Is your SEO campaign barking up the wrong tree?
Good SEO campaigns are all about conversions and you should be working closely with your SEO agency or account manager on your goals and let them know what you want to accomplish.
By working together your goals are more likely to be met in sufficient numbers and you can say your SEO is a success. If they fall short, there is more work to do and your campaign manager is there to put the effort in, so long as you are giving your input to. It is so important to find an online marketing company that really understand what Google actually likes, as there is no mystical way to the SEO process – it's all about hard work.
Are you tracking your conversions?
Simply put, goals are actions you want visitors to take on your website. Think of a conversion as a completed goal. This need not necessarily be a purchase and could be completing an opt in, watching a video, downloading information and even just spending time roaming your site. The goal is the action you want your customer, or potential customer, to take!
Do you consider rankings to be a goal?
Rankings do make you feel great when they hit page one or number one, but they shouldn’t be considered a goal in themselves. A ranking should only hold value to you if they convert! You do need good rankings to drive traffic to your website, but if the main aim or goal in your SEO campaign is to hit number one spot on Google, then you could be missing motive. The conversion is where the success lies. The only way to truly determine if your SEO campaign is working is to analyse your conversions and determine if your visitors are doing what you want them to. Be wary of constantly checking your rank results. Be more focused on understanding how, why and what is needed to make that conversion a success.
Many SEO companies promise to make you money for page one ranked keywords. Rather pay for a service that helps make your phone ring or increases the amount of action taken on your website.
What is your SEO company doing for you and what are you doing to help reach your goal? When you understand the value of this, you will realise the benefit a good digital marketing company can deliver for you. This will enable you to and drive a successful online marketing or SEO campaign.
If you receive monthly reports from your SEO company, are you reading them? Your reports, especially your analytics, will really help you to pinpoint where the campaign is working and where it could do with improvement. By taking an interest in your campaign you will become more involved In achieving your goals and monitoring the progress that is being made.
Is traffic important?
Yes, because without traffic, there are no conversions. Right? Not quite, because it is important to understand and differentiate between your targeted traffic and the casual browser. If there is no value outside your conversion rate or goal, then it doesn’t matter how many thousands of visitors you had to your website this month, because if you can’t convert one of them, the campaign isn’t working for you.
If you want to increase your return on your online marketing investment (ROI), and see your efforts work, you are going to need to find an SEO company with people that understand marketing.
Because SEO is ever-changing, it is important to invest in an SEO company who is current and can help you produce the results you want - conversions - and make you feel your investment is worth the spend on your online efforts.
Bottom line: Get a real marketing consultation from a company who knows what questions to ask, how they can help you attain your goal and conversion and who understands what ROI means to you.
Article by Natalie Eastaugh
photo credit: SEOPlanter via photopin cc