News & Press

1. If the Google Rankings are High, the Sales Will Follow…Wrong!

Many companies and also SEO suppliers are so dazzled by the thought of page one Google rankings that they see this as the end in itself. “Ok so you are on the first page of Google for ‘wooden chairs,’ so what?’ How are you going to track what that ranking is worth to your business? A good SEO supplier should also have enough marketing insight to help you discover the best ways to track the amount of revenue Google is actually generating for you.

2. Google Analytics is Good Enough for Tracking…Wrong!

Many SEO suppliers just rely on Google analytics for tracking and reporting to clients. This is not enough. Let me show you why. SEO by its nature is going to bring in ‘new potential customers’ to your business.  For example, if you were called Hamy’s Handbags existing customers would either search for ‘Hamy’s Handbags’ or would type your web address directly into their Internet browser. So if the majority of people finding you on SEO (Google) are new customers, then it makes sense that these types of visitors are going to visit your website a few times before they buy.

Existing customers will often visit and buy on their first visit.  However, new customers will visit your site, have a look, go off and check out the competition, and then come back and buy if they like what they see. If your SEO provider is only using Google Analytics to track new customers, you are not going to have the right information.  This is because Google Analytics attributes the sale to the referrer of the last visit.

Let me give you an example:

Visit 1 -

a) Prospect Types in ‘brown handbag’ in Google

b) Prospect visits ‘Hamyhandbags.com’

c) Prospect visits two or three competitors

d) Prospect decides Hamy’s Handbag is the best and wants to return, so Googles ‘Hamy’s Handbags’

e) Prospect buys a Hamy’s Handbag.

For the above journey Google Analytics would record the sale as coming from the search keyword ‘Hamy’s Handbag’ and from google.com.  In reality, the keyword phrase ‘brown handbag’ is what initiated the sale, since ‘brown handbag’ is what introduced the prospect to your website in the first place. You need to know what brought the customer to your website in the first place, not on the last visit.  Why? Because without this information you will not be able to understand which keyword phrase or phrases generate business.  Also, you will not be aware of what other keywords to add to your optimised keywords. Finally, if you do not have this vital information you may mistakenly assume that your brand is growing without the help of SEO, and you might stop investing in SEO.  If your competition has this information and you do not, it means they can gain market share as they understand what is driving their business.

3. Because the SEO Salesman Talks the Talks and Baffles You With ‘Geek Speak’ They Must Know What They are Doing…Wrong!

If an SEO salesman tries to sell you on their service with complicated terms and does not take time to convey how SEO is going to generate return on investment, walk away. SEO is still new and so many businesses have been quick to buy SEO just to be seen to be doing that right thing. Unfortunately, this has allowed salesman to sell SEO contracts by baffling the customer with Geek Speak.Warning: If you do not understand how SEO is going to generate business for your company, then it probably is not going to.  Just because ‘Joe Blogs Competitor’ is using SEO does not mean it’s the right thing for you to do.  A good SEO company should be able to clearly map out how SEO is going to generate business for YOU.

4. The Money is All in the Big Keyword…Wrong!

Often, the keywords that receive the most hits tend to receive them because people are not exactly sure what they want.  These searchers will later ‘drill down’ on the search terms, refining what they are looking for during the sales process.  Take for example the term ‘press releases’.  This term receives more searches per day than any other PR related term, but it is very hard to convert this term into money. The big money term is actually ‘press release distribution’ as these guys are looking to buy a service.

This concept is the same with all industries. The big search terms are not necessarily the ‘big money’ terms, so your SEO provider should be able to tell you which search terms will generate revenue rather than zero value website visits.
5. SEO Works for Every Business…Wrong!

Search engine optimization will only work for your business if there are enough people looking for your business through Google (who are ready to buy) to justify the cost of getting the search engine optimization work done.
For some businesses, their target customers just do not use the internet to find providers. For example with high end coaching.  CEO’s just do not Google for a coach, instead they ask their peers for referrals, so for this type of business direct mail, social media or networking would be a better route to market.

In some industries you might find a handful of customers looking for your service or product but not enough to justify an SEO investment.  A range of factors will determine whether you will receive a return on investment with SEO. These factors include:

1. Your average order value (AOV)

2. Your site conversion rate

3. That amount of potential traffic a page one Google search term would bring you

4. The life time value of a customer

A potential SEO provider should have a business case tool that they can plug these numbers into to prove whether or not SEO is a good investment for a particular business.