Are Affordable SEO Packages Worth The Money And Why?

Naturally, any business with an internet presence wants its webpages to rank highly in the search engine results. This increases your visibility, establishes and enhances trust in your brand, and ultimately generates the sales that keep you afloat. And we all understand that we must invest in SEO if we want to do that. But can your business really compete with national and multi-national companies online? Are affordable SEO packages worth it, or are you wasting your time and your money? Here, we look at why affordable SEO can still make a difference; a specific example of where you could concentrate your efforts; and what to look for in a good yet affordable search engine optimisation provider.

The Debate Surrounding Affordable Search Engine Optimisation Packages

There have been numerous articles over the years written by SEO experts that talk extensively about the drawbacks of only ever investing in cheap SEO. A number of these arguments are logical and well-made. Scaremongers, however, will tell you that spending too little on your SEO will inevitably destroy your business. But at the same time, many businesses - especially smaller ones and especially in these trying economic times - simply don't have a huge marketing budget to throw at the issue. When all is said and done, looking for affordable SEO packages UK wide has to be better than having no SEO at all.

There's huge diversity within the SEO industry. You can find incredibly expensive optimisation experts, and you can find shockingly cheap SEO experts too. Then, you'll find a great number of companies that sit somewhere in the middle. Head to any supermarket, look on the shelves, and you'll see that same diversity of pricing for items that are, for the most part, rather similar - like cheap, mid-range and luxury chocolate. Some people will only eat the luxury option; many people enjoy the mid-range version; and some will buy only the cheapest or most affordable stuff. That doesn't mean to say that the cheap chocolate is any less edible.

People can be priced out of being able to afford the more expensive alternatives; or they might not even be able to taste any difference in the quality. We can make the same argument when it comes to low-cost SEO. It's fine to argue that you should avoid SEO that's priced significantly more cheaply than other alternatives. But that assumes that just because something is less expensive, it's necessarily bad or of a substandard quality. And yet the world runs on cheaper alternatives that get the job done. Like going to the supermarket, companies of varying sizes and types need a variety of pricing options to suit their own, entirely unique needs. That's when an affordable SEO firm can help.

Many businesses are start-ups and just want to get their new company off the ground. Other business owners are struggling to keep their companies afloat. Neither may be able to afford big marketing budgets for SEO. But, in order to survive in today's increasingly online-orientated world, each business does need to have an online presence and optimised content. For these companies, affordable SEO services packages are essential.

Many SEO consultants offer excellent optimisation services at prices that are within the means of many small-to-medium businesses and start-ups. It doesn't mean they are engaging in black hat techniques. It doesn't mean they are creating poor quality content. And it doesn't mean that they don't have the resources and skillset to help business continually refresh their SEO strategies if things go stale. Plenty of businesses need quality SEO at reasonable prices, while SEO companies UK wide must adapt to the needs of their clients.

Perhaps the cheap SEO' arguments were more convincing when not every company had to have an online presence. Now, everyone - from tradespeople to local cafes - needs their own websites with well-written content. And that's why affordable SEO is needed.

Of course, there are bad optimisation companies out there, and they do offer their services 'cheap'. And that can equate to low-quality services. However, business owners tend to be pretty discerning. If they do the right research on various companies and read testimonials from past customers, they will be able to find the right SEO agency to suit their needs.

What Can I Expect From Affordable Small Business SEO Packages?

An affordable SEO service should analyse your existing web content and wider presence, and then recommend action in areas that will create the maximum impact for the money you are paying them. One of the biggest areas that you can create such an impact in terms of SEO, for instance, is by paying attention to your landing pages. But what are landing pages and what can you do to make them work harder for you?

To many people, their homepage is the sole landing page worth talking about. There's a popular misconception that this is the only page that truly counts when we're talking about the entry point to a website. Because this is what a landing page is: the place where potential buyers first start to engage with a company online and become actual purchasers. But that can be so much more than just your homepage. To a digital marketer or SEO manager, a landing page is any standalone webpage that is specifically designed to entice a prospective customer into taking action, whether that's signing up for more information or making a purchase.

In short, it's the page that visitors first see when they click on a link in the search engine results, which might not necessarily be your home page. In fact, you almost don't want it to be. Say you sell a range of products or services: they should all be there on your homepage so the casual visitor can see what you do and where they can find more information. But your landing page, on the other hand, will answer a direct query made by the searcher about just ONE of your market offerings. A landing page converts a viewer looking for something specific into a buyer.

A lot of people assume that landing pages are only useful for one-off campaigns, usually using PPC (paid-for) ads. But by harnessing the power of low-priced SEO, you can use some of your landing pages to attract and convert organic traffic too. After all, organic traffic is much cheaper than paid-for advertising, so ultimately, you'll get a better ROI if you invest in the right SEO to attract it.

So what type of landing page is suitable for investment in SEO directed towards organic traffic? In short, any page that offers evergreen information. That's something your company routinely provides and will continue to provide indefinitely, rather than a short-term campaign or special offer. In order to be seen by a prospective customer, however, that page needs to rank well in the search engine results, and that is where an affordable SEO service comes in.

The information on that page should be optimised with the right keywords and phrases to be indexed, and ranked highly, by the search engines. This should include long-tailed keyphrases as well as your usual target keywords. The content should read naturally, be engaging and persuasive, and include just one call to action, to focus the potential client's attention on this product and this product alone. There should be nothing else to distract the viewer from signing up or buying.

So affordable SEO packages for small business could include work on your landing pages to add value to your organic search results. And there are plenty of other small changes that won't cost the earth, but could significantly raise your online profile. So how do you find the right SEO agency for your business's needs?

Three Important Factors When Looking For An Inexpensive SEO Provider

As stressed above, cheaper isn't necessarily better, but affordable yet effective SEO is out there. When searching for an affordable SEO company, there are a number of factors you will need to consider to ensure you're getting the best value-for-money. Here are three of the things you should look out for, to make sure the service you choose is right for your business.

1. First, do some research on their previous clients. If a cheap SEO service provider promises to improve your search rankings for a particular price, ask them to prove how they've done it in the past. Speak to a member of the team and find out which projects the company has previously worked on. You will then be able to search for these businesses online and see where they fare on a search engine results page for particular search terms.
2. How well is the SEO company itself doing on search results? Remember - if a company promises you a particular service, they should be able to deliver. Type some search queries into a search engine (for example 'SEO services' + the name of your town or city). Find out where the company appears on the search results page. If they appear on the first page of a service like Google, it means they are well-represented, and should be able to do the same for your business. If not, you might want to look elsewhere.
3. Find out what methods the company will use to improve your online visibility. They should be able to tell you what areas they will concentrate on and with what results. For example, are they going to focus on keyword strategies, landing pages, SEO link building, lead generation, or the structure of your page? How much can they do for the budget you have? Finding all this out will let you evaluate whether the service is right for you.

While good SEO inevitably needs some investment, there really is no need to pay over the odds to improve the visibility of your website. The key to this is ensuring you pick the right agency to consult when looking for affordable SEO. Position1SEO is adept at evaluating companies' web presences and devising strategies tailored precisely to deliver the maximum benefit while keeping prices affordable. Call for your free site audit and details of just a few of our past successes to date.