Author: Alan Rothstein, Co-Founder of Fish Tank Media
1) Run Your Business vs. Learning SEO (Time is Money)
2) Agency or Dedicated Search Marketer
3) The Cost of Link Building & Press Releases
4) SEO Tools for Research & Measurement
When attending Search Marketing conferences and reading blog articles everyone says, “you should do SEO because it is a low cost way to gain organic search results.” However, time is money. You have the option of reading books, articles, attending conferences, testing new theories and waiting to see the results; but is the time you spend learning SEO really more important than running your business?
Agency or Dedicated Search Marketer
The true cost of SEO is in the knowledge and experience an agency or dedicated search marketer comes to the table with. Most SEO professionals have been in the industry for years, worked on multiple campaigns and have already tested many theories before putting them into action. With a little bit of research, the SEO professional will already understand the best way to launch an SEO strategy. They will have a timeline for how long things will take. Most importantly, they will have the confidence to implement an SEO strategy knowing 3 months down the line the SEO strategy will be successful. Whether you choose an agency or dedicated search marketing professional it is going to cost anywhere from $40,000 to $200,000 a year; not the cheap miracle everyone promises SEO to be.
The Cost of Link Building & Press Releases
Think link building is free, think again. Most companies hire a dedicated social media/link building associate. Don’t forget about the cost of 1 press release, as much as $500. Most successful SEO strategies recommend 1 press release per month to increase the amount of external and syndicated links to your website. Include other related costs such as: building an app ($10,000-$35,000), creating a micro-site ($2,000-$5,000), or just some link bait ($1,000+) and the cost of link building adds up.
SEO Tools for Research & Measurement
With the exception of Google Analytics & Google Webmaster Tools, most reliable tools will cost a monthly fee. SEOmoz offers a nice ranking, link building, and competitor analysis tool for $99-$499 a month depending on the amount of keywords you want to track.
The Bottom Line: SEO is not a Cheap Miracle
Do not be fooled by get rankings quick schemes that promise hundreds of dollars and/or visitors in one month. Implementing a successful SEO campaign is a full time job. If you do not have the time to learn and manage SEO, outsourcing SEO to a dedicated professional or agency is essential. With more people using search engines to find information, SEO is a must.