Internet Marketing. Four Search Engine Optimisation Myths.

A study published by iProspect (a major US search engine marketing consultancy) showed that 97% of websites analysed don’t rank highly for targeted key-phrases. Almost all websites ignore even the most basic principles of search engine optimization such as meta-tags and link popularity. These are the myths that stop many business managers from outsourcing search engine optimisation to industry specialists: Free Search Engine Optimisation quotation.

Myth 1: We can do it all ‘in-house’
Many companies believe that their in-house webmaster should be able to optimise their website and achieve high rankings in Google and other search engines.

The reality is that keeping up with the constant changes in the technology that supports search engines and the way search engines (especially Google) list and rank websites, requires a full time commitment as well as access to specialist resources.
Getting the optimisation wrong in the first place can be very costly as re-optimising a poorly ranked website can take months and in some cases may even require the complete restructure of the website itself.

There is a lot of information available online regarding search engine optimisation, which a webmaster could study and implement, but the reality is that this is a learning process that takes a lot of time and often it’s hard to filter genuine information from urban myths and hearsay.

Myth 2: All we need to do is buy a search engine submission software.
Search engine submission is not the same as Search Engine Optimisation. Submitting your website to a search engine is not the same as optimising your website to rank high in the search engine. Submission can be a useful service when you are launching a new website and wish to let the search engines know that you have published your website to the Internet. If you didn't notify the search engines of your new website, they could take up to 6 weeks to find and categorise your website.
Search Engine optimisation is a different service for more "mature" websites (sites that have been online for at least 6 months) to increase their rankings within Google and other SEs, through the optimisation of the HTML code within the website and the implementation of other processes such as strategic links etc.

Myth 3: Professional Search Engine Optmisation is expensive.
This is probably true in a competitive and mature market such as the US, where some professional SEO companies can ask thousands of dollars a month to guarantee results in competitive searches such as the insurance industry, tourism or real estate.

Clearly search engine optimisation needs to be looked at as any other marketing investment, and the return on investment it can bring.

SEO is less expensive and preferable over banner advertising and pay per click both from a qualitative and quantitative point of view. Not to mention the advantage of SEO over traditional advertising media such as newspaper advertising where a simple advert for a week or even just one day in the local paper could cost thousands of dollars.

So, how do you really calculate the ROI of your Search Engine Optimisation campaign?

1) Exposure.
Firstly, you need to estimate the number of times a certain keyword in looked for in the major search engines. There are tools available to help you get this information such as Keyword Selector Tool http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
this tool will give you an indication of how popular a key word is, for example if you operate in the real estate industry, you may ask yourself is it better to optimise your website for keyphrase: “real estate investment New Zealand” or “property investment New Zealand”

2) Conversion rate.
Normally it’s estimated that a website in the top 5 listings in Google will capture around 10% of clicks for a relevant key-phrase.

3) Return.
’Return’ is measured as the value of a sale generated by a click-through. Example: If you are a hotel, and the value of a reservation through your website is $200.00 than you can easily figure out what the ROI is for a search engine optimisation service that would drive X number of additional visits to your website every month.

Not to mention website traffic software that allows you to monitor closely any traffic or visits. An excellent website traffic monitoring programme is URCHIN which Domainz Provides free with any Premier Hosting Plan.

Myth 4: Search Engine Traffic is not worth the same as traffic coming from other sources.
Any business or marketing manager knows how hard it is to reach their target market right at the time where the buying decision is made or the need is high.
The advantage of using search engines instead of other media, is that with SEs it is the customer that “drives” the search, which means your website and products will be exposed to potential customers right at the time when the buyer is looking for your type of product. This factor in turn results in a high conversion rate.