How Much Should I Spend On a SEO Company?

How much should SEO cost? That’s a good question.  Unfortunately, there’s not a good answer to the question. There are many different factors to consider and although there are performance guidelines there are no industry standards.
For example, the expense of a search engine optimization campaign depends on the targeted niche, the amount of competition and the size of the players, the experience and expertise of the SEO company, the specific services the company is providing, your current and targeted web rankings and the complexity of your website platform. The more complex the situation and the more competitive the campaign, the more man-hours are required to see results.
As you can see, the price of an effective campaign is hard to pin down. However to give you some broad price ranges for comparison, in our experience a small local SEO campaign shouldn’t really cost more than a quality Yellow Pages listing or a year’s worth of advertising in the local newspaper.
A more aggressive SEO campaign targeting high traffic keywords could cost as much as several thousands of dollars each month, depending on whether you’re hiring a freelance SEO person or a high end SEO firm.
But like any business expense, the amount you’re willing to spend depends upon the results you’re looking for. A well executed, comprehensive SEO plan can return many times your investment, but there are no guarantees.
Many financial investors advise that an annual return of 5 to 10 percent on their money invested is a good return. The average return on investment (ROI) for S&P 500 companies is about 7.9 percent.
It’s unrealistic to expect to get thousands of dollars in extra sales each month from hundreds of dollars invested in search engine optimization.  It’s much more reasonable to look for a 10 percent return on your investment. The truth is as long as you’re getting back more than you’re putting in, you’re ahead of the game.
And finally, remember that an SEO campaign is not a one-shot deal. You can’t optimize your website and achieve great search engine rankings and then stop everything that you’ve been doing. SEO requires ongoing effort to remain effective. The good news is, that as your site becomes more established it will also develop more stable ranking and you may be able to par down your efforts while maintaining a good ranking depending on your industry.