Making the case for search marketing so Google, Yahoo and MSN start selling for you.

by Leslie Carruthers

Are you ready to turn your website into a cash churning sales machine? If you answered yes then it’s time to introduce your boss or your business to the concept of search marketing and the search engines as your company's virtual sales force.

To give you an idea of what’s possible for your business let me share that one of our small business clients enjoyed a 588% increase in sales in just 4 months, thanks to a search engine optimization (SEO) campaign we launched for them! What would numbers like that mean for your business? 

But before you can get the go ahead to begin optimization work, in house or with an outside SEO expert, you need a solid business case to support your decision. Here are some statistics to help you get your colleagues and website stakeholders (i.e. your IT, merchandising, marketing people and copywriters) excited about what’s possible!

Search marketing statistics you can use to build your case for SEO services internally.

Here are the stats you need to get your firm ready to embrace SEO:

• From a marketing cost perspective the cost per lead for SEO is lowest of any major direct marketing methods.

  At just $.45 per lead, compared to email ($.55), yellow pages ($1.18), banner ads ($2.00) and direct mail ($9.94), your firm can’t afford not to engage in search marketing.

• 80% of your customers use search engines, it makes sense that you should do everything you can to make sure they are selling for you!
• With 3.3 billion searches conducted every month in the U.S. alone, making sure your website ranks highly is becoming increasingly important.
• Search and search related activities account for 40% of all online revenue.
• 70% of people find a website for the first time through search engines, and over 80% of all web site traffic comes through search engines. That traffic is highly qualified.
• According to comScore Networks, 111 million people execute 46 billion Internet searches yearly -- three
  times the number of annual Yellow
  Page referrals.
• The top 30 ranked sites listed in a search engine receive up to 80% of all the traffic or clicks.

These statistics help show search
marketing is now a part of day-to-day commerce. Couple that with the potential for product sales and/or lead generation you have a solid business case for employing an SEO expert, bringing one on
staff, or becoming one yourself.

Stay tuned! Next time we’ll talk about the ROI of Search Engine Optimization.

Leslie Carruthers is thePresident of The Search Guru. Email us or call (440) 306-2418 with your Search Marketing and SEO questions.

How can we help you meet your search engine marketing goals? Contact us today for your customized quotation.

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