SEO in 2009 Part Two: Awareness that SEO does provide value
Refocusing on metrics which matter is one of the first elements of change to consider for 2009. However one of the most overdue elements of change is for companies to understand SEO, leveraged correctly, will provide value. Already we are seeing a shift as website owners and company executives alike realize that SEO has value. It is extremely cost effective, so expect that many more businesses will integrate organic search strategy into online marketing programs. In order to achieve greatness in online marketing it is important to know how to roll with the changes. The world online is in constant flux, with change happening all the time. This is what makes it so great! Understanding that change is part of life and can lead to even greater reward is vital.
Understanding the Value of SEO
Many business owners are unwilling to change; they embrace the tenet “why re-invent the wheel?” While others embrace change and cannot wait to get started on the next challenge. The website owner who accepts change and embraces it, is the one who is going to enjoy the most success. All you have to do is take a look at the recent US elections to know that people are looking to embrace change. Even the politicians themselves! According to Gord Hotchkiss, US “Democracy changed on 4th November 2008″, and part of the reason why Barak Obama was so successful is because he is online “savvy”. He had a fantastic online election strategy and understands how valuable social networking is. This strategy allowed him to reach voters who might have never voted. Just Google “facebook” and Barak Obama’s face comes up second in the rankings.
The value of SEO has not even been heard of by more traditional managers who have yet to adopt the marketing concept. In order to make this form of marketing work, you have to realize the value which is associated with “organic” marketing efforts online. It is absolutely true that key-word rich content which provides informative and unique information and optimized meta data with links, will provide immense value for brands or businesses.
A well optimized website, with effective SEO will help to drive both branded and non-branded traffic where it belongs, to the website of that business. This leads to user engagement, and from there, sales transactions. The correct information found in the correct place of search engine results, in any of the major search engines, could mean substantial traffic is driven to a website. What is more important is this traffic does not have to be paid for.
Sponsored PPC advertising means that the website owner has to make a bid on the position of a keyword or words. SEO makes use of leveraging content, this could be in the form of a video, webpage or blog post, these are found by the search results for a given keyword. The difference is that PPC allows instant results, whereas the results from SEO take more time. This is one of the reasons why people are not keen to use SEO, however, once the results for SEO efforts begin to appear they are more cost effective and the results last longer.
2009 looks as though it will be a year when companies who continued to use traditional marketing media, take a good look at search engine optimization. There is definitely a cost upfront, but this is generally a fraction of what a traditional advert say on TV, would cost. It is even less than an annual PPC campaign.
This year more marketers and managers will look at SEO as a means to promote brands, services and products. The tough economic times may mean they have to cut down on budgets, but any manager who is smart will realize that a portion of that cut back budget should be allocated to SEO as a cost effective option. The reason for this are:
1. Cost effectiveness – PPC spend can be reduced
2. SEO drive traffic to websites > this creates leads > lead drive sales > website owners generate more income from their investment.
3. Long term visibility – this is changing a little with blended search and personalization, a vital organic presence could mean that with very little effort it turns up in search results for months or even years. (This is after preliminary ranking is achieved)
4. Click-through – Depending where they come from 70-80% of click-throughs on a search engine results page, comes from organic listings.
SEO does work! Even though it may be difficult to measure! All that it requires is the time and understanding to start with the ground rules. From there on it will evolve, so be willing to roll with the changes.
If you are anticipating a tight marketing budget in 2009, search engine optimization is a valuable medium to use. Many organizations have tight marketing budgets and using SEO in their marketing strategies have worked out very well. In fact some have enjoyed great success, although it is important to note that these organizations have had an understanding of the value of SEO. Certainly if they didn’t understand it fully at first, they soon got an understanding after they saw how the returns paid off.
2009 and beyond will see more organizations recognizing the true value of SEO, and early adopters of this form of marketing tool have been performing well for years. There are still those nay sayers’ who see not value in it, however at the tough economy has a direct impact on everyone, they may be made to change their minds. Organizations are noting how effective SEO can be and time is of the essence. The longer it takes to place an effective organic search strategy in place, the longer it will take to see the effects of this, and this means a website owner will fall behind the competition.
Having a strong organic search strategy when marketing budgets are being cut, should be a topic for discussion at management meetings and in general workplace conversations. People who do not understand the leverage of SEO need to take the time to look at the benefits of it in order to better understand how it can be used. Certain website owners who have achieved revenues of $150 – 200K per month have earned these from a strong keyword optimization strategy. These website owners were previously earning minimal online revenue. Website owners have been seen to open new offices in less than two years as results in part from their SEO efforts poured in. There is a wealth of these success stories available and these website owners now understand the value of SEO.
While SEO may be difficult to measure initially, it does provide for good returns at the minimum of cost. Having the ground work in place and using sound SEO strategies such as content development, making use of friendly web properties and building an external link inventory will go a very long way to determine online success.
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Where did you get your blog layout from? I’d like to get one like it for my blog.