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If you\u2019ve finally decided to get around to the whole \u201cSEO thing\u201d that\u2019s great! Welcome aboard. However, before you get started there are a few things to take care of. Doing so will ensure that the campaign is as effective as it can be. Here are 4 things to do before launching an SEO campaign:<\/p>\n
Whether you\u2019re handling SEO yourself, hiring an in-house SEO professional, or outsourcing SEO activities, it\u2019s important for a website owner (or person responsible for the company website) to have a basic understanding of what SEO is and how it works. The SEO industry has evolved drastically even within the past few years so it\u2019s important to do some research on current best practices in order to keep the website out of trouble and hire an SEO professional that follows the rules and will be a good match.<\/p>\n
While website owners don\u2019t make direct payments to the search engines for organic search placement, that doesn\u2019t mean that it\u2019s \u201cfree\u201d, even if an existing employee is taking on SEO responsibilities. Done well, SEO requires a significant investment in time and resources, which translates to cost. Like most things, you get what you pay for in the SEO world. A cheap SEO service will get you cheap work and little to no results. If you want to do SEO right, you need to have adequate budget to hire a professional who knows what they are doing.<\/p>\n
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\nIf your website is sub-par that should be the first priority before investing in SEO. Hire a web developer\/designer to get your site in order. It should be modern, user-friendly, fast, and mobile. There\u2019s no sense in driving organic search engine traffic to an outdated, non user-friendly site. And don\u2019t forget to set up Google Analytics and Google Search Console in order to monitor traffic.<\/p>\n
One of the most important things to understand about SEO is that it is a long-term strategy. It can take months or even years to see organic traction, the timeframe largely depending on keyword competition. If you think SEO is a magic fix and you\u2019ll shoot up to top 5 ranking for priority keywords overnight, you\u2019re in for a rude awakening. Instead, set more realistic goals, like improving organic traffic year over year.<\/p>\n