Till now, search engine optimisation targets were considered ?achieved? for a website if it appeared in the top ten search results for the targeted keywords. Well, SEO was (and still is) targeted primarily at climbing up the organic search engine results to make the website rank in the top search results for the targeted keywords.



However, with increased competition, merely a jump in traffic inflows is not proving to be enough since many of the visitors are actually irrelevant traffic who drop in and leave. Companies are no longer satisfied with higher rankings and traffic, they are looking for relevant-to-the-business visitors who can be converted into confirmed leads or bona fide customers.

Hence, nowadays SEO firms are concentrating on bringing in qualified leads who can be converted into customers rather than just furnishing the details of the number of visitors to their clients. This has given rise to the need for a more result or performance oriented SEO.

Keeping in view this emerging demand, two new performance oriented pricing models are now being introduced by some leading SEO firms:

Pay-Per-Results SEO

Each website has a particular purpose, whether it is selling products or services or providing information. Pay Per Results ensures that the client pays the SEO firm only when the aim of the website is fulfilled through results-based search engine optimisation. This is a performance related model and SEO firms don't get paid until they produce the results.

Pay-Per-Enquiry SEO

Most websites with a commercial purpose have an enquiry form for visitors to fill in, which is usually either a ?request a quote? form or a brief capture form to collect the customer's contact details. This can also be termed as online lead generation. People filling in these forms are confirmed leads who have a high potential of being converted into customers. Under the Pay Per Enquiry SEO pricing model, the client pays per confirmed enquiry.

In other words, SEO firms are becoming more focused towards clients? needs and are playing a larger role in bringing in business for the client. The clients on their part have their risk shared and can be assured of the SEO marketing firm's commitment to help them achieve concrete results.

With performance and results based SEO pricing becoming more and more popular with clients, SEO firms are faced with the challenge of moving ahead from standard SEO techniques towards innovating newer strategies so that not only top 10 rankings are achieved, but also more and more visitors are converted into confirmed leads and customers.

Here are three ways in which SEO firms can ensure relevant traffic and better conversion rates:

3 tips for better conversion

Be customer oriented

* Explore the psyche of the target customers.

* Find out what their problems are and how you can solve them through your products and services.

* Think why a customer would come to you i.e. identify your positive points that would attract your customers.

* Actively seek out and remove the friction points or factors because of which a customer is likely leave your site.

* Find out what motivates your target audience and develop call to action links, buttons and forms with catchy, relevant content.

Be relevant

Once you have understood your customers, this should not be much of a problem. But being relevant does not mean loading your site and your customer with too many details. Showcase your products/services with just the relevant amount of details and information and leave a little bit unsaid to perk curiosity in the visitor, particularly if your aim is to encourage the visitor to give their contact details. Work on the content to make the message relevant to the customers? needs, problems and their expectations from the site.

Don't ask for too much information

While asking for the information to be filled in on a form, remember not to ask for too much information. A unique visitor might be interested in the products/services offered, but they would be wary to give more than the necessary information online, to an unknown website. So just ask what you essentially require to serve the customer best and the rest of the information can be collected once you have proven your credibility.

Performance oriented SEO pricing models are logical next steps from rankings focused SEO. They are logical and focussed since the ultimate aim of any marketing firm is to help its client sell more. This evolution is a sign of the maturing of the SEO industry in a time when the Internet as a whole is moving rapidly towards a wholly user-oriented approach under the Web 2.0 trend.