Putting up your web site online is one thing and getting it to rank high for chosen keywords is another. If you have a web site but it’s not getting the desired traffic, you may be thinking of search engine optimization or SEO – how to get it to rank high on search engines for a chosen set of keywords.
Most people ask for search engine optimization services from a professional because it is kind of complex and ever changing. However, basic SEO can be implemented quickly and can yield fairly good results. So let us see how much will search engine optimization cost for your web site.
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Is your web site already optimized for search engines?
The first thing you need to check if your web site has indeed been found by search engines and the best way to do this is to type your domain name and search. Thus, put YOU-DOMAIN-NAME.com in the Google search engine and find out if it comes up on the results page. If it doesn’t you know the site hasn’t been submitted to the Google search engine. You can also do this on other search engines, but if Google hasn’t picked up your site, others too would show up no results. Anyway, you definitely should pay attention to the Google search engine because it is responsible for about 70% web searches.
You don’t need a professional to submit your web site. Simply point your browser to the Google – Submit your content page and follow the instructions. Having said that, utilizing the services of a professional from the very onset may seem a good idea to many.
Search engine optimization services cost – initial implementation and maintenance
I would like to divide the search engine optimization costs into two – the initial implementation and the regular (weekly or monthly) maintenance.
Initial SEO cost
The correct initial implementation of SEO on a web site is of prime importance. It encompasses several aspects starting from URL submission to optimization of each page for a keyword. Sit with the professional and tell them the basic keywords for your site. Remember, search engine optimization takes time and you cannot rank high for every keyword. Ask the SEO company to give you a preliminary analysis based on your chosen set of keywords. Also get the success rate for each. Follow that up with them as you go along.
The initial SEO work for a smallish web site should not take more than a month. It should start showing you the results in about 1-6 months. Some SEO firms provide a guarantee and some don’t. This doesn’t mean that you should pick only the former. Always check out the portfolio as well as the testimonials from previous clients.
So how much should the initial search engine optimization cost you? Depending on the number of keywords and the web pages on your site, charges for initial SEO work start from $500.
SEO maintenance services cost
The charge for keeping your site on the top, which is the SEO maintenance cost, will probably be lower than the initial cost as long as the latter was implemented well. Anyway, once your web site finds its place in the first or second page of a search engine for a certain keyword, it is highly unlikely that its rank will fall drastically, unless, there are major changes in the search engine ranking algorithm ot things are messed up on your web site pages. However, what you should be looking for is to see your web site rankings grow over time. This is where the “maintenance” part kicks in. Many search engine optimization companies offer such services and there is no fixed cost involved. The best bet is to ask the firm for an hourly rate and ask them to send you all what they have done in the time period. This would involve site changes as well as attempts at getting inbound links from other sites or web directories.
