By now, you've probably been advised to use search engine optimization (SEO) to get your website on the first page of Google. Before you dive in and spend the next six months working hard for Google brownie points, you should know that SEO might not be right for your business. Not yet anyway.
The typical SEO story for most businesses goes like this: They choose a keyword, do some keyword research and work (or pay an SEO to work for them) for months and eventually get onto the first page. Perhaps they even get to the first or second spot. The traffic comes - like it never has before - and they sit back and wait for the orders to come in. Days pass, then weeks. And they wait and they wait.
But nothing happens.
Eventually, after weeks of frustration, someone decides to find out why none of that traffic is buying anything. They set up some surveys and make some phone calls. Perhaps they even hire a consultant to come in and help them. After a little bit of digging about, they start to understand the mindset of the typical person who types that particular keyword into Google. They find out that, for whatever reason, the traffic they have worked so hard to tap into does not have the money to buy their products, or that they simply do not value what that business is offering.
The market - that keyword - is not a profitable one for their business. It's a dud. If you've already tried your hand at SEO, you might have experienced this yourself. This is because every different keyword that is typed into Google is a different market. It represents a different mindset, different desires and a different set of needs. As you know, different businesses offer different things. Even similar businesses operating within the same space will appeal to different types of people differently.
There are a lot of subtle differences that determine whether a certain keyword will be profitable or not for you. Just because other businesses in your space appear to be making money, it doesn't mean you will.
Ranking in the "organic" search results for a keyword is expensive. It requires a lot of time and a lot of effort. And if that keyword is not profitable, all of that money, time and effort is wasted. So is all the work you would have done to your website to tweak it.
There is a time, however, for SEO. When your business already has a proven and tested model that is already making a profit from a particular keyword, SEO work can be some of the best marketing money you'll ever spend. Until then, it's probably not a good idea.
Closing SEO Escrow
Imagine that you're moving to a foreign country. You don't speak the language, you don't know the culture and you definitely do not know the area. Would you dive right in and buy a house? No, of course you wouldn't. It's a massive commitment and it will tie up loads of your capital. If, after a few weeks, you decide that the area isn't for you, you'd be stuck with a house to sell. And if you finally do sell it, you'll incur loads of legal fees. (It's a very expensive way to find out that you don't like the weather.)
It makes so much more sense to just rent a place first. You can find out if you like the area, then make a commitment when you have more information. If living there works for you, you can buy a house later, safe in the knowledge that you've chosen the right place to live.
SEO is how you buy your place on Google. It costs money, it costs time and it costs effort. And if that particular keyword doesn't make your business a profit, all of it is wasted. Until you're sure, you should rent your place on Google instead.
Using Google AdWords, you only have to pay when someone clicks a link through to your website. Plus, you can send them to any page of your choice. Your business will appear on page one almost instantly. And even better, you can control many, many different aspects of how it appears. You will have a stream of live traffic to work with straight off the bat.
You can also use the traffic right away to tweak your website until it starts to turn that traffic into sales. Then you tweak your business model and your pricing until those sales start to translate into profit - the only thing that really counts. Problems in your business model that would have taken you many months to discover, had you got your traffic from SEO, will surface in days or weeks. You'll be able to resolve them quickly and then move on.
If it turns out that the market - that particular keyword - is not profitable for you, or that you're taking the wrong approach to marketing to it, you will find out almost immediately. If people are using subtle techniques to influence their position in the results, it's not really organic. This is why Google are constantly introducing new Penguin and Panda updates: to make it harder for websites to gain ranks that they don't deserve.
Ch-ch-ch Changes
Many businesses object to this approach, because they don't want to buy traffic. Know this: If your business model does not support your buying customers, then it's flawed. You cannot sustain a real business with free search engine traffic. If your business is dependent on free traffic, it's vulnerable to every change that Google makes.
Ironically, if your business can't afford to buy pay per click (PPC) traffic, then it really needs to start buying PPC traffic so that you can adjust your business model until it can make a healthy profit from paid-for traffic. If your business can only survive on free leads, alarm bells should be ringing.
Most SEOs will tell you that SEO is an investment, and that even after you stop paying, the traffic will keep coming in.
That's a complete load of rubbish.
Google is always changing its search algorithms. Also, once you stop doing SEO, some other business that still is will take your place from you. Additionally, SEO is a continuous expense. Any idea you have of one day being able to stop and then reap a continuous harvest from your past efforts is a complete fallacy.
If you build a business model that allows you to buy customers, at will, using PPC traffic and make a decent profit from them, you'll be able to expand that model into other channels. Print advertising, direct mail and other marketing channels will also provide you with a decent profit - using the same model.
The real investment you made, the development of a resilient business model, will allow you to reap a continuous harvest. Then, and only then, does it make sense for you to invest in SEO. SEO will continually lower your marketing expense and raise your profits. While the fun lasts, you can enjoy it. And you won't be a sitting duck to Google Panda/Penguin updates either.
About the Author: Lewis Bassett is the Director of Bassett Providentia, Ltd.
