Type “Affordable SEO Services” into your Google search bar and you are confronted with two kinds of results.
One, is the “run screaming for the hills if you see somebody trying to hawk cost-effective SEO solutions.”
The other kind are thinly-veiled — and not so thinly-veiled — sales pages that say something to the effect of: “Affordable SEO Services are possible! And you, guess what, we happen to be the most affordable of all.”
I’m going to offer a middle path.
Why You Should (and Shouldn’t) Listen to Me
I don’t run an SEO firm and I’m not actively looking for clients. So, I’m not trying to up-sell you here to my $2,000/month services package.
But I’ve worked for an SEO firm specializing in local firm who touted themselves as affordable, but how affordable they really were I’ll cover in just a second.
And so while I can’t make definitive generalizations about every cheap SEO company out there, I would like to offer a few guidelines to help guide you in your search for affordable SEO companies.
And maybe help you decide whether you really need a company at all.
The Straight Scoop on Finding Affordable SEO Services
Strategy #1: Be Laser-Focused on Results, Not Services
SEO is a huge topic, with lots of little different areas of emphasis. It’s also a very confusing field, even to those of us play in these waters, and one in which the goalpost keeps moving.
SEO firms know this. They know the rules keep changing and the to-do list keeps growing. They leverage this confusion and uncertainty to coerce you into signing off on a long punchlist of items.
Please, for the sake of your bank account, don’t do this.
Instead, you want to focus on the results you want. These might include:
- Boosting the “Time on Site” of your website
- Getting more reviews on platforms like Yelp
- Hiding those nasty, irrational reviews in the search-engine listing
- Finding out the best title tags for my website
- Discovering the 4-5 best categories for my website content
- Picking the 10-20 best keywords to rank for in my market
- Making sure my website has snippets and a proper “Google My Business” profile
These are big-picture strategies that can help your business. It’s the job of the SEO company to find ethical tactics that align with these very specific strategies. Not to come up with the strategies themselves. You know your business better than they do. And vice versa.
Tip #2: Tell ‘Em Upfront You Don’t Want the Premium Package
This is my #1 tip, and if you take nothing else away from this column please, oh please, tell that SEO firm you’re talking to that you DON’T want the premium, deluxe package.
Even if you do.
But, Michael, won’t this turn off potential vendors? Maybe.
But more likely it will force them to be very focused on delivering you results (see above) when they understand that you’re looking to “audition” them before you commit entirely to their operation.
Most SEO companies get paid between $100-$200/hour for their services. Depends on the market and what they’re offering. And the “affordable services” package is usually just a come-on — like a cheap vehicle on a used car lot – to get you into the more-expensive model.
And ultimately if you’re getting such a big ROI then you might mind writing that check to them each month to get the results you want. But until you can feel of how they work, and they of you, it’s better to come up with a very simple bare-bones contract with clear deliverables.
Tip #3: Track Your Results With Some Google Goodness
A reputable SEO company will send you reporting that shows exactly what they’ve and what has been accomplished. This should include any movement in the search rankings – both up and down – and any notable items marked off the punchlist.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t dig into your own numbers too.
One of the best ways to do this is to make notes in your Google Analytics dashboard when specific SEO actions were taken. This can be almost anything: images optimized on the site; new keyword content; site speed increased. And then check in every month or so to see if any of the actions are leading to a direct benefit as reflected in your dashboard.
Some adjustments will bear fruit quickly. I think site speed optimization is one of the fastest ways to improve the SEO of your site. (Google hates slow things.) While creating new content may take awhile to gain traction. But after awhile — three months or so — you should start to see some headway being made.
Keeping track of your numbers is also a great thing to come back to the SEO firm with. They may tell you about how “keyword 1” rose five spots up the search ranks. But if you don’t see even a slight bump in website visits or engagement, then you may want to have discussion about whether it’s time to change strategies.
Strategy #4: Learn One SEO Hack a Week
So, here’s a dirty little secret all those SEO companies don’t want you to know about. You are paying them for the convenience they offer, their ability to be a 1-stop shop for all your SEO needs.
That’s okay. You’re not supposed to know a lot about SEO. You’ve got other things to do. You don’t have time to pore over Search Engine Land blog posts.
But just so you know, like any agency, many of the services they offer aren’t actually done in-house. Sure, they’ll do the big-picture strategic stuff, and make all the pretty analytics reports you want, but for thing like writing content, web development, site speed…a lot of that is outsourced.
And it’s something you could eventually outsource too, if you want.
There are a ton of SEO freelancers, on sites such as Fiverr, who’ll be happy to give you very specialized and targeted services. Need somebody to optimize all the alt tags on your images? Somebody can do that. Need somebody to find the best keywords for “custom kitchen cabinets?” Somebody can do that. Need somebody to write 4 500-word blog posts on the fascinating topic of tax reform? Somebody can do that.
But when working with freelancers in this way you MUST be very clear about what you want. That can be difficult to do when you don’t know what you don’t know.
But eventually, if you keep your eyes open and learn an SEO thing or two a week, you might just be so knowledgable on SEO you might need a company to help you out anymore.
What’s Your Take on Affordable SEO Services?
Have you tried using affordable SEO services? Was it a good experience? Or a nightmare borne from the halls of hell? Let us know in the comments below.
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