My last post focused on "Paid Placement" as defined on page 4 of "The State of Search Engine Marketing 2004". This post will try to better define why "Organic SEO" should be any online marketer's priority for a long term strategy. There are many writings on this topic, and I have picked some of my personal favorites to make that very point.
An SEO-SEM firm called OneUpWeb did a study that substantiates the SEO industry's claims that first page listings in natural search results increase both traffic and sales. So conversion rates of these natural, organic listings tend to convert to sales better than paid listings do, in my opinion, because more internet search users prefer the organic listings. To back that up, another SEO-SEM firm did a study called "iProspect Outsourced SEO Metrics & ROI Study" that is quoted in this 9/15/05 iProspect press release which says: "42% of search marketers who outsource BOTH the management of their SEO and the PPC campaigns, find that search engine optimization produces a higher ROI." So, now let's hear from an individual marketer (a prospective Organic SEO client) who is currently using only "Paid Placement".
This Search Engine Watch Forum poster said on 3/5/05: "I own a profitable site but am spending a lot on Google adwords/overture. I think that my investment could be better spent on some good SEO work but given the vast amount of people out there claiming to be experts, picking one is difficult.". Wow, is that last part an understatement! But, more on that in a later post. That entire SEW Forum Thread goes on to give some advice to this potential SEO client, but ends with a "good luck & be careful" post after the SEO prospect says: "..do any of you have recommendations or even proposals for cpa (per registration) for www.freerub.com" (a massage exchange community).
I usually don't link to SEO's own web sites as I don't want it to appear that I am promoting any specific SEO firm without having done business with them. But, my second link like that in this post goes to "SEO vs. PPC" as it really gives good reasons (in my opinion) why SEO should be the Internet Marketing priority. First, I like that they say: "The top search engines do not want to cheat their users by providing only paid results....This means that non-paid listings are and will remain central,.." Then they say that SEO "is more cost-effective than PPC." That's followed by them talking about the "position stability" of SEO listings by saying: "PPC positions continuously change according to your competitors' bidding tactics, while SEO is much more stable." Finally, they bring up PPC "Click Fraud" with the definition being ""the practice of clicking on a text advertisement served by a search engine for the sole purpose of forcing the advertiser to pay for the click."
There are pro's and con's to both SEO and PPC, but I believe they are both worth doing properly, based on the unique circumstances of the client and his business. What do you think?
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