A lot of people come to us and they want SEO (search engine optimization) to get more traffic to their sites. They’re not quite sure what that means, but they’ve been told they need to get some. Of course, we’re happy to oblige, but in a few cases, it doesn’t make much sense. If you’re looking into SEO and Internet marketing, it’s important to consider you return on investment first.
Here are some quick things to consider before you leap into the online revolution:
Blogs
Most of the time, if you have a blog, getting professional SEO help will not be worth the cost. Unless you have a serious way to make money off your blog, you’re not going to get your SEO investment back.
You should still do SEO on your blog, but you should probably do it yourself. With some general know-how and some trial and error, you can increase traffic and links on your own. You might also want to explore a consultation service, where an SEO expert tells you what you need to do next and how to do it, but you do all the elbow work yourself.
If your blog is part of your brand or is part of an overall investment in web presence, then it still might make sense to get professional SEO. In general, however, the most I would suggest for a personal blog is a few hours of consulting to get you on the right track and help you monitor your progress.
Pay Per Click
One of the great things about pay per click campaigns is the ability to track your return on investment. Make sure you make some reasonable projections before you begin. For example, lets say you’re selling a cookbook full of recipes on cupcakes.
To rank well for the work “cupcake” you will need to pay about $3 a click. (This isn’t the real cost, I’m just making it up for the example.) You estimate that one in ten visitors will buy the book. That means that for every book you sell through pay per click, you spend about $30. If your profit margin on the book is $20, then it doesn’t make much sense.
On the other hand, if you’re selling natural gas conversion kits for cars that cost $2,000 a pop, and your profit on them is $1,000, then you can be more aggressive with pay per click. Since the price point is higher, let’s assume that one in 100 visitors will buy. Let’s also assume that the keywords “natural gas conversion” runs you $3, the same as “cupcake.” Then you would be spending $300 and end up making a $2,000 in sales. In the end you come up with $700 profit and it’s definitely worth it to do a PPC campaign.
As always, it’s important to make your best projections and then measure them against the actual data.
Broken Business Model
If your business is failing in a conventional setting, it will likely fail online no matter how many people find your site. The Internet is not a magic wand that can make an unprofitable business suddenly make money.
Adjust your products, offerings and price point first, then promote it on the web for additional sales and exposure. If nobody wants to buy your widgets, then promoting them online will most likely result in finding even more people who don’t want to buy your widgets.
The exception to this rule is heavily niched, vertical markets. If you think your business is struggling because it has a narrow focus and the there isn’t enough population base where you are to support it, then SEO and Internet marketing is probably a good solution. For instance, if you sell tiny knit sweaters for Chihuahuas, and there are only 10 Chihuahua owners in your hometown, you will be able to find and sell to many, many more crazy Chihuahua lovers online.
The Good News
For most businesses, online marketing and SEO does make a lot of sense. A social marketing company, Powered, just released a report showing they can get a return for their clients of about $60 for every $1 spent. Not too shabby. If you’ve read this post and feel like it applies to you, don’t worry. You can do a lot of simple things on your own that can get you more exposure or sales. Check out some free services like Hubspot’s website grader. It doesn’t cost anything and it gives you a rough idea of what you’ll have to do to improve your site’s traffic.
Also, on the top left part of this blog, you can sign up for a complimentary website consultation, and we’ll help you figure out if SEO and Internet marketing will help. Have fun.