Tuesday, May 5, 2009

The Realities of Getting Affordable SEO Services

Many web masters invest hundreds, even thousands of dollars into SEO services, and you've probably thought about doing the same thing too. But unless you've got a big website that generates lots of profits for you, you'll probably look for the most affordable SEO services on the market. And while there's nothing wrong with that, you'll have to manage your expectations somewhat because it's likely that the services you get will be far from top-notch.

Quantity Over Quality

You're sure to canvass around and field bids from SEO companies of all names and sizes. Some bids will be lower than others, but choosing the lowest bid isn't necessarily the best course of action to take, even if it's the lightest decision to make for your wallet.

Remember that, when considering SEO services, quality counts for as much as quantity. Even if you get a truckload of articles and links, they're not going to be of much benefit if they're not done properly or under the right standards. A single good but small SEO package can easily trump a humongous but substandard suite of SEO services.

Realities of Economy

Cheap SEO services rarely intersect with quality. The lower the bids go, the likelier it is that the quality of the output you get will take a similar direction. When you go for the cheapest bid you get from SEO companies, expect the quality to take a hit because those companies often sacrifice quality control. Rush services are also often out of the question for those econo-SEO services.

The lower quality is most apparent in output that you can read, such as blog posts and marketing articles. Cheapo SEO companies often give content that's very awkward to read or doesn't sound like natural, conversational English the way it's used on either side of the Atlantic Ocean. That already puts you at a disadvantage because your customers would be less willing to read through an article that doesn't even sound like it was written by a native English speaker.

It's a little less obvious in services like link building, which you don't get to see directly. Beware because low link building prices could come back to bite you. Many of the el cheapo companies use a very limited network of sites for link building, so the results will probably be marginal for your site. Chances are good that you would've gotten better rankings had you just done link building yourself.

A Good Perspective

Before you go out and survey the market for things like link building prices and SEO service rates, don't set your budget at an absolute amount. Go out there, get a few quotations and give yourself a realistic picture of the price range first. Defining a clear-cut budget and then trying to fit everything into that amount will probably result with your getting less than ideal quality services.

Remember that these SEO expenses aren't just purchases, they're investments. You're getting them not because you just want to buy them on a whim, but because the success of your site depends on them. You should aim not for the cheapest rates per se, but for the most reasonable prices for the quality.

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