CASE STUDY

For past year, I’ve been working hard on natural search results for my copywriting business, Divine Write. For my primary keyword, I’m now on page 1 of Google.com (out of approximately 900,000 search results). I’ve done this simply by writing helpful articles and submitting them for publication on Internet. Luckily for me, I’m an SEO copywriter, so writing articles is all in a day’s work. But had I paid an SEO copywriter to write my articles for me, I’d have spent approximately USD$5,000.

Over same period, I spent approximately USD$3,000 on Google AdWords (my ads appeared towards top of paid listings).

Now I hear what you’re saying; my natural search campaign definitely cost more in first year than my AdWords campaign. But now that I’ve reached top of Google.com, I’ve paused all my AdWords ads, so I’m not paying anything. If I hadn’t chased natural search results, I’d have continued paying for AdWords, spending at least another USD$3,000 next year on AdWords, and another USD$3,000 year after that, and so on.

Of course, I have to retain my high ranking. If I was paying someone to write my articles, that would involve an investment of approximately USD$1,000 per year (a saving of 67% each year).

So it breaks down like this:

Google AdWords investment:

2 yrs = $6,000, 3 yrs = $9,000, 4 yrs = $12,000, 5 yrs = $15,000

Natural search investment:

2 yrs = $6,000, 3 yrs = $7,000, 4 yrs = $8,000, 5 yrs = $9,000

Conclusion

Obviously competition for keywords in copywriting field isn’t as fierce as in a lot of other industries, so actual dollar investment discussed in this case study may not apply directly to your business. The important thing to understand is that – over time – a high ranking in natural search results can actually cost less than a high position in (arguably less effective) paid listings.

Also, these figures are based on me submitting articles to various article banks on Internet myself. (This is a routine task requiring little skill. You should be able to purchase a list of 50 or more article submit sites from your SEO copywriter or consultant for as little as USD$99.)

* Glenn Murray is an advertising copywriter and heads copywriting studio Divine Write. He can be contacted on Sydney +612 4334 6222 or at glenn@divinewrite.com. Visit http://www.divinewrite.com for further details or more FREE articles.

Aligning SEM with Corporate Marketing Strategies You should start by knowing how your SEM goals relate to your corporate marketing strategy. Which of following (or more) do you want to accomplish? •Generate leads •Sell online •Build brands •Grab more market share

Conversions You absolutely must track pages that allow visitors to take some kind of action, including:

•Requesting a quote •Filling out a contact form •Placing an order •Registering for a newsletter •Ordering a catalog

Establishing Your Metrics Determine which of following will be metrics that will mean most to you: •Online sales (broken down by category) •Repeat visits •Profits on sales •Customer satisfaction •Length of visits •Cost per click (CPC) •Click-through rate (CTR) •Cost per conversion (CPC).

Get plugged into online consumers’ behavior patterns.

For example, studies show that consumers start researching products online several weeks (12 weeks in some business-to business scenarios) before they make a purchase – often offline. Enquiro, based in Kelowna, BC, Canada, in 2004 found that 68.3% of those surveyed used search engines for “consideration or research.” The results are detailed in Enquiro’s “Inside Mind of a Searcher” research report that looks at issues including four distinct types of searchers and frequency with which people search during buying process.

ROI should be an integral part of any search engine optimization strategy, not something that sounds foreign. Make it work for your business.

Michael Murray is vice president of Fathom SEO, a Cleveland, Ohio-based SEO firm. A member of Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), he also authored the white paper, "Search Engine Marketing: Get in the Game."