The real cost of deferring search engine optimisation

Get it Right the First Time

Time and budget constraints often see clients deferring SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to a later date. Marketers faced with launch deadlines and cost issues tend to push the delivery of their website in order to meet a deadline or complete a project within budget thinking that SEO can be addressed later. This leads to a serious, detrimental and costly process error.

There are essentially two ways to design or re-design a website. One way includes SEO whilst the other does not. The difference between the two approaches is that one includes competitive analysis and positioning whilst the other neglects this essential marketing component.

When designing a website focus is often placed on the clients communication requirements. The planning phase of a website development initiative includes addressing issues of what to communicate and how to do so most effectively. Functionality is often considered during this phase with a view towards providing maximum user satisfaction. All of the above is entirely necessary with any marketing campaign, be it in an online or offline environment. However, in most cases for a marketing strategy to be effective it also needs to be competitive. You need to look to your competitors and position yourself in relation to their market position.

Consider the process you may follow if you were to launch a new product, or expand your service offering. You would typically approach your advertising agency. They would do a thorough market analysis, which would include identification of any competing products and/or services. They would also explore the product features and benefits and define your unique marketing proposition in order to play up the key selling points. They would furthermore identify appropriate media and devise an effective media plan. Similarly, competitive website design involves:

Competitive analysis: Who are the existing players in the market? How do they rank? What features do their websites contain and what works well for them?

Keyword research and recommendations: The provision of keyword statistics which allow you to make intelligent and informed decisions with regards to effective keyword usage.

Search engine friendly design: Linking, metadata, code and keywords are addressed to ensure search engine friendly design.

Internet marketing strategy: The use of pay per click, affiliate marketing, newsletters, e-mail and SMS marketing to attract more traffic to your website.

A competitive approach should therefore be adopted consciously and consistently throughout the website development process in order to avoid facing design flaws which may require costly alteration efforts.

The inclusion of search engine optimisation may drive initial website development costs up by as much as 25%. This is due, mainly to the inclusion of competitive marketing expertise, additional consulting hours, reporting, specialist programming and the creation of attractive content. However it will save you time and money in the long run.

Benefits of including SEO in the initial development stage:

• Your website will perform at optimum capacity from day one,
• You will capitalise your investment sooner. You can expect admirable traffic statistics and a good conversion rate within three to six months.
• You will not incur additional development costs for at least the first year to 18 months.

Should you choose to defer search engine optimisation to a later date, it is quite likely that you will incur three to four times the cost of an upfront SEO investment.

The real costs of deferring SEO:

• Code and design will need to be redressed for SEO,
• All website content will need to be updated for keyword optimisation,
• You will incur opportunity costs as a result of a website which does not compete effectively for traffic in your online marketplace,
• You may lose valuable market share to competitors who perform better online.
• You may loose valuable site age.

What we can do for you?:

If you are launching a new website or re-designing an existing one do not neglect the primary website concern which is search engine optimisation. Enquire about DiscoverSEO services to achieve optimum Internet marketing results.

Inside Adwords Pay Per Click

A Double Edged Sword

There are many different ways to get your website into the top ten results on SERP’s (search engine results pages). Some of the most popular techniques include SEO (search engine optimisation) and PPC (pay per click). Whilst the objective of these two techniques remains the same, their methods differ.

When using an SEO strategy the objective will be to make material changes to a website in an effort to improve its visibility on search engines and thus its ranking in organic search. Resources are directed towards lasting and long term improvements to a websites design, code and content.

PPC on the other hand is a paid form of search engine advertising, in which guaranteed placement is purchased for a given fee. The fee is determined by the market demand for your chosen keywords as well as relevance between the keyword and the content of your site. All major search engines offer some form of PPC service. Some of the most effective pay per click services available include Google AdWords, Yahoo Search Marketing and MSN AdCenter, however since Google is the most popular search engine today, it stands to reason that their AdWords offers a greater pay per click reach than any other advertising medium available.

Although there are numerous benefits to using pay per click it is a double edged sword in that it produces both favourable and unfavourable results.

Some of the advantages include:

Immediate results
The pay per click campaign process is as simple as one, two, three. One, create an advert consisting of one title line and two content text lines. Two, set a budget, select your keywords and decide where you would like your advert to be displayed. And three, have your advert appear on the first page of Google results for your keywords.

Pay only for results
You set a budget which will only be debited each time someone clicks your advert and is connected to your website. No other advertising medium guarantees that your advert will be seen.

Targeted reach
Pay per click offers accurate targeting. Provided you select your keywords intelligently, your advert will only be visible to those users who are specifically in the market for your products and/or services. You are also able to direct your advert at specific regional target markets using AdWords functionality.

Local business ads
Link your advert to Google Maps to display your geographic location, contact information as well as an image depicting the nature of your business.

Some of the disadvantages include:

Cost
Certain keywords, depending on how much online competition exists, may be quite costly to secure.

Continuous investment
Pay per click requires that you continuously direct resources towards this method. If you consistently direct resources towards pay per click and fail to make long term improvements to your website using other Internet marketing methods you will create for your business an unhealthy reliance on this method of advertising.

Uncertain market share
It is possible to gain market share through the long term use of pay per click advertising. However because this market share is based on paid placement, it is volatile and could be purchased by a higher bidder.

Every marketer’s objective is to obtain maximum marketing value at minimum cost. Depending on the market in which your business exists and the level of Internet marketing competition, a PPC campaign could provide quick results for a reasonable fee. On the other hand, it could prove costly in the long run and fails to deliver lasting results.
What we can do for you?:

DiscoverSEO will assess your site to determine if Adwords will benefit your company. If you have an existing Adwords Account, we can assist in maximising the potential of your Google Adwords Campaign and bring you the best possible results for your market. Get an Adwords quote »