Blogs
The unemployment rate was at 10% in Q4 of 2009 with the under-employment rate recorded at 17-18%. However this was complimented with a 5.8% increase in GDP and a fascinating 6% increase in productivity in the same quarter. These statistics indicate why Q4 has seen a 17% increase in retailer spending on search engine optimization. However this needs further explanation for which you have to read on!
Marketing budgets have been substantially downsized due to obvious reasons. On digging deeper you will find that all traditional marketing media like television, radio, print and direct outbound marketing like direct mail and telemarketing have been axed out of the marketing plan. Retailers too, like other businesses, have come to the realization that outbound marketing is essentially a low probability mix of activity with which businesses aim to catch a micro-percentage response rate.
SEO is diametrically different as it provides marketers with the opportunity to target their marketing dollars to the hilt by “being found” by exactly that market segment which is actively engaged in looking for products and services they have to offer. This is a totally different approach in comparison to conventional marketing which involves hunting for business. With search engine marketing businesses are given visibility only where it matters; that is when the searchers make the searches.
SEO helps to achieve high visibility on page 1 of Google, Yahoo and Bing. This is where 97% of all online searches are being made. Statistics reveal that 68% of searchers do not go past the first page of the results and 98% do not go beyond page 3. Hence businesses know exactly where they need to be in order to get noticed.
It is based on the reality of the importance of achieving high rankings that a professional search engine optimization company renders its services aimed at helping companies achieve high rankings. This is done through a combination of sophisticated processes that involves targeted keywords and phrases that are most relevant to a company and then producing a body of work that has a myriad of specialties and sub-specialties thereby enabling the company in question to achieve high visibility to a targeted audience.
SEO is a prime example of marketing efficiency and make no mistake about it; the future belongs to the efficient. Being easily found by only those members of the public that are actually looking for what you have to sell is far better than hunting for potential customers via means of conventional marketing like TV and radio ads, junk mail etc, which can be quite intrusive for those uninterested in your services.
Retailers realized the importance of SEO in Q4 of 2009 and were far more willing to invest in full SEO service packages as they were convinced of its efficiency and effectiveness as a means of business marketing. A few skeptics did raise the notion that the 17% increase in retailer spending on SEO was caused due to the Christmas season. However it must be kept in mind that SEO is a long term process and is not limited to one quarter. In fact when investing in SEO services one requires a long term outlook.
When it comes to ROI, full service SEO campaigns offer unmatched longevity and effectiveness and thus stand unparalleled. Furthermore the results are actually measurable as is the case with other means of internet marketing including pay per click and banner ads. The difference is that SEO is sustainable far beyond the initial campaign and the costs per conversion gets better and better as time goes by. Once your company has managed to achieve high rankings every click to your website costs absolutely nothing, zilch, nada! That’s incredible!