<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=unicode"> <title>Natural Listings.co.uk - Search Engine Optimisation</title> <style type="text/css"> <!-- body { margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; } .style1 { font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; } .style2 {font-size: 11px} .style4 {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; } a:link { color: #2583BF; } a:visited { color: #2583BF; } a:hover { color: #A4A4A4; } a:active { color: #2583BF; } .style5 {color: #333333} .style6 { color: #2583BF; font-weight: bold; } .style8 {font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; color: #333333; } --> </style> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/JavaScript"> <!-- function MM_preloadImages() { //v3.0 var d=document; if(d.images){ if(!d.MM_p) d.MM_p=new Array(); var i,j=d.MM_p.length,a=MM_preloadImages.arguments; for(i=0; i<a.length; i++) if (a[i].indexOf("#")!=0){ d.MM_p[j]=new Image; d.MM_p[j++].src=a[i];}} } //--> </script> <script language="JavaScript" type="text/JavaScript"> <!-- function MM_reloadPage(init) { //reloads the window if Nav4 resized if (init==true) with (navigator) {if ((appName=="Netscape")&&(parseInt(appVersion)==4)) { document.MM_pgW=innerWidth; document.MM_pgH=innerHeight; onresize=MM_reloadPage; }} else if (innerWidth!=document.MM_pgW || innerHeight!=document.MM_pgH) location.reload(); } MM_reloadPage(true); //--> </script> </head> <body> <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <TD bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div align="center"> <table width="770" border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <TD COLSPAN=4 bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div align="right"><img src="../images/logo.gif" width="255" height="78"></div></TD> <TD COLSPAN=7><img src="../images/naturallistings_02.gif" width=330 height=78 alt=""></TD> <TD COLSPAN=5><IMG SRC="../images/naturallistings_003.gif" WIDTH=215 HEIGHT=78 ALT=""></TD> <td><div align="center"></div></td> </tr> </table> </div></TD> </tr> </table> <table width="109%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td height="23" background="../images/bg.jpg"><div align="center"></div></td> </tr> </table> <table width="104%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td> <div align="center"> <table width="775" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <td>&nbsp;</td> <td>&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr> <td class="style4"><div align="left"><font color="#333333"><strong>Search Engine Optimisation</strong> - </font><span class="style6">Top Tip No.5</span><font color="#333333"> - <strong><span class="style5">Can SE optimisation improve your ROI?</span></strong></font></div></td> <td>&nbsp;</td> </tr> <tr> <td width="747" height="697" valign="top"> <div align="left"> <span class="style4"><br> </span> <P class="style8">Our last tip is probably the one you're most interested in:</P> <P class="style8"><STRONG>Can search engine optimisation improve your ROI?</STRONG></P> <P class="style8">Ultimately, all this .co.ukes down to return on investment. All the search engine optimisation in the world is not worth anything unless it can be demonstrated that the cost relative to the revenue is attractive in comparison with other marketing channels.</P> <P class="style8">Fortunately it is easy to quantify the results of search marketing. The only difficulty is quantifying the other channels.</P> <P class="style8">For example, if you know the conversion rate of new visitors to sales and the average lifetime value of a new client, then you already have most of the information you need. You then need to know the costs of doing business over the internet compared with over the phone or face to face or through any other channel. </P> <P class="style8">If, in .co.ukmon with many other internet based operations, you find it cheaper and more profitable to deal over the internet then you can calculate the profit of a new customer per channel and the appropriate acquisition cost of a new customer.</P> <P class="style8">If each item you sell is relatively inexpensive but very high volume then you had better generate lots of customers per pound of search engine optimisation. Examples of sites that need to do this are&nbsp;flight or insurance website.</P> <P class="style8">If what you sell is lower volume and higher value, then you can afford to spend more on aquiring individual customers.</P> <P class="style8">Any good search engine optimisation company is going to be able to establish whether or not it makes .co.ukmercial sense to invest in search marketing.</P> <P class="style8"><FONT face=verdana><strong>Here is a simplified example;</strong><br> </FONT></P> <table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> <tr> <TD vAlign=top align=middle>&nbsp;</TD> <td width="69%"><TABLE width="44%" border=0 cellPadding=2 cellSpacing=2 style="WIDTH: 50%; TEXT-ALIGN: left"> <TBODY> <TR class="style4"> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT face=verdana>Current new visitors per month</FONT></SPAN></TD> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><strong><FONT face=verdana>1,000</FONT></strong></SPAN></TD> </TR> <TR class="style4"> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><FONT face=verdana><BR> Current conversion rate</FONT></SPAN></TD> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><strong><FONT face=verdana><BR> 10%<BR> </FONT></strong></TD> </TR> <TR class="style4"> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><FONT face=verdana>New sales per month from new visitors<BR> </FONT></TD> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'"><strong><FONT face=verdana>100</FONT></strong></SPAN></TD> </TR> <TR class="style4"> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><FONT face=verdana>Average lifetime value of new internet customer&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <BR> </FONT></TD> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><strong>&pound;100</strong></TD> </TR> <TR class="style4"> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top">Margin on new internet customers&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <BR> </TD> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><strong>25%</strong></TD> </TR> <TR class="style4"> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top">Available margin&nbsp;&nbsp; <BR> </TD> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><strong>&pound;25</strong></TD> </TR> <TR class="style4"> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top">Proposed spend as a percentage of margin&nbsp;&nbsp; <BR> </TD> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><strong>20%</strong></TD> </TR> <TR class="style4"> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top">Amount available to spend per new internet customer&nbsp;&nbsp; <BR> </TD> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><strong>&pound;5.00</strong></TD> </TR> <TR class="style4"> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top">Amount available to spend on new visitors using above conversion ratio (10:1)<BR> </TD> <TD style="VERTICAL-ALIGN: top"><strong>&pound;0.50p</strong></TD> </TR> </TBODY> </TABLE></td> <td width="31%"><span class="style8"><img src="../common.images/search-engine-optimization.jpg" width="231" height="198" border="1" align="right"></span></td> </tr> </table> <P class="style8"><FONT face=verdana> <br> </FONT> </P> <P class="style8">In this example, if the model is actually more profitable than other channels available then it would make sense to generate as much traffic as can be generated for 50p per visitor. If the search engine optimisation partner understands that and can deliver at that rate then the partnership will work but if not then either the parameters will have to change or the partnership is unlikely to deliver useful results.</P> <P class="style8">Undoubtedly, many businesses are ideally suited to operating on the internet. The cost model works well and it&rsquo;s just a race to get the most traffic. Some sectors are already sewn up in the sense that without an upfront investment it will be impossible to leap-frog the existing competition without taking the long term view. In other words it would now cost so much to put together a site that would overtake the established players, it would have to be viewed as a sunk cost or long term investment.</P> <P class="style8">Happily most sectors are still wide open and available to the switched-on&nbsp;company who&nbsp;uses search engine optimisation experts to help them. But probably not for long!</P> <P><BR> </P> <p> <span class="style5"><a href="index.html"><img src="../common.images/back01.gif" alt="Go back" name="Image4" width="90" height="29" border="0" align="right"></a></span><br> <br> </p> </div> <p align="center"><span class="style4"><a href="index.html"><br> Search engine optimisation</a> | <a href="../optimisation/" target="_blank">Opimisation tips</a> | <a href="../naturallistings/">Natural Listings</a></span><span class="style1"><a href="../naturallistings/"> </a><span class="style2"><br> Copyright &copy; 2004-2005 NaturalListings.co.uk All Rights Reserved</span> </span><br> <br> <br> </p></td> <td width="49">&nbsp;</td> </tr> </table> </div></td> </tr> </table> <div align="center"></div> <map name="Map4"> <area shape="rect" coords="13,15,93,28" href="#" alt="Learn more about Natural Listings"> </map> </body> </html>