Traffic is a must if any online business is to succeed. Your business can either pay for that traffic through advertising, ezines and other means... Or you can decide to go the SEO route and get all your traffic for free.

However in doing so there is first an outlay in costs to get your website highly ranked on all the major search engines. The more ranking you would like to obtain, on multiple pages, using multiple keywords/phrases, the more costly it will be to your business.

But the real question, is just how costly?....  And, if you go the D.I.Y SEO route, just how effective will it be and how much money will you save?

What is a reasonable cost or the average cost for employing an SEO company?

The problem with most SEO companies is the fact that they are literally charging a small fortune for a basic SEO campaigns which may include optimization of only a few web pages and ranking of just two to three keywords or phrases. How much for such a package....  anywhere from 2 to $4,000.

The current going rate for in house (internal) SEO work is anywhere between 40 to $60 per hour, with external rate, business to business sitting at roughly $100 per hour.

If you are a large company, these rates may be affordable but for most small businesses and solopreneurs, they are simply out of the question.

Even a large company may be better off handing their SEO tasks over to a capable employee who can learn the required skills and techniques and apply these when required. One or two people with such capabilities would not only save the company profits but would allow their business to adapt to new SEO products a lot faster than having to outsource.

What you are not being told be the SEO companies is that search engine ranking is really not that difficult to master... And the second point that maybe matters the most is that once you have high ranking for many selected keywords, just a little maintenance and tweaking can keep you there for a very long time. Even to the point that much SEO work can be outsourced at very low rates to experts in other countries which makes it even more affordable.

Without doubt, obtaining high rankings by doing it your self or handing it over to a major SEO is quite doable. With so many affordable SEO guides, memberships and software packages online today, it is really a wonder as to why many companies are yet to implement their own in-house SEO specialists using their current staff.

So, is this to say that learning all SEO techniques is simply a walk in the park, of course not. But any person with a reasonable ability in technical matters could have a large website on it's way to excellent ranking positions within as little as two weeks.

Unfortunately what most lack in SEO, is a clear and concise plan of action. Yes, many will learn the techniques and methods required but then fail to act or fail to implement the complete plan thus resulting in minimal outcomes. As with any marketing campaign, it must be implemented right through to the very last step, SEO is not different.

With the continuing improvement of search engines to supply more accurate results, search engine marketing will continue to grow and be in high demand.

The decision you have to make for your own business is....  

Exactly how much income do you wish to take out of your own business pocket in using such services, or is there a better alternative by taking your SEO in house and increasing business profits continually, year after year?