Why You Should NOT Hire Cheap SEO For Your Small Business

You’ve probably heard it a million times now that small businesses need to invest in Search Engine Optimisation or SEO.

Convinced and ready to take the plunge, you’re looking to hire an SEO agency that will help you reap the much-raved benefits of SEO. And, the next day an email pops up in your inbox saying — “we noticed some major SEO issues with your website that we can help you fix for $X”. The amount they’re quoting is negligible and you think “why not?”

Well, if you end up hiring an SEO company that guarantees amazing results at throwaway prices, the chances of you getting duped are pretty high. Here are some reasons for small businesses to stay miles away from cheap SEO services.

You risk getting banned from search engines

Let’s face it — SEO has a bad rap. But that’s mostly because of the lies and half-truths that fraudulent SEO agencies peddle in the name of SEO.

For example, a cheap SEO firm may promise “#1 ranking in a month”. How do they achieve that? They do some aggressive SEO using certain questionable techniques — such as keyword stuffing, comment spamming, poor quality backlinks, directory submission, and so on — that are unethical and go against search engine policies. The results you get from these ‘shady’ techniques are not only short-lived but could result in your website getting banned by search engines altogether.

This can put a huge dent in your business growth and reputation online.

Your money is wasted   

SEO is a detailed, ongoing process. It takes time and effort to fetch top results. So, when you fall into the trap of “quick” SEO, you’re simply spending money on getting a short-term boost in ranking that will disappear just as quickly. Then, to prevent your website from sinking to the bottom of the SERPs, you’ll need to hire someone else to fix the damages. You could save yourself the loss of revenue and reputation simply by choosing a reputed SEO agency over a cheap one.

You don’t get the full benefits of SEO

Cheap SEO agencies rarely promise more than rankings. And that’s because rankings can be easily manipulated.

However, when done properly, SEO brings in a whole set of competitive advantages such as quality traffic, better conversions, more sales, and so on. Reputable SEO companies understand this and pay attention to factors such as authorship, content, user experience, and social signals to drive traffic, lead generation, and conversions. Good SEO packages often include related features such as social media, conversion optimization, and Facebook advertising services to deliver the well-rounded benefits of SEO.

Cheap SEO isn’t cheap

Cheap SEO comes with serious hazards that have the potential of wreaking long-lasting damage to your business. As a small business, every dollar you spend matters; so it’s important to spend it well. Rather than experimenting with multiple cheap agencies, it makes more business sense to hire a reputable firm right at the outset.

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