Search Engine Marketing – An Investment that Pays
Purchasing decisions are usually preceded by research. As the internet offers ready access to information, the common search engines provide quick access to information important to buyers. And a website link that appears as a result when the user requests information, presents a unique opportunity for the website owner to earn credibility and possibly, a new sale.
SEO or “Search Engine Optimization” is the practice of presenting an organization’s web page so that it will be easily found and displayed as a result for potential customer searches. The term ‘optimization’ simply means that when a user is searching for information related to a particular product or service, that web page will be displayed by search engines so that readers will be more likely to “click over” and visit that page. Websites appearing high on the search engine results page are more likely to receive reader attention, so positioning a page to achieve a high results page placement is hugely important.
The world’s biggest corporations pay great sums of money to optimize and maintain their web pages to attract internet users. This process pays off many times the invested time, money and effort. Otherwise, these savvy companies would invest their marketing dollars elsewhere. In the end, major companies earn sales by optimizing their pages so that users will be more likely to visit.
But is SEO only effective for large companies? One of the great things about the internet is that all companies can compete for the same customers, albeit in somewhat different ways. An understanding of local user and buying behavior can be used by the local business to compete with major national companies.
The big companies usually base their web presence around presenting product feature and price considerations. Local business can also present their product and price information, but have the advantage of using location and any other local characteristics to attract attention from prospective buyers. If properly configured, a small business website can compete with companies many times their size.
Of course the major decision point surrounding investment in an SEO is the ultimate cost. Google believes that average cost for new customer acquisition using direct mail is about $70. For email campaigns, this cost drops to $60 and Google’s cost per click model works out to be about $8. This pay per click model may require users to pay for clicks that don’t result in sales however. Pay per click also requires customers to click on the advertisement contained on the Google web page.
Averaging cost calculations in this manner may not be in line with your business, but the proportions are informative to examine. Direct mail is more expensive than email, which I more expense than the Pay Per Click model. However, once a website has been optimized to appear as an organic result for a user search, that link can earn many new sales and return over and above the amount invested.
An optimization campaign to attract new business using the company web page can take a few months with an investment between several hundred to a few thousands of dollars. Google’s pay per click program can cost as much as several dollars per user visit. These costs add up quickly!
Search engine results though, are favored by users as internet viewers fully understand that the paid links are in fact advertisements. Search engine results – made possible by seo – are more likely to be clicked upon than the paid links offered by the various search providers and users trust the results pages to be more informative.
By positioning a web page to attract viewer traffic, the business can present the product or service message and achieve credibility over the paid-link programs. In terms of efficiency and cost effectiveness, an investment in an SEO program can win new customers by presenting a credible company message via the internet. As users are more likely to click on “organic” search engine results as opposed to paid advertising links, the investment in SEO can in many cases be more cost effective and deliver a greater return on investment than any other form of internet commerce.
Want more business? SEO Consultants in Denver help companies of all sizes compete for business utilizing the internet. Visit our home page for more information or check out our SEO Denver Blog for the latest in SEO news and information.
Tags: Business, ecommerce, Internet Marketing, sales, search engine, Search Engine Investment, search engine marketing, Search Engine Marketing Investment, search engine optimization, SEM, SEO, SEO Investment, SEO Return on Investment, SEO ROI