Nowadays, there are so many avenues to market your business online that it can be a bit overwhelming. Let’s say you set a marketing budget and you’re obviously looking for your best ROI (Return on Investment), but what is it?
In my opinion today, SEO is STILL the king of ROI. I will explain why.
SEO - STILL YOUR BEST ROI ONLINE IN MOST CASES
I’m seeing more and more articles these days, stating that SEO is dead. I chuckle for 2 reasons.
The organic search results still matter, A LOT. You’d be surprised how many scroll past the paid ads, it’s quite large. If you’re offering a service, for example, there are 3 ways to get your page listed on Google. When it’s done right, you’ll have 2 or 3 results on the first page for your target market searches.
- Have the Site Homepage Rank
- Have a Secondary Page Below the Homepage (2 results)
- A Google Business Profile Listing
Those saying SEO is dead, probably don’t understand it to begin with. So it’s only natural that they’re going to try to sell their way out of it (which is expensive).
The fact is, SEO is still alive and well and I’ve always felt it’s simply your best ROI online for small to mid-size businesses. Sure, the process does take some time in the beginning, but once established it’s just the gift that keeps on giving.
See below of an actual client of our for the last 30 days. While the high volumes of traffic is great, the engagements are really what matters (phone calls, emails, etc.).
This is a real stat chart for the past 30 days from a client in the service industry. Note the 71 engagements (69 of them were phone calls). If you were to choose Google Ads, for example, you’d shell out thousands for that many phone calls…so organic SEO, in this case, is a sure winner (and our client is booked solid).
So how does SEO work?
There’s no short answer for this. The Google algorithm, for example, is comprised of thousands of variables. It’s EXTREMELY complex, and nobody knows it all except the software Engineers at Google. But after doing this for over 21 years, I can say it’s a constant testing process to ensure we’re giving our clients the best chance to rank high in the search results for their offering. It doesn’t happen overnight, and the process can take months or more (depending on how competitive the market is). But when you get established, be prepared for quick growth!
How Long Does Search Engine Optimization Take?
This is honestly a loaded question, but I will break it down. For brand new websites, it normally will take longer to rank high on Google than a website that’s been around for years.
There are 2 key factors to this in the algorithm, and this to me really is no secret.
- Domain Authority - This is essentially how “important” your site is in the eyes of Google. This comes with time and proper channeling.
- Domain Age - While I don’t feel this weighs as high as Domain Authority, it still comes into play.
So if you launch your website today, with no emphasis on SEO, you’ll have to honestly get lucky to rank high over time. It’s getting too competitive nowadays, you can’t afford to make too many mistakes.
However, if you launch a website today, in a small to medium-sized market in terms of competitiveness, you can expect to start seeing returns in a few months. While I’ve seen plenty of cases where it comes faster, I DO NOT oversell the fact that it CAN take awhile. Like a smart investment portfolio, we’re looking long-term. Be VERY weary of anyone that claims overnight rankings, it just doesn’t work that way.
Also, if we take over a website that’s been around awhile, we’ve found that you can start to see solid returns in as little as a month to 2 months. Again, this CAN vary but we’re normally semi-aggressive enough to slide in what we do effectively.
There is NO fly-by-night scheme to manipulate Google or Bing anymore, their algorithms are too far advanced. But proper SEO can and still does work every day. At the end of the day, someone still has to rank at the top!
What Do We Do in the Short Term for Your Digital Marketing?
This is the one instance where I recommend some outside sources of advertising, while the SEO does it’s thing.
MOST digital marketing firms today try to push Google Ads. Why? Because they can get away with charging an arm and a leg to do it, that’s why. I know of a large, national web firm that literally takes 66% of the ad budget for “administrative expenses”. So if you spent $1,000 on Google Ads that month, actually you’re only getting $340 worth of ACTUAL advertising. Gross.
And what’s worse, is they often get people under contract which makes it awfully expensive with little or no chance to get your ROI.
We don’t do that here. In fact, IF we even suggest Google Ads at all, we charge a flat fee to do it (regardless of spend). We charge for our time spent researching and setting up the ads, that’s all (and no contracts).
Often, social media could actually be a better spend than running any kind of web-based ads. Depending on the social media and target market, you have the ability to interact with them immediately. And it can be geo-targeted based on location, so you’re not wasting money outside of your target market. And best of all, it’s actually quite affordable in retrospect to search engine ads.
Recap on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in the Real World
What we do here at Flyway Media, is put your business’s website in the best position to rank high on various search engines, such as Google and Bing.
The goal is always the Top 3 for keyword phrases in your niche. We research the market for each and every client in able to optimize their online marketing budget.
But none of this matters, if your website isn’t bringing your business on the regular. Once they arrive, you have to properly direct them to the engagement which is really a science in itself. And high conversions rates mean higher rankings as well. It’s all intertwined in the wonderful world of search engine algorithms.
If you want to find out what Flyway Media can do for your business, reach out to me personally at 701-866-1909 (or chustad@gmail.com). I will wear my consultant hat during the process to help in being transparent with short and long-term results.
Good luck in business, my friends.
~ Chris
