What to Consider When Budgeting for SEO

Search engine optimization has become such an important factor in the marketing community that many businesses now hire third party SEO agencies to handle that aspect of their business. Search engine optimization can be very expensive and without the proper planning or budget, time and money can be quickly wasted in the pursuit of search results glory.

It is important that you know your ceiling as a company. A small business in Utah will not have the same budget as a large online retailer, and that is okay because it also will not have the capacity to handle as many customers. Take the time to research and plan for your SEO strategy. Understanding your customers and your limits will help save precious resources from being lost on unqualified customers.

 Once you have a strong understanding of who your customers are and the limits of your SEO reach, set goals that are aligned with that information. Goals can range from how much traffic you want to generate, to how much increased revenue you wish to see.

With your goals in mind begin to explore your options as far as SEO is concerned. Taking again, for example, the small business in Utah, it may realize that it is more beneficial to hire an agency for its optimization efforts, while the large online retailer may decide on hiring an in-house team for sustained optimization efforts. Keep in mind there is no cookie cutter answer for every business.

Companies from Utah to the East Coast are focusing search engine optimization efforts. Understand that it may not be cheap. Yet, a well-planned and budgeted plan should pay for itself as website traffic increases and that traffic leads to improved sales.

Remember that at the end of the day search engine optimization is only as good as the products or services you offer. Don’t spend all of your resources generating high volumes of traffic if you can’t provide a great offering for your customers.

Drew Scholl writes for Fusion 360, an SEO and content marketing agency. He writes for many other clients as well. Follow on Twitter.