New Article - Don’t Cheat Your Business By Going Cheap On SEO

[thejenn]

Authored by: Stoney deGeyter

Full Text: http://www.searchengineguide.com/degeyter/009219.html

A Snippet:

If you're like me, that frugality carries over into just about all areas of your life, including searching for an SEO company. But one thing that bargain shoppers tend to find out the hard way is that sometimes the best deal isn't always the best deal. In fact, the bargain often turns out to cost you more in the long run.

[Nicolette]

Great article Stoney!

As a seasoned marketing professional, I bring a lot of business intelligence to the table. Being relatively new to the search marketing world, however, my prices reflect that. Most established business owners do not know the difference between an optimized site (user- and search-engine friendly) vs. a search marketing campaign (link building.) I don't do PPC.

I've developed a pricing model in stages with both fixed costs and monthly retainer (3-6 months), depending on the scope of the project.

Website design, Web analytics, Competitor Analysis & Keyword research, Link building & Content Writing. All priced affordably and able to build on one another. I stress on my website that there's a difference between affordable websites and cheap. I spoke with one potential client who paid $4000 for a website that was entirely in frames. He had no idea his site was invisible to the search engines. This makes me nutty. I could have done so much better for less.

When a client just wants a website, I ask how they intend to attract traffic. If they just want a new design for customers who already know them, it kills me, but I don't argue.

Most industrial/commercial businesses (my primary focus) rarely look at their web analytics. Crazy! I know. Then I ask, do you want me to review and make recommendations based on your traffic stats?

And on it goes. It's an educational process and when I keep that in mind, it prevents undo frustration.

In a perfect world, I'd love to create a "soup to nuts" internet marketing action plan. But reality keeps getting in the way. I'm learning to adapt.