Has someone told you that you need to start doing SEO for your website? Has a fast talking SEO guy promised you the moon and told you that search engine optimization is an investment that will pay you back with boatloads of customers? While it might sound tempting and almost too good to be true, you want to be sure that you're making the right decision. You could use the added business but is it work investing a good portion of your advertising budget in his services?
The truth is that search engines and optimization for ranking your website within a search engine can be tricky business. The rules are constantly changing and more than one SEO company has caught flat footed as their client's websites suddenly disappear from the rankings after an algorithm change. It can even drive you crazy on a daily basis as you see your website's rankings fluctuate between wonderful and not so wonderful. Can this SEO company really deliver what they promise and is it worth it for you and your business?
If you remove the emotion from that question, the answer is actually pretty easy to arrive at. It's all a matter of simple math so let's take a look at the numbers. A number one ranking for a keyword usually gets about 75 to 80 percent of the traffic. Out of those that click on your link and visit your website, you need to figure out the conversion rate. A typical conversion rate is about 25 percent. If you know how many people search for a particular keyword then you can calculate about how many customers you can expect from doing search engine optimization for a particular keyword. Multiply your conversions by the average value of a customer over their lifetime and you arrive at a dollar amount close to what you can expect to receive from your effort. If that amount is higher than the cost of hiring an SEO guy then you know you're making a good decision. If it's less, then you know that search engine optimization isn't worth the money spent.
These are very basic and simple calculations. It's very important to remove the emotions from this decision and understand that it might be very cool to see your website on page one for a certain search term, don't let your vanity make this decision for you. Don't let someone pump up the hype and push you emotionally into something that isn't good for your business. Do the math and make the decision.
SEO really isn't a whole lot different than traditional forms of advertising. For some, it might be a temporary loss leader to grow your client base. For others, it really can improve income and the bottom line immediately. There are many other things that you can do to make search engine optimization worthwhile such as changing your website to improve conversions, capturing leads in the form of mailing lists and social media and targeting customers from related markets. What can you do to build loyalty and be perceived as the best at what you do? SEO is only a piece of the puzzle and it's up to you to convert that internet traffic, who are your potential customers, into loyal, paying customers.
The internet has replaced newspapers and telephone books as the place where people go to find service providers and businesses. People are searching for everything on the internet. They make their decisions based upon your website and they will go to the internet first when looking for everything from a divorce attorney to a dog walker. If you can get your name, telephone number and your website in from of them, you stand a very good chance of winning their business. That's what SEO is all about. It's all about being the first name they see when they search for what they're looking for.
If you've done the math and you can see the benefit of search engine optimization, start looking for someone you can work with. Find someone that you can trust who is willing to put their name and reputation on the line. Find someone that truly wants to help you and your business and who is interested in learning about your business and building a life long relationship with you. Trust your gut and go with the SEO services provider that is easy to work with and who appears to know his or her stuff.
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