Do you handle optimization"in-house" ? |
Do you have an in-house expert -- perhaps your Webmaster -- who has told you they'll take care of optimization? The problem is they may not be as good at it as they think.
|
|
|
Optimization and positioning used to be fairly easy; but not anymore. Some tactics that were OK will now get you into trouble as a "spammer" and could cost you your rankings. |
To learn just the basics of how things work, you'd have to memorize about 500 pages of instructions. To keep up with the ongoing changes, you'll need to read another 50 pages per month and develop lots of hands-on experience along the way. The chances are that your in-house expert already has a full-time job doing something else and so they don't have enough time to keep up with all these changes as well.
|
|
|
The fact is that you need outsourced expertise if any of the following are true |
• You use your site for sales lead generation
• You have multiple products (or content articles)
• Your site features lots of Flash, graphics or frames
• You sell in more than one country
• You think your in-house person may have 'spammed' search engines by mistake
|
|
|
Did you buy some software that automatically submits your site? |
It's unrealistic to expect a low-cost program to optimize and submit your site with any accuracy.
|
|
|
Have you seen ads for software programs that claim they'll "submit your site to hundreds of engines"? Most of these programs are worthless, and could get you labeled as a spammer. |
Other programs on the marketplace create "junk" doorway pages that could also get you labeled as a spammer.
|
|
|
The fact is, if optimization and positioning were so straightforward that an inexpensive program could handle them, then hundreds of experts would be out of a job. Plus the message boards and discussion groups experts hang out in wouldn't be buzzing with constant questions about new nuances.
|
|
|
Do you think Optimization Experts are too Expensive? |
The fact is that optimization is generally far cheaper by CPM than any other marketing campaign you can conduct online or offline. It costs less than direct mail, renting broadcast email lists, banner ads, print ads, booths at trade shows, etc.
Confusion may arise because pricing is all over the map in this profession. Some experts have six figure price tags, some have cost just a few hundred pounds. However, most cost a reasonable amount -- a few thousand pounds can cover the cost of an entire site being optimized and positioned in the top 10 search engines, which are responsible for more than 80% of Web traffic today.
That means a fairly small investment could dramatically raise your site.
|
|
|
Are you unsure how to predict the Return Of Investment of Optimization? |
The fact is that optimization and positioning are fairly easy to budget for once you have three key figures:
a. How many people search for words, terms or phrases that relate to your products or services each month?
b. Once a visitor enters your site (or special landing page for a search term), what's your conversion rate to turning them into a sale (or sales lead)?
c. How much is your average sale?
|
|
|
Have people told you that Search Engine traffic isn't as good as visitors from other sources? |
Companies spend thousands on direct mail, email and online advertising campaigns to drive targeted traffic to their Web sites -- but according to Cyber Atlas, 46% of marketers spend less than .5% of their budget on optimization Could it be because they think traffic from more expensive marketing campaigns is better?
|
|
|
The fact is, the companies that have optimized their sites have told us repeatedly that both the sales leads and direct sales they get from search engine visitors are equal or better than what they get from more expensive marketing campaigns.
|
|
|
|