SEO is becoming increasingly important for businesses. The website becomes a key component to the success of any venture. However, when it comes to the cost of SEO, you also need to be clear about what you are trying to achieve. Because SEO ensureslong-term success.
Being found well on Google is almost a must for entrepreneurs these days. But the competition is strong and professional search engine optimization is supposedly expensive. So is it still worth going to a professional SEO service provider or are there viable alternatives?
We spoke to Jörg Strömsdörfer – Founder of DieWebAG© – SEO Agentur Köln and take a look at the actual costs of SEO measures and their effectiveness.
No website visitors, no customers
Gone are the days when most people looked for companies in business directories made from real cardboard and paper. The Internet has long since gained the upper hand when researching the right service provider or product. So if a company doesn’t have an internet presence these days, it has already lost in a digital world.
Above all, Google is considered to be the most important traffic supplier of all. But the competition on the Internet is now very strong – and the placements on the first results page of the search engine are few and far between. But a website that can’t be found is like a book that nobody buys: it becomes a flop. Search engine optimization, or SEO for short, is the solution to this problem.
SEO: do it yourself or hire a professional?
If a company wants to reach its customers online, know-how in the field of search engine optimization is essential. However, the complexity of SEO has increased significantly in the last 10 years: While it used to be relatively easy to manipulate the search results in favor of your own website, manipulation is now only possible to a limited extent. Instead, the technology and content of the page must be perfectly aligned with the user in order to end up on the first page of Google with the desired search terms.
Due to the increased demands on search engine optimization, a layman can only carry out SEO independently in the rarest of cases. If you still want to try it, we recommend taking a look at Google’s “Introduction to Search Engine Optimization” . In the instructions from Google, the most important points about SEO are described so that at least the basic measures can be implemented when creating the website, such as SSL and much more.
However, if you consider the Internet to be your main sales channel, it is actually advisable to hire a professional to do this work. The classic web designers who take care of the implementation of websites often also offer additional SEO measures. On-page measures, i.e. technical adjustments within your own website, are usually carried out more or less successfully. However, if you want to develop a holistic SEO strategy, you usually cannot avoid service providers specializing in search engine optimization.
How much can search engine optimization cost?
When looking for a competent agency, you will probably shy away when your chosen SEO specialist presents you with a cost estimate for optimizing your website: search engine optimization appears very expensive at first glance.
The costs for search engine optimization can often be divided into two different areas:
- One-time analysiscosts
- Ongoing care costs
The one-time analysis costs arise for services that serve to determine the status quo of your website. After all, this is the basis for the definition of further SEO measures that are to be implemented in the future to improve Google rankings.
The ongoing support costs, in turn, serve to carry out those measures that were determined as part of the analysis. These include, for example:
- OnpageOptimization
- contentcreation
- link building
But now butter by the fishes – what should the fun actually cost? Basically, the cost calculation is very different, since many factors play a role here. For example, do you hire a freelancer or a large SEO agency? Would you like to rank for one or 10 different keywords? And above all: How strong is the competitive situation?
The one-off costs for the SEO analysis can therefore be between 1,000 and around 3,000 euros, depending on the scope. The expenses for ongoing support, on the other hand, are very variable: Small companies with a small budget and manageable goals can make a difference from as little as 500 euros a month, while large companies can quickly reach 5,000 euros a month or more. The duration of such SEO campaigns should be at least 6 to 12 months.
Conclusion
Even if the costs for search engine optimization unsettle one or the other entrepreneur at the beginning – if you are entrepreneurially active in the long term, you should trust in a reputable SEO agency despite a certain residual risk. After all, the website visitor also benefits from good search engine optimization: With a clear website and great content.
