Re: Search engine ROI

From: Roxy Flanagan <2Roxy_at_autumnweb.com>
Date: Mon 14 May 2001 13:11:54 -0500

MICHELLE PELLETIER <michelle.pelletier_at_pikatech.com> WROTE:

>I would like to some feedback on search engine
>optimization ROI. We've commited to a six month contract
>for search engine optimization. We have not seen more
>than 1% ROI in Web site traffic increase and I'm not
>able to tell whether or not they are more qualified by
>other visitors pushed to our site via search engines.

I can't address all your questions, only some, but
have some questions for you about the Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) company you hired ...

And, I'm afraid from the questions you are asking
(especially your focus on ROI), you didn't do enough
research on SEO work to enable you to make "an
intelligent decision" on who to hire. i.e. would you
go buy a car if you had never driven or never ridden
in a car? How could you begin to determine what was a
good value vs. bad value, or what will fit your needs?
(maybe not the best example, but I think you get my point)

Personally, if you wanted ROI, I would have advised you
to buy keywords at GoTo.com or advised you to purchase
advertising space on targeted sites. Because SEO is
long-term, not short-term, or completely ROI measurable as
buying keywords at GoTo or advertising on a site that has
visitors that fit your target market.

How long into the 6 months are you? That will determine
a LOT. Why? Because Search Engines do not completely
spider a site, nor do they update their database daily,
weekly, or even monthly. Some may spider a site, but
update their database every 90 or 120 days, or longer.
You won't SEE any results until the SE updates their
database. Did your SEO explain that to you? If not, you
got a scammy company.

Did the SEO make any changes (or suggestions of changes)
to your website's pages? Changes in page title,
description, keywords, or copy on the page(s)? If not --
you got a _VERY_ scammy company. Unless your webmaster
has SEO experience, they don't know what is needed to
rank highly in SEs today. And those items ARE important
and NECESSARY. Of course, if your webmaster IS experienced,
you wouldn't need an outside SEO anyway .... so I have to
guess that they don't know.

Is the SEO creating doorway or hallway (called other words,
too) pages on THEIR servers? So that once you no longer
continue to pay their maintenance fees, your SE traffic
disappears? If so -- you got a scammy company.

For your payment, is the SEO submitting to Directories
(Yahoo, LookSmart) as well as SEs? Your agreement will
tell you.

>First, I found it extremely difficult to find a company
>that would provide a good guarantee for your significant
>investment bin their services. And now, the results are
>not that significant.

I don't believe any "good" SEO can completely guarantee
anything. Why? The SEO has no control over a SE or a
Directory. Can't control whether or not they'll be in
business next week or next year, can't guarantee that
the SEs database will have problems, can't guarantee that
the SE does 'timely' updates, can't guarantee that the
editor of a Directory doesn't have a brother-in-law in
the same business, therefore, will refuse to list the
site in their listings to keep competition out ... and
100's of other reasons.

>Am I looking at the wrong information for ROI?
>Should I be spending my marketing dollars on something
>else?

If done properly, SEO will be VERY long term. The contract
may be for 6 months, but if it is done right (and not
scammy) then the payoff will be mid-term and very long term,
and will last as long as your website is up. It isn't
immediate, but will continue to 'grow' over time. Same as
many SEs 'reward' the 'grandfather' sites by giving them
higher rankings. A site that has *proven themselves* to
a SE will be ranked higher. A site that has proved that
they will be there next week, next month, next year. Did
your SEO tell you that?

Also, many SEs require hand-submitting. They don't accept
submissions using the automated software that is out there.
Does your SEO hand-submit or use software? For which SEs?
WHO do they submit to? How often? Getting listed on 1000's
of FFA pages is totally useless. Submitting too often to a SE
will label the site as a "SE spammer" and will get the site
blacklisted from the SEs listings.

>With the state of the economy, every dollar is being scrutinized.

Yes, that's understandable. But, unfortunately, without
knowing what you need to know, you can't tell the difference
between a good SEO and a scammy one. Any good SEO will give
you a "consultation", low-cost or sometimes free. And they
would have explained these types of things to you. And, of
course, anyone can do a little research on the 'net, there
are MANY articles that discuss SEO and what you can/should
and cannot expect, and when.

HTH,
Roxanne Flanagan

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Autumn Web ~ http://autumnweb.com/
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Received on Mon May 14 2001 - 13:11:54 CDT