I had a conversation with a client yesterday regarding a telemarketing call he received from an
SEO (search engine optimization) company. Without looking at the analytics of the client's site, the
SEO guy had determined that a selected key phrase was the ticket to web success. He also guaranteed he could receive top ten results in Google with this phrase for a whopping $250 per month plus a "set up" fee. He even sent him a follow up letter to the conversation. The masthead from the letter had
Google's logo placed in manner that, in my opinion, was designed to mislead the reader. The offer didn't even explain how or what he was going to do in order to effect his guarantee. I responded to the client with a few points.
1. The site already shows up number 10 in Google for that Key Phrase. The "
SEO" expert was going to sell him something he basically already owns. Don't you think this nimrod should have checked that before he started dialing for dollars?
2. Anyone that says they can guarantee the results of a service they have no control over is suspect at best.
3. How can someone sell you on "
SEO" without seeing the log files to your site in advance?
So, here I am once more talking about "
SEO". To me, those initials should stand for "Seek Expert Opinion". The quality of the web traffic you receive is inherently more important than the quantity. I do not recommend using
SEO companies. I recommend hiring a web consultant that understands the real estate industry and has a grasp of branding, lead generation and how to properly determine the return on investment of a web marketing effort. It's common sense to start at the beginning.
A.)
Analyze your web traffic using a good log file tool like
Google Analytics. Your consultant needs access to several recent months of data. Look at the key words and phrases people are
actually using to find you.
B.)Look at the number of
page views per visit to your site. If people are not moving past the main page, your content sucks and no amount of
SEO is going to fix that.
C.)
Use the Overture (Yahoo) keyword inventory tool for a snapshot of how many people use a specific search term.
Empirical data is hard to argue with.
D.)Look at the length of time someone spends looking at the data. If the analytics show you're site is performing poorly with it's current visitors, bringing more isn't going to do you much good. After you've tweaked the content and made sure the site is search engine friendly you can get to work on the traffic generation using tools and techniques that have a proven method of success. Try localizing your keyword buys, or buy banner ads on good local sites, like the newspaper, or city guides with a good track record.
We had the opportunity to analyze the traffic generated to our client's site and the impact
podcasting has had. We're delighted to say that over one third of the direct referrals from other domains has been from a
podcasting link. What's more important though is the quality of those referrals. The average number of pages views per visitor overall is between 3 and 4 pages. The average number of page views from the
podcasting referrals is between 6 and 7. This indicates the fact that the traffic from the
podcasting effort is more relevant and offers a better opportunity to establish all important "top of mind" branding awareness or generate a lead.
There isn't enough time to talk about every
intricacy and nuance of web marketing in a single blog post. Don't get hung up on finding yourself in a search engine unless you know that the terms and phrases you are using actually create quality traffic. If you see a competitor popping up in sponsored results, they may be getting clicks, but they could just be expensive ways to add to a log file. If you can't afford or find a consultant, make an investment in the time to educate yourself on the issue of web marketing from sources you know you can trust and have track records to back it up.
As you can see, this last incident has renewed my interest in exploding the many myths of web marketing and expose some of the snake oil for what it is. I plan to start a series of posts on the subject, until then here are some annoying acronyms to get you started. I think we should establish a rule that anyone that uses 2 or more of these in one sentence must submit to a bruising punch in the shoulder until such time as that person has decided to converse in common sense business speak.
SERP = Search Engine Ranking Page (how well a site is ranked)
SEO= Search Engine Optimization
SEM= Search Engine Marketing (could mean a million different things)
SEP= Search Engine Positioning (see
SEO and
SEM)
PPC= Pay Per Click (advertising term for paying for an click on a sponsored link)
PPCSE= Pay Per Click Search Engine (uh, O.K, Google, Yahoo,
MSN )
PFI = Pay For Inclusion (no
tickie no
washie)
PFP = Pay For Performance (either the oldest profession in the world or......)
PPL = Pay Per Lead (define lead)
PPS = Pay Per Sale (there's an idea, put it on the HUD)
CPA = Cost Per Action (pay to play?)
CPC = Cost Per Click (see pay per click)
CPS = Cost Per Sale (paging captain obvious)
CTR = Click-Through Rate (the number of people that click on an ad)
DH = Direct Hit (a visit to a site that did not come from a link on another one)
Last but most important
BSD = Bull Shit Detector (you're probably going to need this if you get a call from an "SEO" expert)
Labels: google analytics, log files, seo, web marketing
