A website launch must be treated the same way a company treats a new product launch. If you speak to a product manufacturing company or a computer software company and mention you were launching something with no marketing plan they would call you crazy.

It is very rare that an online business can sustain itself just from search engine traffic alone and the investment on search engine marketing should just be one part of your overall marketing costs.

A lot of organisations will allocate 4-5 times the cost of development into making the product a success at launch (short term) and also mid to long term. This is done because they clearly understand that it is not worth having a product if people have no idea it exists or what it can do. Based on the above why do so many companies think a website is just a cheap way of getting extra revenue. They may well spend £XXXX on a website and then 6 months later wonder why they get no visitors and no sales.

So what should you do?

When planning a website you do exactly this, plan! A full multi-year business plan needs to be drawn up that shows costs and possible revenues and benefits. This plan should include costs for finding a provider (cost of getting and evaluating quotes), design, development and test. This gets you a website but you now also need to add launch costs and ongoing marketing and maintenance costs. Too often the later marketing and maintenance costs are just not considered.

So many SEO companies to choose from?

When you employ a company to manage your search engine marketing, it is typically the case that you pay for what you get. Think about the 12 – 18 month cost as good results can’t be achieved in 1 day and you are really thinking about a long-term partnership. Before deciding on a company consider all the options and services provided by the various SEO companies available. Talk to the companies as you must feel confident in this investment.

So what should it cost?

Very hard to answer without an indication of the actual website being planned. The Return on Investment (ROI) from a search engine marketing campaign will therefore depend on the market you are competing in and the value of your products and services. From our experience it is a lot better to have less pages with good visibility and business benefit than have lots of pages which are never seen.

An example cost is very difficult to provide as each Client and every Website design has its own individual needs and requirements regarding Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Praeparo examples of pricing for Search Engine Marketing Projects has ranged from £70/month to £1,000/month and tends to be a ratio of 4-5 times the initial website design and development budget.

How can Praeparo help?

With a proven track record, combined with ethical SEO methods and competitive prices you can be confident when choosing us. We don’t just throw standard tools at your needs but create a bespoke plan around our services. Our flexible pricing structures are ideal for any size business as any plan can be delivered over different time lines.