A few days ago, we had an important call with an e-commerce startup founder — someone we’d spoken to briefly in the past, but this time it was serious. They were actively scouting for a complete marketing agency to scale their online store.
The agenda? SEO.
The concern? The cost.
We quoted: ₹1,00,000 per month.
There was a brief silence.
“SEO costs that much?” the founder asked, almost surprised.
And we weren’t surprised by that reaction — because every startup thinks SEO is just adding a few keywords and waiting for Google magic to happen. But that’s the myth we had to break, and we chose to do it with clarity and facts.
The Real Conversation
We knew this wasn’t a sales pitch anymore — this was a conversation that had the potential to change how the client thinks about digital growth.
So we broke the discussion down into three parts:
Part 1: Long-Term Benefits of SEO
We asked them a simple question:
> “When was the last time you clicked on a Google ad instead of an organic result?”
They paused. “Rarely,” they said.
Exactly.
SEO isn’t about quick wins — it’s about consistent, long-lasting visibility. Once you start ranking organically, you don’t pay for every click. You don’t need to rely on ads to bring in every customer. And most importantly — your brand earns trust.
Here’s what we explained they’d get long-term:
Sustainable Traffic: Instead of burning budgets on clicks, we build a system where search engines bring people to your site every day — for free.
Brand Authority: People trust websites that rank high organically more than paid ads.
Compounding ROI: The longer you stay invested in SEO, the more pages rank, the more keywords you cover, the more visitors you get — without paying more.
> “Think of it as building a property that gains value over time vs. renting an apartment every month,” we told them.
Part 2: Short-Term Wins (Yes, There Are Some)
Many believe SEO only starts working after 6–12 months.
That’s not the full truth.
We laid out our 30-60-90 day plan and showed them how the right technical fixes, content restructuring, and keyword-targeted pages can start showing:
- Improved Site Health (better crawlability, faster site speed)
- Lower Bounce Rates with better product descriptions & UX
- Ranking for Long-tail Keywords with less competition
- Indexed New Product Pages that were previously ignored by Google
Even if you’re not ranking #1 right away, your visibility grows — and Google starts understanding your site better. That early traction leads to quicker returns than most people assume.
Part 3: Why SEO is Non-Negotiable
Then we addressed the biggest objection:
> “We could just spend that money on ads and get traffic instantly.”
True — but here’s the trap:
Ads stop. So does your traffic. SEO doesn’t.
We explained with real examples how several brands went from spending ₹5L/month on ads to ₹1.5L/month — simply because their organic traffic had picked up.
We also showed them how SEO impacts everything:
- Lower cost-per-click on ads (SEO boosts quality score)
- Better conversion rates (optimized content = trust)
- Improved retention (useful, well-structured blogs bring people back)
Finally, we shared our strategy breakdown:
Keyword research aligned with their product inventory
Technical audit and fixes (broken links, poor mobile experience, duplicate content)
On-page SEO for every product category
Monthly blogging to answer real buyer questions
Link building to build site authority
Performance reporting with KPIs (CTR, rankings, time on page, conversions)
The Outcome
By the end of the call, the client said:
> “No agency ever explained this to us like that. We thought SEO was just… plugging in keywords.”
That changed everything.
They didn’t just see SEO as a cost anymore — they saw it as an investment.
And that’s what SEO truly is — invisible work that creates visible growth.
👇 If you’re a founder or marketer still thinking whether SEO is “too expensive”, remember:
> The cost of not doing SEO is higher than the cost of starting it.
If you’re looking to take your business beyond just being visible and towards truly valuable growth, try our Premium SEO Services — let’s talk SEO.