Reduce your adword spending with search engine optimisation
“If you build it, they will come” does not work on the Internet. In order to attract people to your website they first have to be able to find it. This means you want to be ranked higher in the search engines so your site comes up early in the search list. There are several ways to accomplish this. The best method is called Search Engine Optimization. This requires that someone make the effort to ensure that the theme of your website is indexed by the search engines. In other words, if you sell Lionel model trains, you want your site to come up at the top of the list returned when someone enters “Lionel model trains” in a google search.
Many people select another method called Adwords. They choose some keywords, for example “Lionel model trains,” and pay google a fee to put their site on the right side of the screen for a search for that term. They also pay to have their site appear on other related sites. This fee is paid every time someone enters the search term, regardless of whether they actually buy anything. The more competition for the keyword, the higher they have to bid for it.
Search engine optimization is free to do yourself. There are many websites, including Google itself, which explains the concepts, the rules, and the methods you can use to accomplish this. Google even gives you tools to track the keywords you plan to use and to see how your site fares. So what stops you from implementing it? It requires some knowledge and effort. It may not easy for you to comprehend all the rules and you may be too busy running your company to take the time necessary to optimize your site. However, there are firms which can do this for you. Unlike Adwords, where the charges fluctuate based on how many searches took place, Search Engine Optimization is a fixed cost. You don’t pay it every day for every search. Therefore, the return on investment (ROI) of Search Engine Optimization is more cost effective.
The owners of a large cell phone store didn’t concern themselves with search engine optimization. Instead they spent six hundred dollars a day on Google Adwords. They have seen sales increase but are still debating whether the expense is justified. They are currently exploring search engine optimization. A small seller of ink cartridges didn’t have the budget to compete for keywords in that crowded market, so he hired a firm to optimize his site. Instead of spending six hundred dollars a day, he spent less than five hundred dollars during the year. His site now comes up at the top of the search engines. He no longer pays fees to sell on ebay, spends no money on advertising, yet the orders continue to come in.
In attracting customers to your site, you can take the shortcut and pay for Adwords, and pay and pay. Or you can optimize your site and enjoy increased exposure over and over.