Archive for May 15th, 2010
May 15th, 2010 | 
Author: How To Develop A Successful ROI For Your Website
Are You Really Measuring for Return on Investment ROI withSearch Engine Optimization?
Puzzling studies and reports suggest that businesses are missingout when it comes to ROI including a whole host of metrics thatshould confirm or shape search engine marketing strategies.
You can’t accomplish much if you’re not even implementing SEOthe right way. We’ve seen web site after web site that includesscores of individual keywords in the META keyword set that manysearch engines ignore anyway. The SEO team not only used thewrong individual keywords search phrases are better but theydidn’t bother to include keywords in the page title ordescription. And of course they didn’t think it was worththeir time to focus on multiple pages not just the homepage.
Hint: If you’re selling dinnerware “laundry” probably shouldn’tbe one of your keywords.
A WebTrends report cited in an eMarketer in 2004 showed thefollowing ROI:
Using Complete ROI analysis35.4 Clickthrough rates only24.2Conversion metrics18.7 Don’t measure21.7
Barely one third figured a thorough ROI analysis was worth theeffort.
More than 80 of companies surveyed are dissatisfied with their”ability to benchmark their marketing programs” according to”Measures Metrics: Assessing Marketing Value Impact” astunning report based on a 2004 survey by the CMO Council aPalo Alto Californiabased organization. The CMO Councilrepresents senior marketing and brand decisionmakers in theglobal technology industry.
“Less than 20 have developed any meaningful and comprehensivemeasures and metrics for their marketing organizations” thereport said.
It’s possible Fathom SEO believes that companies just settlefor what’s easiest. If getting high rankings offers enoughsatisfaction that’s where the measurement ends. Or maybe abusiness will look at total traffic maybe even unique visitortrends. With PPC they’re apt to take up Google’s offer andpost an ad within 15 minutes cranking out the common reportsGoogle offers. Businesses have a whole host of metrics that canserve them as long as the data doesn’t fly over their heads.
Aligning SEM with Corporate Marketing Strategies Youshould start by knowing how your SEM goals relate to yourcorporate marketing strategy. Which of the following or moredo you want to accomplish? Generate leads Sell online Buildbrands Grab more market share
Conversions You absolutely must track pages that allowvisitors to take some kind of action including:
Requesting a quote Filling out a contact form Placing anorder Registering for a newsletter Ordering a catalog
Establishing Your Metrics Determine which of thefollowing will be the metrics that will mean the most to you:Online sales broken down by category Repeat visits Profitson sales Customer satisfaction Length of visits Cost perclick CPC Clickthrough rate CTR Cost per conversion CPC.
Get plugged into online consumers’ behavior patterns.
For example studies show that consumers start researchingproducts online several weeks 12 weeks in some businesstobusiness scenarios before they make a purchase often offline.Enquiro based in Kelowna BC Canada in 2004 found that 68.3of those surveyed used search engines for “consideration orresearch.” The results are detailed in Enquiro’s “Inside theMind of a Searcher” research report that looks at issuesincluding four distinct types of searchers and the frequencywith which people search during the buying process.
ROI should be an integral part of any search engine optimizationstrategy not something that sounds foreign. Make it work foryour business.
Daniel Katz Business Development Manager at Compucall Web Marketing Ltd. experts in International Search Engine Optimization.
