How Much (Time or Money) Should New Solopreneurs Budget for SEO?
As a new solopreneur starting my full-time SEO consulting business this past year, I have a leg up on implementing SEO.
I’m already an SEO expert. I know how to create and execute an SEO strategy efficiently and effectively.
But you probably lack this knowledge if you’re a new solopreneur just starting, and SEO is not your main expertise.
To start growing your business or acquiring your first clients, you may want to turn to SEO as a digital marketing strategy.
But how can you do this if you’re working with a zero (or a tiny) dollar marketing budget that you can put towards SEO? Is SEO even the best use of your time or money?
Here is a question you should ask before you begin budgeting time or money for SEO:
Are You Handling Your Core Business Activities?
My wonderful business coach, Julie Cortés, often points out that you need to be spending time in your business and on your business.
Spending time in your business means you are working on your core business functions. That means if you are a:
Writer - you are spending time writing for clients
Web Designer - you are spending time designing for clients
Web developer - you are spending time building or improving websites or apps for clients
Photographer - you are spending time taking photos for clients
Consultant - you are spending time consulting for clients
Spending time working in your business, as in the examples above, is essential because this is what brings in the money. This is your core function.
Working on your business is also essential. It’s what allows you to continue to earn money through your core service.
Examples of working on your business include:
Bookkeeping
Organizing
Professional development
Networking
Marketing
Without staying on top of these functions, your business won’t be able to survive, let alone thrive.
Your core business activities - working in your business - should probably take up about half or a little more of your working time in the beginning stages.
If you are not spending at least 50 - 60% of your time working for clients, including prep time, meeting time, creating deliverables, producing products, etc., you aren’t likely earning enough money to be in business for too long.
So your core business needs to be your highest priority in terms of budgeting resources.
How Much Time And Money Should You Budget for SEO?
This leaves about 40 - 50% of your time for working on your business.
There is no hard rule about how much time a new solopreneur should spend on marketing.
Some say 15-20% of your time spent on marketing is a good number. This may need to be adjusted upwards during periods of high growth or when launching a new product.
Now, let’s say you spend 20% of your time on marketing. How much of that time should be dedicated to SEO?
On average, probably about 20 to 30% of your total marketing budget - time and money - should be spent on SEO. This may vary based on the nature of your business, product, or audience.
But it’s important to remember that SEO is a long-term strategy. It is not designed to bring you new clients immediately in the early stages.
SEO is about building your
overall brand
brand authority
web presence
long-term profitability.
So, yes, in the long term, if your SEO strategy is working correctly, it should be generating leads, clients, and profits.
But if you’re a solopreneur just starting out, you likely aren’t there yet.
SEO Budgeting for Early Stage Solopreneurs
Work: Your Time Budget
Most new solopreneurs have limited funds. This means time is a greater resource for you than money.
So investing 30% of your dedicated marketing time, or roughly 6% of your total business time, in SEO makes some sense.
If you work 40 hours in a week, then you’d be spending roughly 2.5 hours per week on SEO every week, or about 10 hours per month.
That is a reasonable amount of time for a new solopreneur to be spending on SEO.
Money: Your Financial Budget
But what about your financial budget?
When you’re a new solopreneur just starting out, money is usually tight. You might not be able to set aside more than 7 or 8% of your gross revenue for marketing activities.
In the earliest stages of your business, this may be only $50 or a couple hundred dollars per month.
Just as you are setting aside maybe 25 or 30% of your marketing time budget for SEO, set aside the same amount of financial budget for marketing, too.
For example, if your total marketing budget is $50 per month, maybe $10 or $15 per month goes to SEO. If your budget is close to $200, maybe you spend $50 - $70 or so per month on SEO.
As your business grows over time, the amount of money you spend on your SEO program will probably increase.
Could an SEO Consultant Help Your Solopreneurship?
If you are a new solopreneur just getting started with your business, you have limited time and money resources to commit to SEO.
But an SEO consultant could still be helpful.
Even if you are only able to commit a few hundred dollars per month, an SEO consultant may be able to help:
Give you advice on the best SEO strategies for your business
Teach you about the most current best practices and tactics
Guide you on how to balance SEO with other marketing and business concerns
Save you several hours on SEO tasks per week
Get SEO results you may not be able to achieve on your own
If you don’t have any budget to put towards marketing or SEO, I suggest you work on building other areas of your marketing strategy. Or you could implement some basic SEO by yourself.
Inexpensive marketing channels can include
Working on improving your website’s user experience
Creating content for your website like blog posts or videos
Building an organic presence on social media channels like LinkedIn or Facebook
Referrals and word of mouth
Building an email list and sending a monthly newsletter
But if you have a few hundred dollars per month for marketing, and are interested reinvesting in SEO, it might make sense for you to start working with a consultant.
Wondering what an SEO consultant actually does? I have a blog post for that. Click the link to learn more now.