You are probably aware of the fact that Search Engine Optimisation is very effective at generating sales online, especially from new customers. Consider these statistics from a 2009 Forbes survey:
Granted, the survey is based on US data and carries a slant towards organisations with a large online marketing budget. (Email and e-newsletter in the above table is assumed to be in-house).
However, the tactics at the top of the list are the very tactics that First Rate has been successfully executing for the last 9 years on behalf of New Zealand and Australian organisations.
First Rate knows from first-hand experience that SEO, SEM and Email are as fundamental to a large organisation’s marketing strategy as they are to small and mid sized companies.
In fact, First Rate believes that Search is the most important online acquisition tactic because it can deliver outstanding business results. Is Search generating great results for your business right now?
Furthermore, did you realise that SEO is also an extremely valuable tactic for building your brand presence online?
First Rate calls this Performance Branding (growing brand awareness on a pay-for-performance basis). SEO provides millions of free search impression and thousands of clicks – what other channel can deliver these sorts of branding results?
Have you ever come across a TV or Radio network happy to provide you with free ad coverage? (Never mind actual visits to your website.)
TV and Radio advertising certainly has its allure, however, before more budgets are allocated to these channels, you should really re-evaluate your presence on the search engines. Are you currently maximising your budget..?
Here are some practical questions you should ask your marketing team:
- How much are we paying per sale (or lead) from offline channels?
- How much are we paying per sale (or lead) from online channels?
- Do you know how many more sales (or leads) the website could generate?
- How do we rank on generic keyword terms in the search engines compared to our competitors?
- Are all our products indexed and ranking well in the search engines?
- Are we happy with both the number of conversions and the cost per conversion derived from Search Engine Marketing?
- What types of search ads generate the best results?
- What types of landing pages generate the best results?
- Are we continuously evaluating all aspects of our search marketing?
- Have we explored search as a branding channel?