SEO Spending - A Smart Approach

Spending on SEO services is on the rise and there are good reasons for that trend. The first is that search engines are an increasingly pivotal online location for consumers and B2B buyers and this is where businesses have to show up to access consumers. The second is that marketers are putting more of their marketing budgets into search engine marketing. That would include paid ads, text link purchases and optimization of websites. This competitiveness means you need to plan better and invest more.

According to a recent study by Credit Suisse, the market for online ads will increase 32 percent to $16.6 billion in 2006. They suggest that Yahoo, the most visited website, and number one search engine Google will win new advertising business at the expense of publishers and broadcasters. That estimate includes paid advertising but research shows people are not clicking on ads and that advertisers have given up on clickthroughs, and instead are looking for branding benefits. If you spend smartly and hire the best SEO firm, you won't have to rely on branding alone and forego real clickthroughs from real paying customers.

In the eight years I've been an SEO specialist, I've noticed that those who spend the most on SEO get better returns on that investment. That seems like a no brainer, but you really need to think about search engine results for a moment. The top ranking sites get all the clicks, so unless your SEO expenditure can get you into those top rankings, your performance will lag. Estimates are that the top ranking listing gets 40% of clicks, the second spot 20% and the third captures 10% of all viewers. The rest get a few percent each.

The number one problem of most search engine optimization campaigns is under funding. Even after getting outstanding results, companies still hold back on SEO spending. The bar is being raised on competition as big money invades the search engine arena the
"no spend" policy of some companies will result in continual disappointment with their SEO providers and the value of SEO. Failure to build a good case for growing SEO budgets could result in substantial losses for some companies.

Intense Competition Because It's Valuable Real Estate

Consider Google's dominating market share of searches (Hitwise just reported Google has a 42% market share and visitors spend two to three times longer session times than other search engines.). For SEO, Google is everything. In essence, they control access to consumers with their algorithm. Google rankings are very competitive. Everyone wants that same piece of real estate. Companies will need to spend money to capture top rankings in the free organic search results.

SEO is still a mystery to most marketing managers and it's only going to get worse. Google's algorithm will become more complex as they try to defy all attempts at manipulation of rankings. Don't expect too many non-information science people to explain it well. You need to consider the depth of the SEO's knowledge when planning SEO. They're a lot of web design firms trying to hang out an SEO consultant shingle. Some may have a good SEO expert working for them, but you'll want assess the ability and skill of the specific person working on your project. Watch out for outsourced work. It may be cheaper but you get what you pay for.

Google is getting much better at detecting and filtering out paid links, so don't expect that approach to continue working. In the end, it's the optimized development of your site that will provide good rankings, along with some good links from on-topic sites!

Getting Quotes

You might get quotes varying from $3000.00 to $30,000.00+ for your SEO campaign and your return will depend on what you spend and on the skill of the search engine optimizer and the complete range of services offered. Stay focused on what you need to achieve. That approach will ensure the long term development of your search engine presence.

Don't ask for guarantees on keyword phrases. Keyword guarantees are unethical. The fact that you're asking for guarantees means you have no confidence in the SEO provider. Guarantees lead to spam because the guarantor will take desperate measures to get that ranking and when you get aggressive with search engines, they will take action.
Hire a consultant/service provider that you can see is a master in SEO work. That is your guarantee.

The key here is that your SEO investment has to be sufficient to get your site to the top three ranks. Any investment below that is bound to be disappointing for most companies. It's the same in any area of promotion really. Always keep in mind how highly targeted and often highly qualified the visitors to your site will be. Many require minimal sales effort. They're ready to buy and all you have to do is show up.

Make 2006 a successful year for your company!

Gord Collins is SEO Director at Bay Street SEO. Gord writes frequently in magazines, blogs, and forums on new trends in search engine optimization and search engine marketing. He provides SEO services to numerous major U.S. companies and other SEO companies.