Since Search Engine Optimization is an emerging industry, it has attracted the attention of many search marketing agencies, upcoming and established businesses. Many companies are opting for SEO for their websites to attract more and more business. There are different kinds of Search Engine Optimization agencies ranging from established consultancies that offer quality search engine optimization service to fly-by-night “SEO professionals” trying to earn some quick money.
What kind of SEO agency you need to opt for may depend on the kind of business that you have. Given below are some of the models that are common in the industry.
1. Multi-national, full service search engine marketing agencies: The operating model of the Multi – National, full service search engine marketing agencies is large. Hence, they rarely find small businesses attractive. They can also be extremely expensive for small and upcoming businesses. Most of these firms are venture funded. They need to operate at a large scale so that they can be a successful business venture. This leads to high costs of services.
2. Fly by night SEO agencies offering freebies and cheap SEO: Many firms claim to have developed tools that do automatic SEO. Some other agencies try and get business by offering SEO at extremely low costs. However, how effective both these forms of SEO are cannot be told. Many experts are not sure as to how effective both these practices are. In most of the cases, when SEO firms have offered very low cost SEO or tool based SEO, it has led to clients being disappointed with the results and spending more money on clearing the mess created.
3. Boutique SEO agencies & SEO Professionals: Another model of SEO services is boutique agencies and SEO professionals. This model is in between the extremes of expensive and large companies and fly by the night SEO agencies. These agencies have small scale operations, lean teams, a flexible structure and low expenses. Hence, these agencies are able to offer affordable SEO business to the clients. These agencies also provide a higher degree of personal attention to the account, services customized as per the client’s needs and better search rankings.
When you evaluate an outsourced SEO partner by their SEO cost, you must not lose sight of your business needs and market scenario. There cannot be a common model for all the websites. A good agency will not assure you increased rankings in a particular time period but will try and work with you to achieve the business goals.
