Yes.  Without SEO, the probability of your competition outranking you for  relevant keyword searches is very high (for example, if you're both selling widgets to the same audience).  This matters because if you are outranked on Google, for instance, you will miss out on valuable exposure and traffic that can result in a sale.

For the average website, 50% of all its traffic is a direct result of search engine queries like Google, Bing, and Yahoo.  Remember, search engines are the primary means of discovery for customers seeking a product or service.

When you consider that 68.7% of all clicks are monopolized  by the top three Google search results, making an investment in SEO becomes a no-brainer.  

Consider:   Semrush data shows that the term “funny golf caps”  gets 5,400 monthly Google searches across the U.S, meaning the top three  ranked listings will enjoy  almost 3/4 of  all sales. 

It's very important to understand that SEO is not an overnight strategy. The first 12 weeks or so are dedicated to making updates to your website and awaiting the search engines  to "crawl" and index those changes. 

Depending on your website, how much work it requires, and the crawl frequency of the various search engines, 3-9 months is the typical window within which you can expect to notice ranking improvements to your site.

It's not uncommon, however, for many of our clients to see the initial affects of our work within 6 weeks. 

The bottom line is, that the more focus you dedicate to your SEO strategy, the sooner you’ll see the effects.  Importantly, as you continue to invest in this effort, your reward will continue to grow for years to come.

Not every industry will experience the same ROI of SEO as the next.  Regardless of this, consider how valuable it would be to your business's bottom line if it were to rank as the top recommendation when potential customers are searching for your product or service?

Let's consider an example.  We know that an average of 880 people search for the exact phrase "bounce house rentals San Diego" every month (not including the searches for slight variants, like "bouncy house San Diego").

The top-ranked result on Google draws in roughly 281 people (#1 rank gets 31.7% of all click-throughs based on 2020 data) to that website every month who are actively searching for bounce house rentals in San Diego.   

If we assume only 1% of those people end up renting a bouncy house, this single search term is bringing in 34 new customers to that business every year.  

Depending who you talk to, SEO pricing can be all over the board, but what you will likely find is that companies that offer what appear to be very low cost price their service that way for a reason.  It typically means corners must be cut, and that they're employing "black hat" and improper SEO strategies.  The problem here is that the unsuspecting business owner may then be subject to search engine penalties, spam, and  a decrease in traffic to their site.

On the other hand, a very robust in-house corporate SEO program can easily  exceed $250,000 per year at a medium-sized company, as it entails  keeping full-time expertise on your payroll.    

Rankbox Media doesn't cut corners, and we only utilize "white-hat" techniques to get your site to rank.  Every business's needs are a little bit different, so our pricing schedule must vary accordingly.  But, in every case, Rankbox fees are an exceptional value in return for the ROI  you will achieve from our team's expertise.  

In conclusion, if your business’ marketing budget is less than a few hundred dollars per month, it may make sense to try the DIY approach to SEO.  Just be aware of any “expert” claiming to get results for substantially under the market rate for professiona SEO services--they'll likely be a risky investment, and they may land you in some hot water with Google.

Most of the effort to achieving good ranking on Google, it is true, occurs in the beginning stages of an SEO campaign.  What is not so commonly understood by many business owners is that optimization should be looked at as a marathon, not a sprint.  In short, you can't just 'SEO' your website and be done--because search engines are always moving the goal posts.

Search engines are in a constant state of evolution; always tweaking their search algorithms in an effort to deliver better results and user experience for the person making the search.  As such, it's not uncommon to see your ranking fluctuate  from one day to the next.  Because of this, it requires constant research, updates, and testing to keep your site's rank in the top spots.  In many cases, it requires just as much effort to maintain your current rand as it does achieving new ones.

Your takeaway: discontinuing your SEO strategy after you’ve achieved rankings will almost certainly result in a loss of rankings fairly quickly.

The short answer is  yes.  However, while you can also do your businesses' taxes on your own, you choose not to and instead hire a tax professional because you know that choice will deliver the best results.

It's no different with SEO.

SEO is an investment in time that requires specific expertise acquired from on-going study, application, and keeping on top of Google's 500-some per year algorithm updates (according to Matt Cutts, Google's Head of Web Spam).  Given that reality, it's critical to stay on top of the changes, make constant updates on your end, and only use strategies that are ethical and sustainable.

Or, of course, you can hire the professional team of Rankbox--we know SEO.