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Should I optimize my site for search? Is it worth the cost?

Written by: Ross Johnson

Article Overview: Search Engine Optimization has been around for a long time, much longer than you probably realize. However it only now is getting attention that is turning “SEO” (Search Engine Optimization) into a common word that thousands of companies offer as a service. It make sense however, that the industry is getting said attention as the amount of people who browse, buy, and look for information on the Internet grows dramatically every year. However it is a scary industry from the consumer side. Difficult to understand with plenty of Catch-22's, misinformation, and potential high costs. The gray areas of SEO make it difficult to figure out if it is worth doing. Luckily for you, I am here to help you figure that out.

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Should I optimize my site for search? Is it worth the cost?

Search Engine Optimization has been around for a long time, much longer than you probably realize. However it only now is getting attention that is turning “SEO” (Search Engine Optimization) into a common word that thousands of companies offer as a service. It make sense however, that the industry is getting said attention as the amount of people who browse, buy, and look for information on the Internet grows dramatically every year. However it is a scary industry from the consumer side. Difficult to understand with plenty of Catch-22's, misinformation, and potential high costs. The gray areas of SEO make it difficult to figure out if it is worth doing. Luckily for you, I am here to help you figure that out.

The best way I can describe the potential effectiveness of search engine optimization is with a simple analogy. If there was a magazine thats only goal was to give the readers a way to contact companies about a particular product or service that you offered, would you advertise in it? Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? It gets better. What if that magazine had a large subscription base? What if running the advertisement stayed visible for years at a time? What if the advertisement was cheaper than traditional print advertising? What if you could track every person who reads your advertisement, see how many of them end up buying, and improve the advertisement based on the findings?

The picture I just painted is search engine optimization in a nutshell. Every day people are searching online for specific products and services that they want to buy. Search engine optimization is a process in which a site is altered so that search engines such as Google can better determine the relevance of your website and display it to users when they search for your product/service. An example of this would be a user typing into Google “New York limo service.” The user has the intent of renting a limo, and if you had a limo service you would want your site to appear in the listings. Depending on the keywords use, you may find that people are searching for a given product or service hundreds to thousands of times per month. Each of those searches is a potential customer, so it is easy to see the potential for growth coming from the search engines.

The most common question people have in regards to SEO is the price. Because SEO is a new industry, prices and price-models range dramatically with out any real regard to the effectiveness of the service. Some firms charge hourly, some charge monthly, others charge per project, and some even charge based on performance (ie: if your site ranks #10 you pay a given amount, if you rank #5 you pay a different given amount).

An easy way to get a basic idea of what the pricing might be, is think about what key phrases you would like to optimize for and look for how much competition you would have. If you are competing with millions of other sites for a very broad key phrase such as “diamond ring,” it probably will take a lot of time, work, and strategy to get your site to beat out all the others battling for that spot. However if you are targeting a more specific less competitive key phrase such as “New York Limo Service” it will take much less time, effort, and competition to get you ranked and leads rolling in.

Search Engine Optimization is not for all companies however. There are some services that people simply don't look for online, or maybe just not in your specific area. There are others where the costs of SEO would not bring in enough revenue to justify them. This is why it is important to do some planning on your part. Figure out your profit per sale/lead on average, and then work with a high quality SEO firm to help find out how many people search for your service on a monthly basis. With the tracking tools available today you can easily find out a realistic expectation of the 2-3 year revenue generated by an SEO campaign. The industry is thriving because so many companies can achieve effortless and revenue and growth through search engine visibility.

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Article Tags: Google, Google New York limo service, product service, search engine optimization, Search Engine Optimization, search engines, SEO, SEO, SEO Search Engine Optimization

About the Author: Ross Johnson
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Ross Johnson runs an interactive and search engine marketing company out of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Johnson joined the field of SEO in 2002 after realizing that by only providing web design his company was only helping clients figure out half the battle of an effective online presence. Since 2002 Johnson has helped countless companies reach top rankings and heavy traffic. With a specialization in new real estate developments, he has helped develop new strategies and tracking methods to improve ROI and maximize potential at the top rankings. Johnson has published countless articles on all aspects of search engines, including niche areas such as local searching and ppc branding.

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