Search Engine Optimization: What it can do for your business
Search Engine Optimization or SEO, as it is referred to in the industry, is a delicate balance of elements that will allow a website to be picked “naturally” or “organically” by the search engines for their top positions in their search results. These top spots are mostly visited by millions of people daily, looking for goods or services in their local area.
To an owner of a business, it only makes sense to advertise there! The problem is, access to those top spots is not for sale. That’s right, you can’t pay the search engines to put your website where you would get the most traffic. You have to EARN those positions. SEO is the process of earning those positions.
SEO: Understanding the Search Engine 
Search Engine Optimization starts at the website’s structural foundation and also the “code” or language the website is written in. What makes a great website? A website that will climb to the top in the search results but can’t keep viewers on it for very long is almost as bad as a great looking website visually to the viewer but can’t be found by the users it was designed to catch. A great website is one that pleases both the human and robot element. SEO only covers the robot element. To optimize a website to its full potential, some more work needs to be included within the visual side to satisfy the human element.
To the search engines, the loyalty goes to the millions of people a day using it to search for whatever it is they are looking for. Whether looking for a tire for your car or how to bake a cake and everything in between… its all the same to a search engine… their job is to bring you back the most relevant information related to the keywords you typed into the search bar. This is why you can’t just buy the best positions. The search engines reserve these positions for the most relevant websites for their users.
White Hat SEO vs. Black Hat SEO
Like with everything else, people will always try to find an easier way …even cheat if they have to. Cheating or tricking the search engine into a desired position on the search results is referred to as Black Hat SEO.
Black Hat SEO practices can rocket a website to the top, but at the risk of stiff punishment. Search engines don’t like to be cheated, so if they catch this type of activity on a website they crawl, the punishment comes down hard on the URL or the website address in question. Some even get black listed and can’t be re-submitted. If you have hired someone or are hiring someone to do SEO for you, make sure they know you don’t want to gamble away your URL. Deceptive practices do far more bad than good.
White Hat SEO is what we do here at Sadree Web Design. We take the time to learn exactly what it is the search engines want from a website and then design and develop the perfect model to satisfy the robot element. Winning the top positions doesn’t come easy and it will take some time. If you want to be there now, you should have hired us months ago. If you are in a highly competitive market and want those positions today… then you needed to start your campaign years ago. That’s right folks, SEO takes time …lots of time …and since time = money …you guessed it …SEO will cost you that too.
Search Engine Optimization: Cost vs. Value
How much can I expect to spend on SEO? This is a question most are afraid to ask, but given the value and the returns it can bring to a business using the World Wide Web (even in a local search) is not that bad. If you compare your optimized website to a rocket, then SEO would be the fuel needed to launch your rocket into orbit. If you have ever seen a rocket take off, then you would have noticed the immense amounts of fuel it dumps onto the pad in the form of thrust as it is taking off. That fuel is not wasted, but consumed to break the hold of gravity. Once in orbit, less fuel is needed to get around and the rocket can stay in space until it is brought back. A website design with search engine optimization in place works the same way as the rocket with its fuel.
To have an aggressive campaign one can spend around $8000 - $10000 up front and a monthly charge of $1200 - $1700 until the mission is accomplished. Moderate campaigns can run from $4000 - $6000 up front and a monthly charge of $800 - $1200. The bare minimum you will spend on SEO would be $2000- $3000 up front and $500 - $800 a month until you obtain your desired positions. This is the only way you can buy those top positions, given the person(s) you hire can do the job they say they can do.
DIY SEO: A bad idea
Thinking of doing it yourself to save a buck? Not here you won’t… It would be almost as ridiculous as wanting to perform open-heart surgery on one’s self. It usually takes a team of professionals working together towards a common goal to see success worth celebrating. SEO professionals are analytical thinkers that know the Internet highways from a technical perspective. If you have a hard time checking email …Hire someone qualified. Also, SEO Professionals possess outstanding writing skills and have a thirst for knowledge (for good reasons). Search Engine Optimization is an ever-changing game. Without the desire or time to constantly learn more, you will be left behind like yesterday’s newspaper.
