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SEO and the ROI Debacle

Failure May Not Be SEO. It Might Be You.

A search engine optimization campaign can bring more relevant traffic and still be perceived as having failed without a sales spike. But there are many ways to measure SEO success - improvements in search traffic (even among specific engines), visits to particular sections of a website, targeted forms being filled out, etc. Sales is just one consideration that's susceptible to many influences.

If a business gets a ton of fresh search engine traffic - but not sales - the inclination is to fault the SEO effort. And keyword selection could be the key. Many factors affect ROI that go beyond basic SEO, including:

Phone numbers (number choice, color, font and location)
Calls to action
Website design and usability
Copywriting
Response forms (location, order, nature and number of fields, etc.)
Products
Pricing
Testimonials (quality of vs. the appearance of fake names masked by initials)
Shopping cart
Shipping policies
Reputation
Perceived expertise
Assurance of secure ordering
Affiliations
Membership with Better Business Bureau

How Businesses Doom Search Engine Optimization

If you want to do well with search engine optimization, you need to be wise about what to avoid or minimize. Your search engine optimization efforts will be vulnerable if you:

Have a closed mind
Insist on too many broad keywords
Fail to seek incoming links
Refuse to adjust a website design
Don't accommodate text changes
Aren't willing to test out new title tags
Use lousy website analytics
Charge too much
Offer inferior products or service
Stand in the way of timely website updates
Expect a quick fix
View search engine optimization as a desperation move to stay in business

Read excerpts from this SEO study online: