If You Can Only Afford a Few SEO Services, Make It These Two
I was doing some research into SEO rates not too long ago. Interestingly enough, I discovered a surprising trend among SEO providers with more than enough work to stay busy: requiring that clients spend at least a few thousand dollars per month. The busiest among them simply do not have time to provide basic SEO services to customers on a budget.
I get it. When you run a company and you have more work than you can reasonably handle, you need to draw the line somewhere. But where does that leave companies that do not have thousands of dollars to spend on SEO? It leaves them having to choose just a few SEO services. That is not necessarily a bad thing, by the way.
Having thousands to spend on SEO is certainly a good position to be in. But companies can still do very well in the SEO department on a budget of a few hundred dollars per month. The key is to zero in on the right services.
If you run a company that can only afford a few SEO services, make it these two:
1. Keyword Research
SEO, known more formerly as search engine optimization, has one primary goal: to guarantee that websites and individual web pages rank as high as possible on organic searches. And most of the time, that means ranking well on Google.
The most important thing to understand about Google and its competitors is that keywords are the foundation of everything they do. Organic searches are built on keywords. Search algorithms are trained to identify and analyze keywords. Without keywords, the internet becomes a jumbled mass of information that would be nearly impossible to navigate.
The Most Obvious Aren’t Always the Best
Keyword research is critical to successful SEO for a number of reasons. At the top of the list is something few people outside of the SEO industry understand: the most obvious keywords are not always the best ones to work with. Sometimes it is better to go with keywords that aren’t so obvious.
For example, ‘SEO services’ is a common keyword for my industry. It is also an incredibly competitive one. If there are a lot of companies vying for online exposure by capitalizing on ‘SEO services’ via their online content, I might be beating my head against a wall trying to compete for the same keyword. Choosing something else that is just as relevant but less competitive could ultimately be the better way to go.
2. Content Marketing
The second SEO service companies on a budget should pay for is content marketing. Even though digital marketing and SEO are different disciplines on paper, they overlap in the real world. Webtek Digital Marketing, based in Salt Lake City, built its business on SEO. Yet today, content marketing is among the many services they offer under the SEO banner.
Content marketing could be considered a dual strategy inasmuch as it accomplishes both SEO and marketing goals. On the SEO side of things, quality content marketing offers search engines exactly what they want: relevant information organized around easily understood keywords. A company’s SEO efforts will always be positively impacted by good content marketing.
SEO services are central to any company looking to perform well online. Whether those services are provided in-house or through an agency doesn’t matter so much. What matters is that companies find a way to leverage SEO principles so that web users can find their sites as quickly and easily as possible. Keyword research and solid content marketing will both do the trick, even on a budget.
