So you’ve decided to look into Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your school website! This is an important decision because for as long as search engines continue to evolve, SEO will continue to be essential to the long-term marketing strategy and traffic growth for most websites.
Where to start, then? The most common concern would be the price tag on SEO services. Before you make your choice, read on to know what to expect in terms of the costs of hiring SEO services for your school website.
Pricing Options You Can Expect for School Website SEO
Most businesses looking to gain more traffic online turn to search engine optimization, and school websites are no exception. How much you can expect to pay for SEO services depends largely on how many SEO objectives you hope to achieve for your website. This is the reason why both hourly and monthly rates are common for SEO experts. A worldwide survey by popular SEO toolkit provider Ahrefs found that the rates for SEO services vary significantly depending on who you hire and their level of expertise based on experience. Additionally, rates also depend on what objectives you hope to achieve for your fully optimized website.
Hourly Rates Range From $75 to $200
When looking into hiring SEO services for your school website, it’s possible to find experts who charge an hourly rate for the time they spend optimizing it for you. This survey found the rates to range widely from $25 to $400, but a vast majority of the most common market rates ranged between $75 and $200 per hour. This disparity is largely dependent on whether you’re hiring a freelance SEO specialist, an agency, or a consultancy. Consultancies tend to have a higher level of expertise, usually based on more years of collective experience in SEO.
Monthly Retainers Range From $500 and $2000
Depending on your outlook as an institution, it may be an option to have SEO for your school website on a monthly retainer instead. Just like the previous hourly rates, a monthly retainer allows you to receive regular SEO updates to keep your website up to date with the constantly changing search engines.
According to survey statistics, some businesses prefer to charge a monthly retainer, usually ranging from $500 to $2000 per month. As is the case with the hourly rates discussed earlier, the varying rates largely depend on whether you’re hiring a freelance expert, an agency, or a consultancy.
One-Time Projects Cost Between $2500 and $5000
Many businesses taking their first plunge into SEO tend to prefer an initial bulk price for a one-time optimization project. However, as preferable as this may be, it’s good to remember the ever-evolving nature of search engines and the internet as a whole. Search engines are constantly updating with new changes to the algorithms that your website will need to stay updated on. While an initial one-time SEO project may sound good, it is highly recommended to continuously optimize your website to stay ranking well on search engines over time.
Should You Opt for Freelance SEO or Hire an SEO Agency?
The choice of whether to hire an individual SEO expert or an agency for your school website comes down to experience. As suggested by the survey, higher prices for SEO services can be attributed to years of experience and expertise in the field. This tends to be common with agencies, as a collective of experienced individuals capable of taking on even more projects at a time. After 21 years in business, Gradelink has brought hundreds of schools online with remarkably designed websites. As part of our continued website management experience, we’re gearing up to offer SEO services as part of our package to keep your website ranking well on search engines while keeping pricing very reasonable.
Conclusion
The decision to include SEO services in your website management package is one we highly recommend. The Search Engine landscape is dynamic in development, and SEO is the best way to keep your school website up to date, ranking well, and delivering a good amount of traffic. If you need help figuring out where to begin, why not reach out to us? The team at GradeLink will answer any questions you may have on the subject, including what you can expect to get with SEO for your school website, as well