We know that over 60% of all internet users gather information about the product/service they are looking for before they purchase (source: GFK NOP DEC 05), I know this to be only to true myself as a friend of mine gave me an example of exactly how this can work. He was looking for what he referred to as a “rescue club” presumably to help him rescue his golf game. His first step was to go into a well known golf stockist and try out all the different clubs available, once he had found the club that was right for him he left the store without making a purchase and began scouring the internet for his chosen club at the best price. Read more
As it turned out the cheapest option was a US based on-line golf store. He was able to buy the club and arrange for it to be sent by Fed ex to the UK, he estimated that having taking into account shipping costs he saved himself over 55% on the cheapest shop price he could find. Now whilst this particular story may not spell the end of all the UK, s golf stores it is a very good example of how people use the web to save both time & more importantly money.
So how do you make sure that your website appears at the top of the search engines when people are looking for your services/products? Most of the leading search engines offer 2 distinct ways of achieving this, natural (sometimes referred to as organic) & Paid for (sometimes referred to as pay-per-click). Organic listings always appear in the main search results and with most engines appear in the middle of the page, and are selected & ranked by the search engine using a combination varied algorithms, analysis of your website & links to other websites. Paid for listings is exactly what they say and tend to appear wrapped around the organic search listings either to the side or sometimes on top. These listings are written by you & will only appear against specific words that you have paid to have listed.
The benefit of paid for listings is that you only ever pay if someone actually visits your site, money is then deducted from an account that you have already deposited money into. Whilst this is a great business model and has brought unprecedented success for the likes of Google it does have its drawbacks. Firstly you may have to bid quite a high price to be at the top of your paid links if you’re in an industry where your competitors also use paid listings. We know this ourselves, after finding out that it would cost us over £5.00 for the phrase “London SEO Company”. The other and possibly more worrying aspect of pay-per-click advertising is the fact that the equivalent organic listing will get us to as much as 80% more visits than it’s paid for counterpart, a fact that the search engines tend not to push. The main reason for this tends to be that the public have become aware that paid for listing are exactly what they say they are, listings that have been paid for and more often than not are not the best source of or match for there search criteria, the other reason is the high number of smaller search engines that use pay-per-click as a way of driving traffic from the likes of Google & MSN to there own search engine site.
So which is right for your company, organic or pay-per-click? Well the answer may actually be a combination of both, after all whichever method you choose the secret of a successful listing is to be as high up as possible, you also need to ensure that your website contains content that is relevant to the search criteria entered.
Search engine Optimisation, will it work for me - To learn more about this author, visit Sefton Oliff's Website.
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Are your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales success or one of the many who have failed to change? So what are you doing to change those results? Let’s be honest, with companies moving globally and at lightening speeds, the traditional business solutions are outdated and dead. My approach moves your business out of its comfort zone and secures your competitive advantage now. If you are seeking to increase sales, build customer loyalty, create a culture of great attitudes or just achieve some sleep filled nights, then we should talk because my clients have experienced exactly those types of results. Learn more about customer loyalty at http://www.processspecialist.com/customer-loyalty.htm Give me a call at 219.759.5601 for a free strategy session. P.S. If you are seeking a motivational speaker, sales trainer or small business expert that will leave your audience smiling and remembering, please feel free to contact me at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland Smith's Website |
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Sefton Oliff
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Future First SEM Ltd are one of the UK,s
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