Monday, June 28, 2010

Why SEO Rankings Are Overrated, If You Overlook This Key Factor

I've talked with several website owners the past few weeks, and they're all focused on their website having high SEO rankings for relevant keywords and phrases. That's part of having a profitable website... but only if you have a landing page that does this critical task. Most website owners have the process backwards:

They look to maximize their SEO rankings first, THEN figure out this critical component second - when it should be the other way around. If you get this key factor handled first - and then focus on SEO - your online marketing will be more profitable in a shorter amount of time.

What is this commonly overlooked and critical factor? Conversion. The percentage at which you convert visitors into paying customers.

Think about it: Why would you want to spend time and money boosting your SEO rankings, when you only convert a small percentage - or maybe none - of the incoming traffic? You could be wasting money focusing just on SEO... and burning good leads.

Focus on your landing pages, website copy, auto-responder e-mails and marketing strategy. Test them with a small sample of visitors, and when it converts well... THEN you can invest more money, and roll it out on a larger scale.

If you aren't sure about how to setup a good marketing funnel, write good website content/copy, or auto-responder e-mails - consult with someone who can. Just because you CAN do something in your business, doesn't mean you SHOULD. A "fresh set of eyes" always helps - even for me - to see things I overlooked, even after reading a section of copy 15 or 20 times.

I know a guy who I consulted with 10 months ago, who's still trying to get the results he wants. Talked with one of his sales reps last week, who said he shut down his business in February to get this right. Ugh. Don't spin your wheels and try to figure it out yourself - ask for a fresh set of eyes and thoughts to get the results you want.

I attended AffCon2010 in Denver last Monday and Tuesday, was playing catchup the rest of the week - that's why I didn't get this post written until today. I'll have another blog post up later this week or early next - have a safe and fun 4th of July holiday!

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