Americans conduct an estimated 790 million searches per week, according to research from ComScore Media Metrix. The Yankee Group reports that only 20 percent of U.S. companies tracking their search referrals are measuring performance beyond the initial clickthrough to the web site. This is very low. The key to a successful search engine marketing strategy is constant testing, revising and optimizing based on metrics.
In order to maximize your return on investment, you must measure the performance beyond click through by measuring the complete interaction of your visitors with your site from acquisition to conversion to retention.
Search engine marketing is similar to advertising and other marketing campaigns. The marketing people would be interested in knowing the results of any campaign and most often the result is desired in terms of increase in company revenues. Name recognition, brand image creation and other outcomes are important; however the bottom line is sales.
ROI should be able to determine your website's conversion rate in terms of the ability to persuade your visitors to take the action that you desire them to take.
At the same time, the success in terms of increase in sales depends on several other factors such as the competitiveness and value in your product or service offerings and the quality of your website to induce the visitor to take action. The search engine mmarketing effort is to bring the right targeted visitor, and bring the visitor to the right section at the right time. Converting such a targeted visitor to a customer is not within the ambit of SEO.
How does search engine optimization compare with other options for online advertising and promotion? Jupiter Research predicts that by 2006 the spending on E mail marketing shall be $9.4 billion, whereas the spending on online advertisements shall be $15.6 billion, and that on digital marketing initiatives such as campaigns, promotions, sweepstakes, coupons etc. shall be around $ 19.3 billion.
Forrester predicts that total online advertising spend should be $ 42 billion by 2005 a significant 9.5% of total ad spending.
Costs in search engine marketing include the cost of optimization services as well as the paid inclusion and pay per click programs. Typically the cost of optimization for a small to mid-sized site through a firm may run from a few thousand dollars to over $50000 for a large site. If you do it in-house consider around four person months' work plus around two person months of maintenance time over the ensuing six months.
How do you compare costs per click or costs per thousand impressions for search engine optimization vis-a-vis other forms of advertising? PwC report that the effective cost per thousand impressions or views (CPM) for an online ad is around $3.50 for a general site (though it could be higher at $10 to $100 for other specialized sites) compared to $19 for newspaper ads and $16 for Prime-time TV.
The CPM for search engines is certainly higher, but then it leads to targeted impressions. Thus it is important to look at targeting and conversion rates, not just CPM. Clickthrough rates for ad banners, in general, can be as low as 0.4 to 0.5%. Conversion rates would show you what percentage of visitors actually resulted in business. As discussed below, this may be easier done in e-commerce sites.
Cost per click for important keywords at Overture could be as high as $0.50 to $5 or $10. The average bid reported, according to one source, is $0.73 per click (for Overture). Thus this is already lower than the cost per visitor for online ad banners. Overture can only cater to a small percentage of search traffic, while Google, Yahoo and others comprise the larger portion; thus it can be said with certainty that SEO is the most cost effective ROI generator.
Return on Investment for most residential home maintenance jobs is between 80% and 90% according to multiple published surveys across the United States. So in making a choice between a number of different home maintenance or improvement jobs we should look at Return on investment. Of course you cannot ignore a maintenance or repair job that is essential to safe and comfortable living.
One of the best returns on investment in the home maintenance arena is window replacement. Window replacement improves the visual appeal of your home both from the inside and the outside, it reduces the cost of heating in the winter, and of cooling in the summer, not to mention that it is pure pleasure to stand within the comfort of your own home and look out from a beautiful window onto the world outside.
Today you can find a plethora of new window styles and fabrications. Look for something that works well with other styles in your residential neighborhood. Stay with styles that will work with the style of your home. Vintage windows are not going to fit well with a contemporary style home. Also keep in mind the value range of your home and home in your area. If you go too upscale with any home maintenance job you may not reap the full benefits of your investment because house prices in any given neighborhood are always limited to a degree by what other properties in that neighborhood go for.
Window replacement can be one of the most nerve-wracking of home maintenance jobs. Buying all your windows at once is the only way to ensure that they will match, but it is very expensive for most of us to do so. Manufacturers discontinue certain styles from time to time so if you replace one or two and then plan on replacing the others later, you may have to choose from a different style. However, buying them all at once can put the job beyond our reach. One way to tackle the problem without losing residential curb appeal, and without taking out a massive home improvement loan, is to tackle sections at a time. Take a look at your house from the front. Study which windows really have to match. Perhaps all the bedroom windows that face front need to be the same, but the front living room window can be a bay window, which does not have to match exactly. Perhaps the kitchen faces front. You could put in a greenhouse window there that does not have to match the other windows. This piecemeal approach allows you to replace your windows over time, spreading out the cost of the job without losing visual appeal.
No matter how you approach the situation, window replacement is one of the most rewarding residential home maintenance jobs you can do. The windows look better from the inside, the energy efficiency is greater, and they give the exterior of your home a much nicer and cleaner look. Not only will you enjoy the results of window replacement but your neighbors will appreciate the upgrade.
Both Michael Sherriff & Scott Groth are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Michael Sherriff has sinced written about articles on various topics from Site Promotion, Web Development and Education. The SEO Company offers a complete and right now you can get a comprehensive ranking report for your website for free by clicking. Michael Sherriff's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.
Scott Groth has sinced written about articles on various topics from SEO Search Engine Optimization. Scott Groth owner of has 20+ years home remodeling experience - serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan area of Minnesota.. Scott Groth's top article generates over 2900 views. to your Favourites.