For those of you that are new to the world of Search marketing the following article will lay out the types of budget that you would need to consider spending to be a success online.

Search Marketing Ireland
Searcht marketing investments will vary depending on the country that you are targeting. This is due to how competitive it is in that country. Currently the online marketing scene in Ireland is not hugely competitive when you compare it to the UK. It is easier to obtain high rankings on local search engines in Ireland. This means that you have to spend less money in Ireland. Of course, the potential rewards are a lot less too as there is a smaller market.

For most Irish businesses the Irish market is sufficient, so I will restrict my recommendations to businesses just targeting this country.

So How Much Should I Invest?
You get what you pay for in this business. If you invest peanuts then you will probably only get peanuts in return. Would you expect to open a shop in town for €250? No, you wouldn’t. Therefore, you should get out of that mindset immediately. Your website is your online shop; it needs to look well, function well and be visible online. This takes money. If you are offered a deal that seems too good to be true then it is. 9 our of 10 websites will fail online or will never make a profit for their owners. This is the sad reality and usually stems from the fact that their website was approached in a half ass manner in terms of investment.

Web Design

If your website does not look the part then it won’t deliver for you. People have high expectations when it comes to websites. They want to be able to find what they want quickly and to purchase it quickly. There is a science behind web design. If you higher a joker to build your site then you will get a joke website

Recommended Investment

• Basic Website - For a basic website that has a unique design and branding, is easy to use and is marketing ready you would need to spend a minimum of €1500. This is a minimum recommended investment amount! For larger businesses you would need to spend more than this on a basic website. Your website will probably be bigger in size and you should look at investing €2000 minimum

The price of web design increases as the functionality of the website increases.

• CMS system - If you require the ability to be able to update a website yourself on a regular basis then you will need a CMS system. This functionality drives up the price of your website. For small website the price would now start out at €2000 and for larger websites it would be €2500

• Ecommerce – If you plan on selling something online then you will need an ecommerce system. These systems require a lot of work to get right. The absolute minimum you would need to invest to get a decent ecommerce system working would be €3000. Most online shops would cost upward of €5000. For large ecommerce sites you would be looking at an investment level of €10,000 plus.

Within search marketing you have a number of marketing options. We recommend that you consider investing in all these marketing options. This will increase your website’s visibility and that will increase your profits. Here we discuss investment levels for SEO and PPC.

Search Engine Optimisation

This form of Internet marketing involves the natural search results. These are search results that are created based on relevancy to a keyphrase. On Google, the natural / organic search results are on the left hand side. The vast majority of people click on these natural links in preference to sponsored links. Therefore, for many websites, their organic traffic figure will be the highest in terms of traffic. This is an area of Internet marketing that cannot be ignored.

Recommended Investment

SEO investment can be broken into 2 parts. There is an initial investment where you purchase a block of time that allows the seo specialist to get all the basics covered e.g. keyword research , indexing, optimisation, link building. Then there is a monthly retainer. The job of an SEO specialist never finishes. It is an ongoing thing and it should be an ongoing investment for you. Rankings come and go, if you do not keep investing in SEO then your rankings are likely to drop over time.

• Initial SEO Block - For small websites in an uncompetitive niche, targeting a large number of keywords, a minimum of 10 hours would be required. For larger websites in a highly competitive niche, targeting a large number of keywords, then you would need to invest 20 hours at the start. At JumpStart, we charge €30 an hour. This is HIGHLY competitive when compared to our rival companies.

• SEO Retainer - For small websites in an uncompetitive niche, a minimum of 2 hours per month would be required. For larger websites in a highly competitive niche then you would need to invest 8 hours a month.

Do the Maths

Pay Per Click

This form of Internet marketing involves the sponsored search results. On Google, the sponsored search results are on theright  hand side. Everytime a person click on your link to visit your website then you pay a certain amount for that click. If you have enough of a budget then you can guarantee page 1 visibilityimmediately for your website.

Recommended Investment

PPC investment can be broken into 3 parts. Like SEO, there is an initial investment where you purchase a block of time that allows the ppc specialist to get all the basics covered e.g. keyword research , campaign set-up, ad copy creation, optimisation. Then there is a monthly retainer. The job of an PPC specialist also never finishes. It is an ongoing thing and it should be an ongoing investment for you. A properly managed PPC campaign will help you attract more clicks for less money.

Initial PPC Block - For small websites in an uncompetitive niche, targeting a small number of keywords, a minimum of 6 hours would be required. For larger websites in a highly competitive niche, targeting a large number of keywords, then you would need to invest 12 hours at the start.

PPC Retainer -For small websites in an uncompetitive niche, targeting a small number of keywords, a minimum of 2 hours per month would be required. For larger websites in a highly competitive niche then you would need to invest 5 hours minimum a month.

PPC Budget – For your ads to display on search engines like Google you will need to pay for each click. Therefore, a PPC budget must be set aside to ensure that your ads are displayed throughout the year. We have worked with clients that invest €100,000 plus a year on pay per click. We have also worked with clients that invest €500 per year. The budget amount is up to you. In general, for small websites in uncompetitive niches you would need to invest €2000 per annum. €10,000 per annum is a minimum amount needed for larger websites in competitive fields targeting a large number of keywords.

Do the Maths

Profit Outlook – The investment needed to start your new online business can be a lot of money. The running costs for your online business will be considerably less in the second year and each year after. These are the years where you will see strong ROI. Profits will continue to increase and running costs will decrease.

Warning – these above investment amounts are average amounts. Each website is different and might require vastly different set-up and maintenace costs. If you want rough estimated figures, then you just got them. Are they going to be exact for your website…..probably not. This article is more just an eye opener for you and your business. These are the investment amounts that your competitors are investing. They would not be investing in such amounts if the profit margins were not multiples of the investment amounts.