Search Engine Optimization Cost – Tips to Make SEO Costs Easily Affordable for Your Small Business

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Search Engine Optimization Cost – Tips to Make SEO Costs Easily Affordable for Your Small Business

1..What is the number one priority, objective, or goal that you want to achieve through your online marketing efforts?
- Are trying to establish your business as an “authority site”?
- Are you trying to build a community using social media?
- Are you trying to generate more leads to fill your sales funnel?
- Are you are trying to attract more customers to a retail or physical location?
- What is your desired outcome for visitors to your website?
- What is your “business model” for your online marketing?

The responses to these questions will affect the online marketing strategy, approach, or techniques that are most suitable.

2. The BIG SECRET of Internet Millionaires and virtually ALL Successful Online Businesses…
Actually, this “secret” is painfully obvious – it is one of the fundamentals of achieving success online. But, just as major league athletes focus on the fundamentals of their competitive sports, it is worth highlighting here: TRAFFIC MATTERS MOST – IT IS A FUNDAMENTAL REQUIREMENT.

To be more specific – targeted traffic is what matters most. Attracting targeted traffic essentially means that the visitors to your site are already pre-qualified to the extent that you are presenting them with information that is aligned with what they are searching for. This assumes, of course, that the methods used to attract them are consistent with search engine optimization and search engine marketing best practices.
Practicing “Attraction Marketing” or “Magnetic Marketing” or Customer Centric Marketing leads to “friction free marketing” and long-term relationship-building.

3. How do prospects and customers find you now – and how could you attract more?
- Which keywords do prospects use when they are searching online for what you offer?
- Where is your business currently ranked for those terms in the search engines?
- How competitive are the keywords that you are currently using to promote your business?
- How viable is it that you will be able to rank for those keywords in the near future?

4. What does “Google Page 1 Rankings” actually mean – and why does it matter?
A Google Page 1 Ranking means either that a particular web-page appears on the first page of the natural “organic” Search Engine Results Position (often referred to by the acronym: “SERP”) in response to a search for a particular keyword or keyword search term, OR that an advertiser has outbid all other advertisers to appear in the Sponsored Results.

Google Page 1 Rankings matter greatly because:
- 81% of people search online before making a purchase.
- 72% of people use Google when performing online search.
- 98% of people choose a business on “Page 1″ when making a “buying decision”.

Conclusion: If your business isn’t ranked on the first page of Google’s “natural” or “organic” search results, you will be missing out on close to 75% of potential prospects, leads, and sales.

Important Note: Recent metrics evidence that people performing online searches increasingly look beyond the Sponsored Results and directly to the “organic results” for the information they seek.

5. Generating Traffic through Paid Advertising (AdWords, Facebook Ads, CPA, CPC, etc):
Paid Traffic remains the fastest way to generate traffic for new websites, to test keywords, and to “pump” life into websites that are stuck on page 2, 3, 4, 5….157…or otherwise not prominently displayed in the search results….BUT…the value of the bought traffic may be worthless…especially if it doesn’t convert to sales.

When business owners or webmasters get frustrated with their online efforts, there is frequently a temptation to try to make up for lost time by purchasing traffic from advertising brokers (i.e. the “content network”). As tempting as it is to generate “traffic” fast using this method, it should be understood that there are very real risks associated with it.

Anyone with a valid credit card charging capacity can generate traffic fast. Beware, however, that the traffic generated from many of these sources is a total waste of money. Ask almost anyone who has tried it.

Obviously, Google and Yahoo have made literally billions of dollars by selling this kind of traffic (i.e. paid clicks). In the early days of Adwords and Adsense lot of savvy internet marketers created online advertising empires by functioning as advertising “arbitrage” agents. For the past several years, however, many of those very same marketers complain of losing vast sums on advertising campaigns.

Caution: If you choose to use paid advertising to buy traffic, proceed carefully – and limit your spending until you verify that the cost/benefit ratio of your advertising program is within your accepted tolerances, and expectations.

6. Keyword Research – and How to “re-position” your company online (if necessary).
One of the smartest things you can do, and definitely one of the first things you really should do, is to perform some basic keyword research. Only by conducting detailed keyword research can you know how to proceed with your online marketing efforts. Only after performing keyword research can you determine whether you will be wasting time and money (and lost-opportunity costs) by trying to promote your business based on words or terms or “keywords” that are either too competitive, not sufficiently searched, or otherwise non-performing.

You can begin to get a sense about all of this for free by using the Google Adwords Keyword Tool.
Start by entering a broad term that relates to your business or niche. Then scan the results for the keywords you are currently using.
Then review the competition, both in terms of Adwords and also in the search engine itself. If the first page of natural SERP results is dominated by major corporations, major “authority sites”, or other stiff competition, then that keyword may be difficult to rank for. This is especially true if the SERP results are for main indexed pages.

On the other hand, if the first page of Google returns a lot of “inner pages” (i.e. pages that are on the third hierarchy of the site structure, or lower), and if they are not from “authority sites”, but rather from blogs or smaller sites, then ranking for those particular keywords may be achievable, and perhaps even relatively easy).

7. Knowing Who Your Visitors Are – Capturing Visitor Contact Details for Lead Generation
The single most important missing element from most business websites may be a “lead capture form”. It’s hard to believe that with literally billions of websites published, so many websites lack such a valuable but inexpensive and easy-to-implement tool.
Lead capture forms have been available for at least 10 years. And we have all grown accustomed to using them – as consumers, or as “subscribers”. You may be reading this information as a result of having entered your email address into a basic lead capture form (sometimes referred to as a “squeeze form” or “squeeze page”, depending on how it is implemented).
Lead capture forms are typically integrated with Auto responders such as Aweber, Get Response, iContact, Infusionsoft, 1ShoppingCart, or others.
If you are trying to develop any kind of business intelligence about your website visitors, and trying to establish a follow-up rapport with them, it is essential to incorporate lead capture forms into your website.
At the most basic level, setting up a lead capture form can be accomplished in minutes.

8. Understanding Web 2.0 and How Social Media Can be Leveraged to Facilitate SEO and to Grow Your Business:
Web 2.0 and Social Media are extremely complex and dynamic developments. The easiest way to understand the potential of Web 2.0 and Social Media, in terms of how they can help you grow your business is this: Make It Easy For People to Learn About You and What You Offer – and expand your circle of influence or like-minded “friends”.

Unlike “web 1.0″ sites, Blogs are “Web 2.0 ready” – what this means is that they are preconfigured (in most cases) to allow for RSS feeds, Social Network Sharing, Commenting, etc.

It’s no secret that the way Google (and other leading search engines) rank their search results is largely based on what other people think. It follows that the more people who link to your site, the more Google will consider your site to be an “authority site”, or at least a meaningful site, within a particular niche, or for certain keyword terms.

The easiest, cheapest, and one of the most effective things that you can do to improve your search engine optimization is to incorporate a blog into your website (or make it your website), and to create meaningful and relevent content on a regular basis (e.g. 4 times a week or more).
Make it easy for other people and blogs and organizations to get your content and to derive value from you. RSS feeds and Social Bookmarking tools are ideal for this task.

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Seven PPC Optimization Benchmarks That Cut Your Costs in Google Adwords

admin    Google Optimization     Adwords, Benchmarks, Costs, Google, Optimization, Seven

Seven PPC Optimization Benchmarks That Cut Your Costs in Google Adwords

I won’t go into what makes a successful PPC ad campaign because this topic is better covered by experts like Perry Marshall.

My goal is to describe seven specific aspects of a Google AdWords campaign that you can control, which I will go over in more detail in a minute. These are the limits or benchmarks you can set for your campaign results. They are based on your financial goals –That is, the numbers of leads or sales results you want to aim for.

These benchmarks will vary depending on what your price point is, the type of market you are pursuing, the keywords you choose and whether you use Search or Content marketing. That’s already a lot of variables and it doesn’t even take into account the following list from Noble Samurai, (They make a nifty keyword research tool.)

What the competition is in your market.

What your visitor-to-sales conversions are.

How many competitors exist in the market.

How easily you can achieve high rankings

How strong the competition is in that market.

How hard you work.

How easily your can dominate your niche.

All that being said, what CAN you control? Consider establishing these benchmarks before you even set up an AdWords campaign. With these controls you will be able to optimize your adgroups as you see results and improve your keyword scores, CTR and positioning. Optimization is part of “speaking Google” so it’s a good idea to learn the language.

From the start, decide what position you want to “own.” Are you going for the very top (1-3) of the first page, or are you happy to be in the middle, or just anywhere you can afford on the first page? The quality of your traffic will vary and so will the price, so keep an eye on how your positioning affects results. “Owning” a position is the only way to get consistent traffic, and consistency is the only way to build a business. So keep track of which keywords are producing conversions and cut out the ones that are not giving you adequate results. Focus on keeping your keyword quality scores high-at least 5-7. When a keyword score falls below a 5, the cost per click goes up 15+ %. So watch those scores! Profitability in a competitive market can be tough when keywords are expensive, so set a limit on your CPC (Cost per click.) Never pay more than a click average. Depending on your niche, you may pay much less, but low cost clicks don’t always mean quality traffic. You also may pay more at first. Your goal is  to find a price that works in your niche. Always aim for a 1% CTR (Click through rate) or more on Search keywords. Google likes relevancy and they score it based on your CTR. Again, you get a better position and pay less when your ad is relevant (It gets traffic and clicks.) However, high CTR doesn’t guarantee sales. Conversion rates for leads or sales will be a factor that varies for each market and price point, but generally speaking, shoot for at least 5% for Content, and 10% conversion for Search keywords. Don’t waste your advertising budget on keywords that don’t convert to sales! And finally, decide what you are willing to pay for those conversions. (Also called Cost per Acquisition or CPA.)  Whether it’s a visit to your website, a lead, or a sale, what is the average price that works for your metrics and produces a profit on the back end? You may go above it or below it, so find an average profitable conversion price, and stick to it.

Obviously this all requires a lot of surveillance on your part. It also means becoming intimate with the “Reports” tabs and other tools on Google that provide the information you need to evaluate your returns on each keyword so you can cut out the “weeds” and only keep the best.

Does optimization take a bit of work? Yes it does, and you can skip it if you want to…. It’s your money and your business.

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PPC Services – Maximize Your ROI and Reduce Ad Costs

admin    PPC     Costs, Maximize, Reduce, Services

It may sound like a cliché, but Internet marketing has taken over the advertising world like bees are attracted to honey. Every business has realized that in the absence of Internet marketing, it is like groping in the dark. Almost every business is going for pay per click (PPC) services. There are various companies offering PPC services but you need to choose the one that can benefit you the most.

The most suitable PPC services ensure that your cost per click is minimized, click through rate (CTR) is increased with appreciable margin, and your leads and sales grow by a respectable margin. Given that the popularity of Internet marketing is increasing by the day, ignoring it will be a disaster for your business. You must understand that more and more people prefer shopping online to physically visiting retail stores.

What is ppc all about? It not only involves increasing leads, ensuring better return on investment or cutting down advertising expenditure. It is about taking an overall charge of your promotional campaign and producing the desired results by targeting the niche customers. Pay per click advertisements can really boost your business. A highly professional PPC consultant will ensure that there is a balancing act between PPC advertisements and its corresponding web landing pages.

Well organized PPC services should be split tested, which means that it will improve the effectiveness of a web based offer. It works by way of highlighting the performance of your online marketing efforts through detailed reports. He or she should also ensure that your PPC advertisements are tracked on a daily basis and accordingly identified which is more effective on CTR. Every keyword should be considered a separate campaign by him or her for better results. A genuine PPC services provider will ensure that bidding prices are minimized with conversion rates intact.

Since the very basis of any business is the return on investment, a well managed PPC services provider ensures that ROI is maximized and is the central part of PPC advertisements. PPC services are especially suitable to companies that cannot afford to allow their advertising shoot up. This service allows such businesses to control their advertisements budgets as they have to pay for only for those ads that get clicked on.