I’m looking at a local firm for my digital marketing and would like your feedback on their proposal.
The company we met proposed £900 per month for a full package including paid advertising on google/ socials and SEO.
SEO Analysis
The current domain authority score of your website stands at 9 out of 100. Given the fact that your site has only secured 7 backlinks, this is a respectable figure. It’s clear that no prior search engine optimization efforts have been made on the site, presenting us with a blank canvas to start our work. This means there’s no need to undo any previous SEO mishaps. At present, your site is listed for 27 distinct keywords within the UK market, the specifics of which are included in the attachment to this email. Currently, the keyword foundation is quite minimal.
Our strategy should encompass a dual approach of link building and content generation. These foundational SEO practices do not require extraordinary measures. Your website exudes a high-end, luxurious appeal, though it lacks substantial textual content. Enhancing the blog and integrating more content throughout the site will significantly contribute to improving your D/A rating and achieving organic rankings for your chosen keywords.
Paid Advertising Insights
Google Ads allows for precision in selecting search terms to appear on the first page, leveraging our existing data on effective terms, optimal times, and target demographics.
Social Media Advertising requires more targeted efforts, focusing on individuals who have expressed interest in similar products, even if they have not specifically searched for yours. We advise directing users to a Meta-generated form upon ad click, facilitating direct communication.
Advertising Budgets
We suggest a minimum budget of £500 for Google Ads and £300 for social media to begin.
Our Agency Services
We offer a comprehensive package that includes SEO efforts, such as content and blog creation and link building, alongside management of Google Ads and Social Media Ads, for a monthly fee of £900 plus VAT.
There’s a couple of red flags in that proposal.
900 quid a month is a lot. And I guarantee that almost all of that will go towards PPC, which has a very low ROI.
They also mentioned something about getting you first page listings through PPC. That’s a bit of a bait and switch – hearing ‘first page’ sounds exciting but of course they’re just buying that, there’s nothing clever or sustaining about it (like there is with proper SEO). Also all kinds of studies have demonstrated people are a lot less likely to click on ads they see in search compared to organic results–which is precisely why Google keeps experimenting with ad placement, style, etc.
In my experience (which is longstanding, it predates even Google and certainly their PPC system) people selling PPC and SEO are usually just focussing on PPC. It requires the lowest amount of work from them (and therefore easy income) and looks like it gives quick results (“Look! You’re on page one!”) even though that’s not really what’s going on, nor is it providing the most useful visitors.
Your crew here may be different. There are definitely exceptions, and also some really awesome people out there.
I would suggest this as a measure. SEO grows over time and builds upon itself, but PPC doesn’t – it’s just one click costs x – so in that regard any return you get should be immediate. Ask them to give you access to the PPC account, so you can see the monthly spend. If you didn’t make more than that spend in that month from revenue sourced through ads–it’s not worth it.
I know they say they’ll do SEO too – and I do hope that’s the case. But a red flag there is that they seem to put a real focus on link building…again, ask to see the list of links they made in a month. Because most people focusing on link building as a primary strategy are just clicking a few buttons and auto-generating (through inexpensive software) low quality links that will hurt in the long term. And it takes them about 30 seconds a month to action that.
I guess all I’m saying is…be careful out there. 🙂
