Search engine optimization (SEO) will never replace marketing but rather complements it. Businesses need two things today to overcome the competitive advances or others, visibility and conversion. One without the other is simply unacceptable.
SEO, Visibility and Conversion
Let’s face it, most people searching for SEO services understand two things, (1) they know that what they are doing is not working (or not working well enough) or that (2) their competition is using SEO and leaving them trailing behind.
In either case, both are motivating factors to get started, but this is not the only reasons why someone should venture into this new and exciting paradigm. Going back to the original statement above, business is about exposure and conversion, it’s not what you’re selling but how you sell it that matters.
The motto “adapt of die” has never been more true than it is today. If you are still holding on to using the Yellow pages as your primary form of advertising, the its time to realize that times have changed.
With access to an internet connection offering everything from what time to movie starts to every type of product and service imaginable as a marketing medium the web is unparalleled as a way to reach out or find exactly what you need.
What separates those who are successful from those still struggling to survive online is simple, the ability or inability to identify a valid value proposition.
The last thing you need is SEO if your current conversion rate is under 2%. If you still have to ask what that is, then you are really in need of a how to fundamentally brand your business and create an attractive offer to your core audience. If you do not know who your core audience is, then that should be your initial prime directive.
In modern times, branding, traditional marketing and online marketing are still intertwined (as they are based on consumers taking action). Action is what defines a successful business model.
You can be extremely visible and cash flow negative, or you can have curb appeal for a specific demographic (with an ugly website) that has a fantastic value proposition that consumers simply can’t refuse and knock sales out of the park all day long. The point is, it’s not just about exposure.
Driving traffic to a web page (without first understanding the fundamental rules of marketing) does not produce results, however building a better landing page (that provides value) does.
Sure, marketing is a numbers game, but the conclusion here is, it’s better to spend more time polishing your pages with conversion optimization tactics and performing a multitude of tests to determine which keywords, type of visitor and reader has the highest conversion; rather than focus on getting more traffic that can potentially slip through your fingers and convert on other sites.
Search engine optimization is great if it is coupled with ways to monetize traffic, but if you are looking at SEO as a savior to a slouching value proposition, then you need to reassess what your real motives are and what each page in your websites purpose is, before trying to broadcast it to the world.
Oh, you’re absolutely right. I sometimes have a feeling that most advertisers (which is not their real professions, they may be butchers, bicycle repairmen, booksellers, umbrella shops etc., much as a churchgoer is not a professional cleric) do not have a marketing mindset. And the average stressed business person’s head seems only to be able to hold so much information. So if traffic is low, one tries SEO. After spending a fortune, it doesn’t seem to work. Conclusion: SEO doesn’t work. Or it works in terms of enormous traffic, but no goal conversion takes place. Conclusion: SEO master may have targeted the wrong visitors. And so on it goes. While all the time it may have been that the marketing basics were missing: good copy and good product, good sales and after sale service, prudent pricing, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten half of it still …
Ya indeed to market online you need to have a value proposition model correct.