SEO is a technical skill that marries data research and analysis with human focused content strategy. Suffice to say, you probably need to hire an SEO consultant to do this correctly for your business! DIY SEO isn’t advised if you aggressively need to improve your Google Ranking or get out of penalty. Because SEO services range in price—from $100 to $5,000+ per month—you’ll need to learn how to find an affordable SEO agency for your business.
How to Find an Affordable SEO Agency
1. Review Pricing
Take a look at our resource, Affordable SEO Agency Pricing, to see the average cost of SEO services in 2023.
2. Consider Your Needs
It’s pretty easy to see why you’d want to hire an SEO agency. Their work results in higher website traffic and front page rankings on Google—which is directly connected to sales!
You will increase profits from SEO, but that doesn’t mean you need to lose the farm to hire an SEO agency. Ultimately, you need to find a great SEO partner for a reasonable cost. Cough, Charm Schoo, cough. However, you need to come up with a realistic SEO budget to start. This is all based on your business’s needs.
When did you launch your company and website? Do you have a business blog? Are top competitors running successful SEO initiatives? What are your main SEO goals?
The answers to these questions will determine a reasonable budget for an SEO agency. From there, you’ll need to set a budget.
3. Set a Budget
Will you need a lot of website development work to get your website into SEO good graces? Do you need to refresh and rewrite website content as well as produce monthly or weekly blog content? Is link building and PR a primary goal?
The more aggressive your SEO goals, the bigger your budget. No matter your budget, it’ll help you rule out firms that you know you can’t afford. You’ll also be able to determine if you can get what you need with the budget you have, or if you need to reallocate from other marketing initiatives. Here is a resource to learn more about budgeting for SEO.
4. Consider Your Options
What are your agency options, given your needs and budget? Who’s out there? Ironically, you’ll probably want to do a Google search. That;’s how you found us, after all! Our SEO game is on point.
Consider whether you want to work with a local agency that you can meet with in person or if you’re cool with a remote agency. If you want to save money, you could opt for a freelancer, but those come with drawbacks. Narrow the list to a handful of agencies that look like good options to you.
5. Read Reviews
Again, we’re back to search engines, but read the reviews of agencies on your shortlist! Sure, you’ll want to do a detailed read of their website and look at the reviews they post, but you’ll also want to Google the agency name and the names of key players. Do they look and sound reputable? Have clients been happy? How much experience do they have? This research may narrow your list further. For example, our reviews are stellar.
6. Ask Your Network
You’re not the first one to hire an SEO agency. Ask around. Who do other business owners in your network use? Have you been warned about any? Asking trusted people in your business network is probably the best way to find an SEO agency you’ll be happy with. It’s even better if a trusted source mentions one of the agencies on your shortlist.
7. Seek Transparency
A good SEO agency will be transparent about its pricing and what you get for your money. They also should tell you what the process will look like and what you can expect every step of the way. If an agency won’t give you general pricing or they make SEO look like smoke and mirrors, you probably should avoid it.
8. Request a Quote
Once you find a few agencies you’re interested in, request quotes. Get the quotes in writing! Understand exactly what you’ll get for your money. Trust your gut. If something seems too good to be true or you get a bad vibe from someone, go to another agency. You should always opt for middle of the road pricing, as many link building farms have super low pricing and ruin your SEO or offer very little value. On the flip side, some agencies gouge just because they can. Charm School is the “just right” SEO agency as far as pricing goes. Reach out to see for yourself!
9. Sign a Contract
Once you find the right SEO agency for you, get everything in writing. Contracts aren’t sexy, but they protect all parties involved. Make sure you get in writing exactly what you’ve been promised and the final cost with no extra or hidden fees.
Why You Should Hire an SEO Agency Instead of DIY SEO
Overall, an SEO agency improves your website’s visibility online by helping your website pages, products, and blog posts rank higher in search results. For example, if you sell supplements and someone Googles “best supplements for women,” you want your content to appear on the first page of search results.
To get these first page results, an SEO agency does:
SEO Audit
An SEO audit is an in-depth review of your website’s SEO performance. It looks at technical issues on your website like 404 errors and responsiveness issues. It also delivers content ideas, keywords you rank for, competitor keywords, and more. SEO audits are so important for foundational SEO optimization.
Keyword Research
The agency identifies the words and phrases people search for in search engines. Then, you can target competitive and more niche keywords through your content so you improve your search rankings.
Frontend Optimization
The agency helps you optimize your website’s content and structure to improve its search rankings on the front of your website. You know, the content your audience reads.
Technical Backend SEO and Metadata Optimization
An SEO agency will update the metadata on the backend of your website that search spiders crawl. The SEO specialist will ensure your pages index on search engines and are crawlable
The bottom line: an SEO agency can help you lead more organic traffic to your website through search. More traffic means greater opportunities to sell. We would love for you to consider Charm School as your SEO agency of choice! Contact us to set up a free consultation to learn more about how we can help drive search traffic to your website.
