HOW TO BUDGET FOR A SUCCESSFUL SEO STRATEGY

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FIRSTOPAGE TO PAY FOR SEO Does Your Brand Need to Pay for an SEO Expert? Oh, Yeah. 91% of web pages never get a single click from Google. SEO drives 40% of revenue on average. Google holds nearly 92% of the search engine market share. The second page of Google results gets less than 1% of clicks. Convinced You Need to Pay for SEO Expertise? Now you need to know how. Here's the breakdown on SEO pricing models. SEO SERVICE FEE STRUCTURE HOURLY PRICING Fees charged per hour by an agency or consultant. Great if you're in a bind and need immediate help, but sustained results come from long-term SEO strategy. FLAT RATE/PROJECT-BASED Perfect for one-off projects with tight time constraints, but not ideal if your goal is comprehensive, across-the-board change. PERFORMANCE-BASED A less common approach, simply because the best SEOS understand their KPls and set smart targets for growing organic traffic and ranking from the start. They also understand there are too many external variables that impact SEO performance. RETAINER The most common fee structure, involving a monthly charge for an agreed-upon number of hours, objectives, and KPIS. Nearly 75% of SEOS offer a monthly retainer, and for 40%, it's their only pricing option. So, How Much Will You Pay for SEO? Most Popular Pricing Tiers by Fee Structure HOURLY PRICING PER-PROJECT PRICING S75 - $100/hr $501-$1,000 $100 - $150/hr 25% 20% 25% $200/hr: less than 6% > $1,001: 52% Monthly Retainers for Traditional vs. Enterprise SEO YOU CAN GET DECENT QUALITY SEO SERVICES FOR SMBS AROUND $2-$5K PER MONTH. BUT... TECH, SAAS, STARTUP, AND ENTERPRISE BRANDS SPEND MORE. A LOT MORE. THAT'S BECAUSE THEY HAVE MORE TO GAIN (AND LOSE). ENTERPRISE SPENDING ON SEO (PER MONTH) SO-51,000 11% $1,000-2,500 7% $2,501-5,000 7% $20,000+ 45% $5,000-10,000 20% $10,000-20,000 11% Moral of the SEO Price Story: Enterprise brands invest way more than $2,000 a month. And they get more ROI in return. Where Can You Find Quality SEO Services? Here are the types of businesses that offer SEO services (one might not be better than the other, so do your due diligence to search for different types of businesses, request a proposal, and review their results): BUSINESS TYPES 31.4% 17.4% 11% 10.7% 6% SEO agency/consultancy Specialty/boutique agencies design or development firm Traditional marketing agencies Inbound/organic agency/consultancy Other Factors That Impact How Much You’ll Pay for SEO SEO agencies charge more than freelancers and consultants, but they usually have experience with every type of project that your company might need and they can produce results. Average Hourly Rate for Agencies O Average Hourly Rate for Consultants Average Hourly Rate for Freelancers $135 $122 $68 Average Hourly Rate Based on Experience 10+ years More Experience = Higher Fees 5-10 years 2-4 years <2 years $79 $111 $119 $142 Why Not Just Bring SEO In-House? You could, but here's what you could expect to pay per year for a full SEO team that agencies provide: $10.000+ Full-time employee benefits $100-$175K Head of SEO $500-$2,000 Fees for SEO software, subscriptions, and other services $75-$90K Technical SEO Expert $500-$4,000 Price per link if you pay for links instead of conducting outreach $90K+ Content Director (dependent on experience) $100-$800 Fee per content piece (on a per word basis) $75K Content Outreach (5 years' experience) $50K Content Writer (entry-level) It all adds up to this: SEO isn't cheap. Wouldn't you rather have a full team of experts at your disposal, without hiring an entire staff to do it? BOTTOM LINE: WHAT YOU PAY FOR SEO WILL BE IMPACTED BY THESE FACTORS • Whether you hire an agency, consultant, or freelancer • How much experience they have • What their preferred fee structure is • Whether your brand is ready for enterprise-level SEO Looking for an SEO partner that brings value to your brand? Get a free content analysis from the experts at FIRSTOPAGE First Page Strategy | Copyright © 2021 www.firstpagestrategy.com www.moz.com I www.ahrefs.com I www.internetlivestats.com I www.thinkwithgoogle.com www.brightedge.com I www.borrellassociates.com