Comments on: ‘I Want My $2!’ — The Power of SEO with Conversion

By: Nevil Darukhanawala

Nevil Darukhanawala — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 11:22:23 +0000

I really liked the idea that – “each page needs to convert” and there should be a measurable goal set for each page to calculate the ROI.

By: Glenn Friesen

Glenn Friesen — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 18:16:24 +0000

Absolutely. I believe ROI should be the primary deliverable for clients. ROE (return-on-effort) in achieving high ROI should be the primary driver for SEOs.

But then there’s the reality of the “cool factors”. You know – the branding elements (like being the first result for high-competition, non-converting keywords because “we should be there”). Or the occasional beauty of a site built in flash (note: I don’t build Flash sites because they suck for SEO, but they still look really, well, flashy [and sometimes in a good way]). In these cases, immediate ROI really isn’t the deliverable — those “cool factors” are — and sometimes, just sometimes, the “cool branding” will lead to better long-term ROI (take brand like LRG for example — or Creative Recreation — or Apple — or Jack in the Box).

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:32:01 +0000

Very strong point. A lot of people talk about how the idea of conversion needs buy in from so many people, but I think a lot of people forget the SEO team and their need for conversion.

By: Chotrul SEO

Chotrul SEO — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 07:29:12 +0000

This is absolutely on the money. The days of SEO being about rankings, or even traffic for that matter are gone. Not being able to demonstrate a positive ROI will be the death of that account. Having the steps you outline in your post is a good starting point for establishing that ROI. Being able to establish CPA (cost per acquisition) is also a very useful KPI as this is typically way lower than for other marketing activities, including PPC.

By: Sacha

Sacha — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:29:49 +0000

Traffic is the key… the SEO ROI can’t be calculated on a single campaign (or you’ll have to wait far much longer than you’re used to wait with some SEM campaign). Having and keeping the traffic, may be the first step for improving your conversion process. On the opposite, you can have the best conversion process, without traffic, it is useless.

–> SEO can’t be estimated through ROI, but your SEO ROI is a KPI for estimating the strengh of your conversion tunnel (that could work very well with your SEM campaign, maybe 2 tunnels are needed).

By: Gareth Rees

Gareth Rees — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:47:27 +0000

You’re exactly right that the only REAL factor that makes a SEO campaign successful is an improved bottom line. Traffic is useless unless it’s making sales.