Your Online Marketing Guide

Search Engine Marketing Firms hear the following questions repeatedly:

What kind of increase in traffic can you guarantee? And Will sales increase?

These are of course very appropriate questions for a company that is about to spend the majority of its marketing budget on organic search marketing. These are the two questions that any marketing department asks repeatedly no matter what they are buying.

It seems amazing then, that the answer from a Search Engine Marketer is almost always: I don’t know.

A Typical Problem

Todd Friesen’s Oilman blog post detailing the problems associated with predicting organic Search Engine Optimization outcomes, made me realize I was not alone. Apparently everyone in the industry has difficulty answering this question.

There are programs that predict keyword usage, but none of them can give you an estimate for number of queries in a month using a small share of total searches. These keyword usage programs are only good to the point that they can show popularity but they certainly can’t work the numbers on .0071 % of total searches on the internet.

Friesen goes on to say that even though we might be able to predict a number one rank for a certain query string by knowing how many users had to actually query it, there is no way that we could ever figure out how many people will actually sit down at their computer and search for that phrase.

 Fits and Starts in Progress

By doing 85% of the recommendations made by their Search Engine Marketing Firm, most businesses assume that they will have an 85% or proportional increase in volume. What they don’t understand is that sometimes these tools work and sometimes they don’t. Usually will a Search Engine Marketing Firm will make recommendations based on what the desired outcome is and then evaluate to see which of these are working for the individual business and which are not. Sometimes it is a combination of a variety of tools that only work together and in a very specific sequence. Sometimes it is one that dependent only on that perfect moment in time.

Experience Doesn’t Always Help

Many times clients confuse the issue by having just enough information about Search Engine Optimization which causes the Search Engine Optimization Firm’s hands to be tied in their efforts to assist the client. A business that knows nothing of the principles of Search Engine optimization can benefit the most from the help of a firm because their website can be completely structured with valid principles of Search Engine optimization in mind. These clients are rare, however and they are the ones who have most difficult time understanding the concept. As a result, most of the time you are trying to advise clients on Search Engine Optimization who have their own preconceived ideas on how best to do things or you are working with someone who thinks you are speaking in tongues.

So How Do You Answer the Question?

The easiest way to get comparable numbers is use the performance of a similar site to show how it responded to your basic Search Engine Optimization tools. Do your market research and choose similar organizations that had similar goals as best you can and show how your tools impacted their business both successfully and unsuccessfully. Always remember to make accommodations for the following statistics:

*Â Â Â Â Â Â Percent of indexed pages as compared to total number of pages.

*Â Â Â Â Â Â A list of critical issues that you have found on their website in order of importance..

*Â Â Â Â Â Â What their current keyword phrases are and what kind of combinations could be created in short and long phrases.

*Â Â Â Â Â Â A list of things that will take very little change to become optimized.

*      A list of “at the very least”. Detail the minimal amount that can be done to get what they want.

*Â Â Â Â Â Â A true estimate of what the client is capable of providing to accomplish their goals. Insist they are honest and fair in their estimations.

By evaluating and detailing these factors you will be able to show potential. Make sure that you are very clear that you are not guaranteeing. You must also stress that to be effective the business must implement your tools correctly before they will see any changes in their Search Engine Optimization results.

Companies can implement Search Engine Optimization themselves and evaluate their progress as they go. Start with smaller section and implement your tools while tracking these areas of optimization. Over time you will be able to evaluate your success and move on to other areas of your site to see increase there as well. Always use your same criteria for evaluation as you move from one section to another to get a true picture of your effectiveness.

You Get What You Give

The true potential of a website is never known just by a quick glance. Make sure that your Search Engine Optimization strategy is based on a comprehensive look at the entire website. Evaluate a Search Engine optimization proposal on the comprehensiveness of the plan and rest assured that it was created specifically for your website.

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