashtag optimization and much more.
Along with these services, we also believe in promoting content visually through infographics, videos and slideshares etc.
You can get further information about pricing and services here: http://www.fatbit.com/seo-services/affordable-seo-packages.html
For further queries, feel free to contact.
Thanks,
Daljeet Kaur
I agree 100% with this. I actually got into SEO because I was trying to market my own IT Services online and love it. It is not for everyone though. Hire a pro and let them get you the results you need. do the lead gen thing for a while and see if the SEO can keep you in business but dont rely solely on organic search you need social integration as well. A great SEO can do it free or cheap. When I say free or cheap I mean get you jobs, it will still be a lead but it wont be a lead plus facebook or Google adwords fees.