Brand & Digital Marketing Consultant

Disclaimer: I didn’t get 25 million visitors on an XYZ website. I don’t make $10,000 by investing 2 hours daily on Affiliate Marketing. I don’t have a Digital Marketing Course that will make you an overnight SEO expert in India. I am not selling you the same Digital Marketing e-book with hacks that have worked for all my clients.

But I’ve got multiple real-world scenarios of websites that have had a substantial increase in authentic traffic, thereby helping them improve their sales.

Hi There. My Name is Rajive Dhavan. To know more about me, CLICK HERE.

So, what’s my Purpose?

To give you enough information about SEO, thereby helping you make an informed decision.

But before we move ahead, I’d like to make a promise:

I do understand that your time is precious. So, I promise and guarantee that after reading the complete content on this page, you’ll know a lot more about SEO than you ever did.

It’s a long post with a lot of information. But I’ve made all efforts to keep it simple. The idea is to make sure that brand owners can understand everything written here. This one’s not for Digital Marketers only. So, read on, only if you are very serious about helping your brand sky-rocket.

Here’s what you can learn from this piece of content:

• Why do you need an SEO Expert in India?

• How to make sure you find the right SEO Expert?

• What is the Scale to measure the quality of your website’s SEO?

• How to avoid being fooled by dubious offers by so-called SEO experts.

• What’s the latest SEO update you should know.

So, let's start exploring these questions.

Rajive Dhavan, Search Engine Optimisation Services

Why do you need an SEO Expert in India?

Well, that’s a big one. But let me try and break this down for you. The first thing that we need to understand is that an SEO expert will help your website/business get discovered organically on a search engine.

This means you’ll be exposed to a lot of new potential customers. Isn’t that enough to justify the need of an SEO expert? Well, I guess this will take some more convincing.

Most of us, at least in our country, India, are not too good with asking for help. That’s because most of us falsely believe that we know it. Or we don’t need it. Unfortunately, that’s the common perception about an SEO expert as well.

But the matter of the fact is that your Digital Real Estate (read the website and other social channels) is more important than the physical location of your business. You will not agree with this. But I’ve got facts to prove it. I understand that it’s common knowledge that a good website helps you achieve these two things:

a) Earn a Potential Customer’s Trust.

b) Opportunity to beat your Competition.

How to make sure you find the right SEO Expert?

Due diligence is the most crucial aspect. So, invest some time in going through the credentials of the SEO expert. Look for them online. See if their website can build some trust or not.

Make sure you avoid the guys I’ve mentioned in the next point. Realistic expectations are the key to have the right working relationship with the SEO expert you take on-board.

Use the tools mentioned below to review his website first. If an SEO expert has not given his website his best shot, the chances of him being serious about your site will be minimal.

SEO is a relatively expensive affair. It’s not a one-person job. Most SEO experts are technically sound. But their understanding of content, branding, etc., is very little. And that will always be a handicap for you/ your business. So, unless they have a team to execute, it’s difficult to get results using “White Hat” techniques. More about “White Hat” techniques in the next point. So, the bottom line is that when there’s a team involved there’s a decent cost attached to it. Here’s a simple calculation:

Cost behind building a Digital Marketing Team:

Sr. Digital Marketer – Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 30,000 per month

Copywriter – Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 25,000 per month (Most Digital Marketers can’t write great compelling content on their own. Blogs, and SEO-oriented Website content is the most important part of any Digital Marketing strategy.)

Web Developer – Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 30,000 per month (Most Digital Marketers can’t execute any technical changes without a Web Developer)

Graphic Designer – Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 28,000 per month (Most Digital Marketers can’t design graphics for the blogs, or social media channels either. There are alternatives to cut this cost though. One can use basic tools like “Canva”.)

So, it is a minimum expense of Rs. 1,20,000 per month. It doesn’t include other expenses like “Paid Digital Tools”, “Electricity”, “Internet”, “Miscellaneous expenses”, etc.

Most importantly, after all this, one would expect some profit too. Nobody’s doing charity here. So, that profit would be at least Rs. 15,000 - Rs. 20,000 per lakh, I guess.

And a team like this can do complete justice to only one, or a maximum of two clients. So, if a Digital Marketer is willing to do all the SEO for you at the cost of Rs. 10,000 or even Rs. 20,000, you know it’s mostly a trap.

Apart from all this, there will be ad spend costs, if you’re getting into SEM (Search Engine Marketing) with Google AdWords, Bing Ads, etc. If you wish to go for SMM (Social Media Marketing) with Facebook and Instagram ads as well, that will be an additional cost.

Note: All the costs mentioned above are indicational only. There are quite a few influential factors like knowledge, experience, certifications, etc., that would help one arrive at a more precise cost. But this information will suffice for you to do the math.

How to avoid being fooled by dubious offers of so-called SEO experts.

Unfortunately, the internet is buzzing with SEO experts. Some self-proclaimed. Others with real credentials. There’s a new entrant almost every single day. Incidentally, I made my entry a few months back too.

So, it’s for you to use your better sense of judgement when it comes to safeguarding your interest from a dubious SEO expert. 😊

Here are a few headlines that will help you make the initial judgement:

“I got 25 million organic visitors to my website in 6 months. I can do it for your site too.”

“I’ve written an e-book that I am giving away for just the shipping cost. It will teach you my secret SEO technique. And you will be able to see unmatched success.”

“I’ve developed a XXX Digital course in which I will teach you all the SEO hacks I’ve learnt over the years.”

You’ll find many such examples on the Internet. I’ve got nothing against these guys. To each their own. But here’s what you need to know. And this, my friend, is my guarantee:

a) There is no Digital Marketing Course in the world that can transform anyone into a Digital Marketing Wizard. The reality is that Digital marketing is a lot of labour work. A course can only help you understand some basics and best practices. And that’s just the beginning of your journey. The rest of the mountain, you’ll need to scale along.

b) If there were a book on SEO, that could help me make sure that I can transform any business in any location, almost instantly, I’d be willing to pay a couple of lakhs for that book. So, if someone’s giving it to you for just the shipping cost, think again. Do the math, and you’ll get your answer.

c) Digital Marketing is a case-specific activity. There’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all. Some of the greatest, real gurus of Digital Marketing accept this.

If Digital Marketers are Gurus, Google is God. So, remember that nobody is smarter than Google. Even if we get to creating a plan that works for most websites, Google somehow gets a whiff of it. And boom! There’s an update in their algorithm soon. So, in reality, most of us are gambling using our experience, skill, common sense and instinct. We all know the rules of the game, almost as much as the others. But what differentiates a good SEO expert from a dubious one is the business knowledge and the intent.

Next time, when someone says they can double your website’s traffic instantly, you know what you reply.

Remember that SEO is a tedious process. It’s like a sapling that needs to be watered regularly. I am sure all plants take considerable time to give fruits. SEO is no different.

And there’s nothing wrong with that, I suppose. But unlike others, I am not claiming to know it all. SEO is a vast subject, and it is impossible to know everything about it. I am not sure how others do that. Every day, I come across an aspect of SEO that I’d not explored earlier. And then I just get lost in the whole thing. It’s a never-ending yet highly-dynamic process. I move from one task to the other. I eat, breathe and drink SEO. And yet, I feel I’ve explored only the tip of the iceberg.

What is the Scale to measure the quality of your website’s SEO?

Here are some of the tools that you can use to measure where your website stands regarding SEO. Please note that these are not the most complicated tools. I am listing them only to make sure that even if you don’t have any digital marketing exposure, you can still understand stuff.

a) Google Analytics

b) WooRank

c) SERPs Checker

d) Google PageSpeed Insight

e) Google Mobile Speed Tool

f) Google Mobile-friendly Test Tool

g) Bonus Tool: Google MyBusiness

(This is not a tool that’s directly linked to SEO. But indirectly, it plays a key role. So, make sure all your maps and business details are in sync with this tool.)

h) Intermediate Tool: Google Search Console

(This is a slightly complicated tool if you don’t have enough Digital Marketing understanding. However, it’s also the most critical tool. It’s a tool that helps your website directly communicate with Google)

Most of these tools are free or at least have a free trial version. It would be enough for you to map your digital footprints. The tools are self-explanatory and easy to use.

What’s the latest Google update?

The first thing you need to know about the latest Google Update is the fact that Google has moved to a “mobile-first” ideology. With the increase in smartphone users, it is more important that it has ever been that your website is kickass on mobile.

An extension of this policy reflects in the fact that the rankings of a website for a particular search term are different on mobile and a PC. For example, you own a Dental Clinic, and your site ranks at #2 on Google, when people search for the term “Best Dental Clinic in India” on a PC. The mobile ranking of the same website for the same search term on mobile could be a different ranking. It could rank #4 or even #23 on mobile.

The speed of a website on PC and mobile is more important than ever before. Google’s aim is not just to give the user the most relevant information for their searches. Their goal is to provide the most pertinent information fast. So, if you’ve got great SEO strategies, but your website is slow, it will see a drop in the search rankings.

Voice search is next. Soon, websites will have to gear up for the upcoming wave of voice searches. Thanks to devices like Alexa, etc.

I hope this information is of help to you. However, should you have any further queries, please feel free to connect with me