Search engine optimisation, or SEO for short, is an interesting marketing strategy that has fantastic sales potential. Considering that Google is the most visited website in the world, you can understand why businesses want to use it to find customers.
The idea is pretty simple: make a web page, tell Google about it and show up in results for searchers to find you. Therefore, we often get asked: “can SEO be done for free?” Well, keep reading as we give you our completely transparent opinion.
Our answer
Yes, you can do SEO for free… in a sense. By this, we mean that you don’t have to pay out loads of money for an expert to do it; however, it will cost you in time spent researching, planning and executing your SEO campaign.
Obviously, you’ll be paying for your website and any special features that come with it, but you won’t need to spend loads on SEO tools to help you. Many of the core tools you’ll need to get started are free – or at least have a free version with the essentials.
With that being said, when you start doing the more advanced SEO stuff, you will most likely need to invest in the right programs.
Plus, you may want to purchase an SEO course to help you, so that will set you back a few pennies if you go down that route.
The Likely Outcome Of A DIY SEO Campaign
As the years progress, Google search results become more and more competitive, and when you take into account that SEO has 200 ranking factors, it can be difficult to know what will help you rank above the competition.
Unless you have a great deal of time dedicated to researching everything you need to know about SEO, the campaign is likely going to produce sub-par results. So, this can be tricky if you’re trying to run a business and learn about the ins and outs of search engine optimisation at the same time.
On the other hand, if you’re looking to start a blog as a hobby, then you may have more time to try different things and get a better understanding of how it all works.
Since we’ve been offering SEO services at SEO Luton, this running theme of poorly developed campaigns by inexperienced small business owners has come up time and time again.
That’s why it’s recommended to get some help. Otherwise, you could be committing a lot of time with little to no results.
ROI From Using A Specialist Or Agency
When you use a digital marketing agency or specialist, you’re effectively using their expertise and collected data to receive the outcome you want. They take out any of the guesswork that comes with doing it yourself.
They can cultivate a solid strategy that takes into consideration the industry, competitors, target audience, technical factors, backlinking and much more, leaving you to focus on core business responsibilities.
As a result, you’ll likely see amazing returns on your initial investment. Just make sure to research the agency/individual beforehand!
Finishing Up
As we’ve covered, you can absolutely do SEO yourself. There are various online resources that can help you figure out how to begin – a quick Google search will show this.
However, the reality of the situation is that SEO is fairly complex compared to other digital marketing techniques. This means that getting results is much harder and requires a lot more time.
If you’re interested in a free website audit and a chat about how we can help your visibility on Google & Bing, contact us today!