Whether you have a current website or are thinking of creating one for your business, its design matters more than you think! The overall look, interactivity and how optimised your website makes a difference to your audience and how well your website is received. In 2021 there are over 4.6 billion internet users, and over 1.7 billion websites exist! Since this is an ever-growing industry, it’s important to stay on top of trends and stats to keep ahead of your competitors.
Ready to reach customers that you’ve never been able to reach before? Then it’s time to invest in SEO. But just how much should that investment be costing you? In this blog post, we’ll answer the popular question, ‘how much does SEO cost’ as well as give insider tips to finding the best SEO agency, the industry standard of SEO prices in South Africa and the factors that will influence your SEO package.
At The Weblab, we have years of SEO experience and industry knowledge to help expand your business using SEO. By optimising your site for search engines we will reach the untapped market of users that are in the information gathering stage of their buying journey, with the hope of your offering turning them from just a browser to a buyer!
Now let’s learn more about what you should be getting from a standard SEO package.
What You’re Getting From Your SEO Package
It all depends on what your business and website needs SEO for. If you’re in a highly competitive market, you will need aggressive SEO to help outrank your competition. Maybe you need SEO to help your target market find you in the first place. It all depends on what is included in your SEO package. Here are some of the essentials included in most SEO packages:
- Keyword research
- Installing analytics software
- Optimising and updating your current pages for SEO keywords
- Improving and linking the internal structure of your site
- Editing and optimising current content
- Monthly reports
SEO Cost Factors
When asking the question ‘how much does SEO cost’ you need to understand that a number of factors influence that cost, namely:
- Number of pages you need optimised and monitored
- Number of keywords you want to rank for
- Your SEO and business goals
- The aggressiveness of your SEO ie. how quickly you want to rank
- Your location ie. lots of local competition
- Link acquisition
Initial SEO vs Monthly SEO
Your initial SEO setup will be different to a monthly SEO package. With your initial set up your site will undergo an SEO audit to see how it can be optimised to improve the quality and quantity of your website visitors. Keyword research will then be conducted to find the keywords that your site will target. This will be a mix of popular keywords, brand keywords and more obscure keywords that you can dominate competitively. Basic on-page SEO will be improved, whereby analytics software will be installed and title tags, meta descriptions and alt tags will be created or optimised for your keywords.
A monthly SEO package will include creating new, interesting content that targets your keywords. Updates will be done to your existing pages according to algorithm changes or business updates.
Through a monthly package, backlinking opportunities will also be created by your SEO company, the quality of these links depends on your goals and the cost of your SEO package. More keywords will also start being targeted as time goes by and your initial keywords have started ranking. Your monthly package will also include monthly analytics reports with suggestions for improvement. This and more is all included when you’re asking how much does SEO cost.
Different Types Of SEO Packages
There are different types of SEO packages and all have different functions, depending on what you are looking for. The best SEO agencies are open to a custom package that could combine one or two of the following or offer all in a full package.
- Once off Keyword research
- One Time On-Page SEO
- SEO Content Creation
- Local SEO
- Off-Page SEO (backlink creation)
SEO Pricing Tips
- Avoid agencies that use the word ‘cheap’ when selling their SEO services.
- Avoid SEO agencies that promise results overnight. SEO is a long-term strategy which should start gaining some results after 3 months.
- Avoid agencies that can’t provide you with analytics and monthly reports.
- Get the details of what your SEO agency will be delivering for their SEO prices.
- Beware of ‘one size fits all packages’. Look for customised solutions.
- Your SEO agency should be able to adapt and keep up to date with the many changes that search engines make to their algorithms.
- A reputable agency will have an engaging website with helpful testimonials.
- Look for a company that researches your competitors and gives helpful suggestions.
- Look for a company that really wants to get to know your company and your goals before they slap on a price.
How Long Does It Take To Start Seeing Results?
To start seeing initial results from SEO you will generally have to wait 3-6 months. For long term, high-ranking results, however, will take a much longer time and your SEO needs to be constantly monitored and updated to maintain those results. That’s why SEO is never seen as a ‘quick fix’ solution but rather a long-term investment into your business online marketing strategy.
The age of your website, the current state of it, your competition, how strong or weak your backlink profile is and ultimately your budget also has an effect on how quickly you will start seeing progress from your agency’s SEO efforts.
How Much Does SEO Cost In South Africa?
Typical industry pricing for SEO in South Africa includes the following:
- Local SEO – R5 000 – R12 000 a month
- Regional SEO – R7 000 – R15 000 a month
- National (South Africa wide) SEO – R10 000 – R20 000 a month
What We Offer At The Weblab
At The Weblab, we will start seeing results in your rankings in just 90 days! With us, you will receive customised packages that perfectly match your SEO goals and budget. With our free strategy call, we can start to strategise which elements of SEO will help your business become more profitable, increasing your website visitors and sales.
Staying up to date with Google’s algorithm changes is an essential part of our services and we help break down our SEO packages so you can see just how much your SEO does cost and why. This includes researching into your market, strategising, implementing and sending monthly reports. Get started with powerful SEO services and book a free strategy call today!