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SEO and the ROI Debacle

SEO and ROI Conclusion

Companies sometimes expect SEO firms to solve ROI problems beyond the increased traffic the tactics generate.

And that's OK if the SEO firm has any experience with what happens after a visitor reaches a website. But be ready to pay for the depth of their advice.

No one, including the SEO firm, can really make a website visitor fill out a form for a conversion, let alone compel that visitor to actually buy a product or service.

Fortunately, collaboration between sites and SEO firms is possible. Regardless of whether SEO is mastered in-house or outsourced, you may want to think about (and answer the following):

  • If the web site isn't user-friendly, who is responsible?
  • If the site looks like an amateur put it together, who bears the blame?
  • If the product or service prices are too high, could that affect the ROI? Who should recommend price changes?
  • What conversion strategies are in place?
  • How are conversion e-mails tied to sales?
  • When should shipping be free or discounted, and how is this communicated on the website?
  • Is the checkout process simple or laborious?
  • How is customer service for the site?
  • What's the fulfillment process like on the website?
  • Are there refer-a-friend features?
  • Is the product or service a good deal or valuable?
  • Who will track the customer along the entire path, particularly through robust web analytics?
  • Who is best equipped to coordinate offline marketing with online initiatives?
  • Is there a way to match the e-mail on the initial response form with customer data in order to measure the initial purchase and future purchases by the visitor?
  • Who will monitor the full spectrum of web analytics, including tool selection and upgrades, metric analysis and adjustments like pricing and website content?

Obviously, that's a lot to plan, track and adjust to over time. Search engine optimization can be an instrumental part of any marketing program. Often overlooked or simply used in short-term ways, SEO will always be only one of the players in the game called ROI.

How deep your roster and what does your last scorecard look like?

Read excerpts from this SEO study online: