Should I optimize my site for search? Is it worth the cost?
Should I optimize my site for search? Is it worth the cost?
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.
Should I optimize my site for search Is it worth the cost - To learn more about this author, visit Ross Johnson's Website.
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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.
Should I optimize my site for search Is it worth the cost - To learn more about this author, visit Ross Johnson's Website.
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John AlexanderJohn has taught keyword research and SEO skills to small groups of business owners and Webmasters from over 80 different countries world wide since 2002. John is also the Director of Search Engine Academy ; Co-director of Training at Search Engine Workshops offering live, SEO Workshops with his partner SEO educator Robin Nobles, author of the very first comprehensive online search engine marketing courses at SEO Training Online and the SEO Workshop Resource Center. I look forward to hearing from you! - Visit John Alexander's Website |
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I've created this section on my site to share some of the incredible tools that I've used to build my business. I hope you too can benefit from them and look forward to hearing your feedback on the reviews! - Visit Evan Carmichael's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Kim CastleWith nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation. BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them? If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
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Jay Kubassek(Jay's Full Bio: EvanCarmichael.com/jaykubassek) In five years, Canadian-born entrepreneur Jay Kubassek went from selling mufflers at a Midas franchise to revolutionizing Internet marketing with the 2004 launch of CarbonCopyPRO, a online marketing education company, now worth over $20 million with customers in over 160 countries.
As an independent film producer, his upstart film fund Aliquot Films is currently producing a films with Spike Lee and Abel Fererra (starring Ethan Hawke and Dennis Hopper.)
Jay's entrepreneurial spirit is irrepressible. He’s the owner of five companies, a professional speaker and trainer, international real estate developer/investor, extreme sport enthusiast and emerging philanthropist. Jay resides in NYC with his wife Jamie, son Milo and dog Cooper. Visit Jay's official website: www.JayKubassek.com - Visit Jay Kubassek's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Stephanie RobeyStephanie Robey is President and CoFounder of Pivot Positive, LLC - an Internet marketing business focused on helping people start work at home ventures. Previously, she was employed at The Search Agency with over 20 years experience in graphic design and 10 years experience in online marketing. She was responsible for launching the Conversion Path Optimization (CPO) unit where she and her team have conducted hundreds of optimization tests for online companies across multiple verticals. She is a successful entrepreneur having started and sold 2 companies and remains on the board of directors of the third, PhotoSpin.com Stephanie began her career in the direct marketing realm creating and producing direct mail for many of the major cable television companies and directly attributes her understanding of Internet marketing to those early offline experiences. Stephanie is a graduate of San Diego State University with a BFA in Graphic Arts and also holds an Executive MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Read Steph's Blog Meet Steph and Dave Sign up for our Free 7-Day BootCamp: Self Employed & Rich - Visit Stephanie Robey's Website |
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