Is SEO (Always) Worth Itt?

I am seeing that an hour of my time spent on managing my Adwords campaign
(or other PPC) seems to have a lot more ROI than an hour spent on optimizing
my web page. Are others seeing that?

I know that traffic brought to my website by SERP is allegedly 'free' while
an Adwords click costs me money. But those SERP clicks aren't really 'free';
I have to invest my labor (or pay someone else) and it isn't one-time but an
ongoing effort.

Even though my Adwords costs some money, both for each click and some
maintenance effort, I seem to be generating a lot more income that way. On a
click-basis alone, I estimate I am getting from $2 to $4 in sales for every
$ spent on clicks.

I am now getting 10X the traffic and sales from Google PPC than from Google
SERP, and Google PPC results in more than 50% of my overall sales. While in
the past I have spent effort on both SEO and Google PPC, Google PPC results
have steadily increased with time, whereas SERP has leveled off or even gone
down (as per Florida).

[I am leaving the door open for the argument that maybe I haven't done such
a hot job on SEO and that's why I'm not seeing results there - but I don't
easily see how to quantify that. ]

I can see where for some SEO is the way to go but it would seem that for
some business models like mine, there is far more ROI on PPC.

Are other people seeing this also?

Bob Kochem
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MinuteMan Systems - Project Management Software |
info (AT) minuteman-systems (DOT) com http://www.minuteman-systems.com/ |
PO Box 152, Belmont, MA 02478 USA (617)489-5639 |
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"Bob Kochem" <info (AT) minuteman-systems (DOT) com> wrote

I am seeing that an hour of my time spent on managing my Adwords campaign
(or other PPC) seems to have a lot more ROI than an hour spent on
optimizing
my web page. Are others seeing that?
Hi Bob,

We were ranked top3 for our search terms and tried Google AdWords to see
what a difference it would make. While we had a pretty good click-through
ratio (about 17% I beleve) we saw a TON more traffic coming from our SERPs
than our AdWords. True, we have been doing SEO for about five years now on
this site but the company has grown from around $200.000 per year to over 2
million in that time, with over 80% of their business coming from Search
Engines.

now, we are selling large industrial machinery fro teh site ($5,000 -
$50,000) so you will need ot take that into consideration.

I do believe what you sell has great bearing on what aspects of SEO work
well for you.

I can provide more stats offline if you want.


James Taylor
www.AICompany.com
www.seo-highrankings.com

"Bob Kochem" <info (AT) minuteman-systems (DOT) com> wrote

I am seeing that an hour of my time spent on managing my Adwords campaign
(or other PPC) seems to have a lot more ROI than an hour spent on
optimizing
my web page. Are others seeing that?

I know that traffic brought to my website by SERP is allegedly 'free'
while
an Adwords click costs me money. But those SERP clicks aren't really
'free';
I have to invest my labor (or pay someone else) and it isn't one-time but
an
ongoing effort.

Even though my Adwords costs some money, both for each click and some
maintenance effort, I seem to be generating a lot more income that way. On
a
click-basis alone, I estimate I am getting from $2 to $4 in sales for
every
$ spent on clicks.

I am now getting 10X the traffic and sales from Google PPC than from
Google
SERP, and Google PPC results in more than 50% of my overall sales. While
in
the past I have spent effort on both SEO and Google PPC, Google PPC
results
have steadily increased with time, whereas SERP has leveled off or even
gone
down (as per Florida).

[I am leaving the door open for the argument that maybe I haven't done
such
a hot job on SEO and that's why I'm not seeing results there - but I don't
easily see how to quantify that. ]

I can see where for some SEO is the way to go but it would seem that for
some business models like mine, there is far more ROI on PPC.

Are other people seeing this also?

Bob Kochem
.-----------------------------------------------------------------.
| MinuteMan Systems - Project Management Software |
| info (AT) minuteman-systems (DOT) com http://www.minuteman-systems.com/ |
| PO Box 152, Belmont, MA 02478 USA (617)489-5639 |
`-----------------------------------------------------------------'

Of course. Too many people concentrate on traffic, but if you are running a

commecial site, then sales are the name of the game.

Regards

Eddie
http://www.softdata.co.uk The Gloucestershire Portal
http://www.soft-data.net/ Software & Internet

good SEO should provide you targeted traffic - however whether it works
better than PPC depends on the level of competition and other variables - if
think1st page on google is better than PPC - so either improve SEO skills or
use PPC to compensate in SERPs you are weak.... in summary they are
complimentary

"Bob Kochem" <info (AT) minuteman-systems (DOT) com> wrote

I am seeing that an hour of my time spent on managing my Adwords campaign
(or other PPC) seems to have a lot more ROI than an hour spent on
optimizing
my web page. Are others seeing that?

I know that traffic brought to my website by SERP is allegedly 'free'
while
an Adwords click costs me money. But those SERP clicks aren't really
'free';
I have to invest my labor (or pay someone else) and it isn't one-time but
an
ongoing effort.

Even though my Adwords costs some money, both for each click and some
maintenance effort, I seem to be generating a lot more income that way. On
a
click-basis alone, I estimate I am getting from $2 to $4 in sales for
every
$ spent on clicks.

I am now getting 10X the traffic and sales from Google PPC than from
Google
SERP, and Google PPC results in more than 50% of my overall sales. While
in
the past I have spent effort on both SEO and Google PPC, Google PPC
results
have steadily increased with time, whereas SERP has leveled off or even
gone
down (as per Florida).

[I am leaving the door open for the argument that maybe I haven't done
such
a hot job on SEO and that's why I'm not seeing results there - but I don't
easily see how to quantify that. ]

I can see where for some SEO is the way to go but it would seem that for
some business models like mine, there is far more ROI on PPC.

Are other people seeing this also?

Bob Kochem
.-----------------------------------------------------------------.
| MinuteMan Systems - Project Management Software |
| info (AT) minuteman-systems (DOT) com http://www.minuteman-systems.com/ |
| PO Box 152, Belmont, MA 02478 USA (617)489-5639 |
`-----------------------------------------------------------------'

"mecanismo" <mecan (AT) ismo (DOT) com> wrote

good SEO should provide you targeted traffic - however whether it works
better than PPC depends on the level of competition and other variables -
if
think1st page on google is better than PPC - so either improve SEO skills
or
use PPC to compensate in SERPs you are weak.... in summary they are
complimentary

Sorry mecanismo, But I do not agree. I read somewhere recenly that people
are more likely to click on "Organic" rankings than PPC at a ratio of 85/15
I believe (there was a thread on this here a few months ago).

If that is true, and you already have a top 3 spot on a high traffic engine
like Google, then you are probably wasting your money doing PPC. In fact, I
rarely encourage a client to do it. The ONLY time I encourage PPC is if the
category is really tough (really tough) or they need results in a very short
period of time.

At times, PPC can be also useful in determining rather quickly, which
keywords are most likely to draw traffic...and you can observe the results
of your experiment in a few days, not months. but this is not to be confused
with drawing in relevant traffic to make itself pay. I have a client who
spends about $1000 per month on SEO with our firm. they bring in about
$50,000 from their web site per month. We did a nice PPC campaign with
Google to the tune of about $1,500 per month and got about $4,000 more in
orders...not a good return. We fine-tuned their SEO campaing, dropped the
AdWords and they are up as a result.

Overall, if you do your homework on keywords and do good SEO for organic
phrases that bring traffic, you are far better off then using PPC.

In fact, I believe PPC is slowly becomming the domain of the "big Fish"
because it is a place they can buy their way into.

BusinessWeek did an article a few months ago in which I was quoted as saying
" PPC dilutes the relevancy of the search"
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...8_mz063.htmand I
believe that is still occuring today.

PPC is a "pay for play" model. Whenever you build that kind of model, those
with the most cash always win. SERP still allow the little guy to win big,
every one of my client can attest to that. It is important that we remember
that increasig revenue is the bottom line when performing SEO for a client.
I agree with several postedrs here that brought up that point. Increased
traffic and high SERPS do you no good if your web designer had no clue on
how to close a sale on the web...and most do not.


James Taylor
www.AICompany.com
www.SEO-highrankings.com

"James" <james.taylor (AT) aicNOomSPpaAMny (DOT) com> wrote


snip...

I have a client who
spends about $1000 per month on SEO with our firm. they bring in about
$50,000 from their web site per month. We did a nice PPC campaign with
Google to the tune of about $1,500 per month and got about $4,000 more in
orders...not a good return.
snip...

Just a comment... that seems right in line with my estimated results that
every $ I spend on PPC clicks is bringing in $2 to $4 in sales.

I realize there are a lot of variables (a $50 product vs. a $1000 product
for example) but it is still an interesting coincidence.

My business is tiny compared to the customer described above, but I'll
gladly spend as many $ as I can if each one continues to bring in $2 to $4.
It's like the time I put a dollar in a change machine and it gave me $2 in
change. I would happily feed that machine all day if I could.

Bob Kochem
..-----------------------------------------------------------------.

MinuteMan Systems - Project Management Software |
info (AT) minuteman-systems (DOT) com http://www.minuteman-systems.com/ |
PO Box 152, Belmont, MA 02478 USA (617)489-5639 |
`-----------------------------------------------------------------'

"Bob Kochem" <info (AT) minuteman-systems (DOT) com> wrote

"James" <james.taylor (AT) aicNOomSPpaAMny (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:2EIKb.1578$lE.1301467 (AT) news3 (DOT) news.adelphia.net...

snip...
I have a client who
spends about $1000 per month on SEO with our firm. they bring in about
$50,000 from their web site per month. We did a nice PPC campaign with
Google to the tune of about $1,500 per month and got about $4,000 more
in
orders...not a good return.
snip...


Just a comment... that seems right in line with my estimated results that
every $ I spend on PPC clicks is bringing in $2 to $4 in sales.

I realize there are a lot of variables (a $50 product vs. a $1000 product
for example) but it is still an interesting coincidence.

My business is tiny compared to the customer described above, but I'll
gladly spend as many $ as I can if each one continues to bring in $2 to
$4.
It's like the time I put a dollar in a change machine and it gave me $2 in
change. I would happily feed that machine all day if I could.

Bob Kochem
.-----------------------------------------------------------------.
| MinuteMan Systems - Project Management Software |
| info (AT) minuteman-systems (DOT) com http://www.minuteman-systems.com/ |
| PO Box 152, Belmont, MA 02478 USA (617)489-5639 |
`-----------------------------------------------------------------'

The thing to remember is what process brings you the greatest value?
spending $1 to make $2-$4 seems good but not if you are bypassing the
opportunity to make $50 per every dollar spent.


James Taylor
http://www.AICompany.com
http://www.seo-highrankings.com

I would agree with that ! As I said - 1st page on google walks all over PPC

My focus is on organic rankings with my clients and PPC is still a curiosity
but still useful in tough categories as you say. However when clients have
a limited budget that can compete on keywords they have not optimised on
site. And that can provide useful feedback on what to optimise in the
future.


"James" <james.taylor (AT) aicNOomSPpaAMny (DOT) com> wrote

"mecanismo" <mecan (AT) ismo (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:btfbca$9gq$1 (AT) lust (DOT) ihug.co.nz...
good SEO should provide you targeted traffic - however whether it works
better than PPC depends on the level of competition and other
variables -
if
think1st page on google is better than PPC - so either improve SEO
skills
or
use PPC to compensate in SERPs you are weak.... in summary they are
complimentary


Sorry mecanismo, But I do not agree. I read somewhere recenly that people
are more likely to click on "Organic" rankings than PPC at a ratio of
85/15
I believe (there was a thread on this here a few months ago).

If that is true, and you already have a top 3 spot on a high traffic
engine
like Google, then you are probably wasting your money doing PPC. In fact,
I
rarely encourage a client to do it. The ONLY time I encourage PPC is if
the
category is really tough (really tough) or they need results in a very
short
period of time.

At times, PPC can be also useful in determining rather quickly, which
keywords are most likely to draw traffic...and you can observe the results
of your experiment in a few days, not months. but this is not to be
confused
with drawing in relevant traffic to make itself pay. I have a client who
spends about $1000 per month on SEO with our firm. they bring in about
$50,000 from their web site per month. We did a nice PPC campaign with
Google to the tune of about $1,500 per month and got about $4,000 more in
orders...not a good return. We fine-tuned their SEO campaing, dropped the
AdWords and they are up as a result.

Overall, if you do your homework on keywords and do good SEO for organic
phrases that bring traffic, you are far better off then using PPC.

In fact, I believe PPC is slowly becomming the domain of the "big Fish"
because it is a place they can buy their way into.

BusinessWeek did an article a few months ago in which I was quoted as
saying
" PPC dilutes the relevancy of the search"
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...8_mz063.htmand I
believe that is still occuring today.

PPC is a "pay for play" model. Whenever you build that kind of model,
those
with the most cash always win. SERP still allow the little guy to win
big,
every one of my client can attest to that. It is important that we
remember
that increasig revenue is the bottom line when performing SEO for a
client.
I agree with several postedrs here that brought up that point. Increased
traffic and high SERPS do you no good if your web designer had no clue on
how to close a sale on the web...and most do not.


James Taylor
www.AICompany.com
www.SEO-highrankings.com

we sell consumer goods and ppc has been great to build our initial traffic.
Once we are spidered, then we will wean our client off the ppc and move
primarily to unpaid. Also, the client pays "us" to do the work not google
and we get better results. Even if the results are marginal, we are being
paid for labor.which in this economy is good
"mecanismo" <mecan (AT) ismo (DOT) com> wrote

I would agree with that ! As I said - 1st page on google walks all over
PPC

My focus is on organic rankings with my clients and PPC is still a
curiosity
but still useful in tough categories as you say. However when clients
have
a limited budget that can compete on keywords they have not optimised on
site. And that can provide useful feedback on what to optimise in the
future.


"James" <james.taylor (AT) aicNOomSPpaAMny (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:2EIKb.1578$lE.1301467 (AT) news3 (DOT) news.adelphia.net...

"mecanismo" <mecan (AT) ismo (DOT) com> wrote in message
news:btfbca$9gq$1 (AT) lust (DOT) ihug.co.nz...
good SEO should provide you targeted traffic - however whether it
works
better than PPC depends on the level of competition and other
variables -
if
think1st page on google is better than PPC - so either improve SEO
skills
or
use PPC to compensate in SERPs you are weak.... in summary they are
complimentary


Sorry mecanismo, But I do not agree. I read somewhere recenly that
people
are more likely to click on "Organic" rankings than PPC at a ratio of
85/15
I believe (there was a thread on this here a few months ago).

If that is true, and you already have a top 3 spot on a high traffic
engine
like Google, then you are probably wasting your money doing PPC. In
fact,
I
rarely encourage a client to do it. The ONLY time I encourage PPC is if
the
category is really tough (really tough) or they need results in a very
short
period of time.

At times, PPC can be also useful in determining rather quickly, which
keywords are most likely to draw traffic...and you can observe the
results
of your experiment in a few days, not months. but this is not to be
confused
with drawing in relevant traffic to make itself pay. I have a client
who
spends about $1000 per month on SEO with our firm. they bring in about
$50,000 from their web site per month. We did a nice PPC campaign with
Google to the tune of about $1,500 per month and got about $4,000 more
in
orders...not a good return. We fine-tuned their SEO campaing, dropped
the
AdWords and they are up as a result.

Overall, if you do your homework on keywords and do good SEO for organic
phrases that bring traffic, you are far better off then using PPC.

In fact, I believe PPC is slowly becomming the domain of the "big Fish"
because it is a place they can buy their way into.

BusinessWeek did an article a few months ago in which I was quoted as
saying
" PPC dilutes the relevancy of the search"
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...8_mz063.htmand
I
believe that is still occuring today.

PPC is a "pay for play" model. Whenever you build that kind of model,
those
with the most cash always win. SERP still allow the little guy to win
big,
every one of my client can attest to that. It is important that we
remember
that increasig revenue is the bottom line when performing SEO for a
client.
I agree with several postedrs here that brought up that point.
Increased
traffic and high SERPS do you no good if your web designer had no clue
on
how to close a sale on the web...and most do not.


James Taylor
www.AICompany.com
www.SEO-highrankings.com

Hi there !
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one of the best and standard
way of improving the quality of our site as well enlarge our marketing
territory in much a professional way. Better customer reach, steady
increase and genuine traffic are some sure results besides making your
site highly userfriendly. We can make any site to fulfill the
standards of SEO.

Manvish !

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No. 502, Prestige Meridian - II, 30, M.G.Road, Bangalore - 560 001,
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"Bob Kochem" <info (AT) minuteman-systems (DOT) com> wrote

I am seeing that an hour of my time spent on managing my Adwords campaign
(or other PPC) seems to have a lot more ROI than an hour spent on optimizing
my web page. Are others seeing that?

I know that traffic brought to my website by SERP is allegedly 'free' while
an Adwords click costs me money. But those SERP clicks aren't really 'free';
I have to invest my labor (or pay someone else) and it isn't one-time but an
ongoing effort.

Even though my Adwords costs some money, both for each click and some
maintenance effort, I seem to be generating a lot more income that way. On a
click-basis alone, I estimate I am getting from $2 to $4 in sales for every
$ spent on clicks.

I am now getting 10X the traffic and sales from Google PPC than from Google
SERP, and Google PPC results in more than 50% of my overall sales. While in
the past I have spent effort on both SEO and Google PPC, Google PPC results
have steadily increased with time, whereas SERP has leveled off or even gone
down (as per Florida).

[I am leaving the door open for the argument that maybe I haven't done such
a hot job on SEO and that's why I'm not seeing results there - but I don't
easily see how to quantify that. ]

I can see where for some SEO is the way to go but it would seem that for
some business models like mine, there is far more ROI on PPC.

Are other people seeing this also?

Bob Kochem
.-----------------------------------------------------------------.
| MinuteMan Systems - Project Management Software |
| info (AT) minuteman-systems (DOT) com http://www.minuteman-systems.com/ |
| PO Box 152, Belmont, MA 02478 USA (617)489-5639 |
`-----------------------------------------------------------------'