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Investing in Search Engine Optimization should be a weighed decision like other marketing expenses. Calculating ROI for SEO can be more difficult than other advertising because costs and returns are often not as concrete, but with some ballpark figures, estimating your SEO ROI becomes a doable task.

Return
Before considering an investment in SEO, you should consider the payoff. If there’s not much potential for payoff, there’s no reason to make an investment. Calculating your potential return will also help you determine how much you should be able to invest in SEO.

The first question you’ll need to ask is where your revenue stream will be coming from. Are you getting AdWords clicks to generate income? Do you have a product you’re selling online? Are you promoting a service to try to get new clients? Next you’ll need to find out how much traffic you anticipate getting after your site is ranking in the search engines. There are tools that make estimating traffic for a search term easy. Keep in mind that the majority of the clicks from a search go to the top 3 results.

Finally you’ll have to tackle the most complicated part of the return calculation and estimate the number of people who are likely to follow through and become “customers”. For Adword clicks, around 1-5 percent will become customers by clicking on the ad. When selling a product or service, the number of consumers that convert to customers will largely depend on your industry as well as how well your site sells the product.

PPC Investment
Pay Per Click advertising is one of the quickest ways to start showing up in search results. It’s a great place to start because the initial investment is low. After investing $100 into your account, you may be able to get a feel for how effective your ad and landing page are.

Unfortunately, PPC is expensive in the long run. It’s really not an investment approach at all. When you want additional advertising, you simply add funds to your account. The click through rate of paid advertisement is significantly lower than organic listings, and there is less trust from the user because anyone can pay for advertisement. A moderate AdWords budget would be around $20 per day. How many clicks that would translate into depends on the keywords you’re targeting. Budgeting for a year, that would be just over $7,000, and the 3 year cost would be $21,000.

SEO Company Investment
Hiring an SEO company to handle your SEO is definitely more of an investment approach to SEO. After the initial SEO is done, any additional work the SEO firm does should help improve existing organic rankings. SEO companies charges for SEO work in different ways. Some of the more popular ways to price SEO are charging by the hour, charging by the project, and charging per month. It’s probably unrealistic to think that you’ll only need an SEO company for the few months that it will take to get you to rank for your search term. Without semi-regular SEO, your website will gradually be outranked by websites that are actively working on their SEO.

Paying an SEO company for optimization services usually gives pretty good results. The results aren’t immediate like Pay Per Click, but the payoff once you start showing up in the rankings is significantly better. Assuming you’ve got a good SEO company, the limiting factor will be your SEO advertising budget. If we assume that you want your website to stay at the top of the search results long-term, you’ll need more than just a one-time SEO charge. To simplify the calculations, we’ll look at the per month SEO billing since it’s set up for long term results. $200 per month for the service is somewhere in the middle of the lower and upper end charges for this service. Per year, this ends up being $2,400, and after 3 years, it’s $7,200.

SEO Training Investment
Investing in your own SEO education is a smart move for people who don’t mind putting in the needed time and effort. The amount of resources you put into the SEO is completely up to you. If you’re wanting to rank higher, you just attack your SEO goal smarter and harder.

Whether the entire staff attends a workshop, a few attend a webinar, or you get one on one SEO training will depend on your specific situation. It’s not as much about how you get the training as it is that you learn the concepts. After applying learned SEO concepts, you’ll start to increasingly see dividends on the training.

Workshop lengths for learning SEO range from a few hours to a few days. On average, you can attend a workshop for about $1,500. While the initial financial investment for SEO training is high, the savings over time makes up for the up-front cost. The three year estimated PPC total is 14 times higher than the SEO Training course. The further out the calculation goes, the more SEO Training makes the most sense.

TJ McDowell is an SEO Training Expert with SEO Strategies By TJ – online at [http://www.seostrategiesbytj.com/SEOTraining.aspx]

If you’re reading this article, most probably you already know (or at least suspect) that Search Engine Optimization is like a key to Fort Knox for any online entrepreneur. Why? Because proper SEO opens your website the door to leading positions in search engines. The higher your website ranks in search results pages, the more ready-to-buy users find you, not your competitors first. And they buy from you, not from your competitors. Your top position in Google multiplies the dough you get twofold, threefold and (pardon my play on words) Google-fold.

OK, SEO is a rock-solid way to make your on-line business flourish. But what if you hadn’t even heard the word “SEO” till yesterday? The Internet sea abounds in screaming “SEO in two days” and “SEO book for noobs” headlines. But can you really zero-base learn SEO – for which SEO companies charge up to $5,000 a month – on your own? By simply reading about it? The answer is YES. SEO is no rocket science if you have the right source to ladle out your knowledge.

So where is the knowledge treasure-house for a self-taught SEO?

Some old hand SEOs would claim – the only way to get on-the-nose SEO tips is searching through forums and blogs, where professionals share their real-life experience.

Well, digging deep into these sources can be very informative. This is a perfect way to enrich your SEO wisdom: pick up some useful know-hows and savvy tricks and techniques. But only if you already have your SEO-mindset stable. I mean, if you’ve already learned the basics of SEO science. If not, how can you tell a worthy piece of advice from useless scribbling by muddle-heads who often swarm on such forums and blogs? Besides, it’ll take you ages to gather the pieces of SEO-puzzle together and get a complete picture of how to SEO your website.

SEO books are another pair of shoes. All you need is packed together for you. No surfing through dozens of websites. But here you should also keep in mind several important points:

– The Internet world and SEO principles are changing at supersonic speed. What was good for website promotion yesterday may turn out to be a complete waste of time today. In what way would the authors keep up with this speed of changes? In no way, unless their SEO book is a day by day updated e-book. That’s why the SEO book you can really trust is an e- book

– Does “Search Engine Saturation” or “Traffic Referral Rates” sound clear to you? Would you like your SEO book to speak the language you don’t understand? Definitely, no. You need SEO things made easy as ABS. So you need an SEO book that speaks plain English

– The ultimate goal of your learning SEO is being able to actually optimize your website, not only use some SEO terms, isn’t it? If so, a solid-cheesy-theory book is a waste of your precious time. Make sure your SEO book gives practical advice and step-by-step guidance for your page optimization

– On the other hand, learning something parrot fashion is also no good. You are to UNDERSTAND WHAT, HOW, and WHY you are doing. Otherwise, a small deviation from a studied scheme – and you are deadlocked. Pick up the SEO book that not only orders you what to do, but explains why you should do this

These criteria considerably narrow your range of choice. One of the books I’ve recently come across that perfectly hits the spot is “SEO in Practice”. It is an all-round online SEO guide by a 9-year experienced SEO pro Dan Richmond. He leads you by the hand into the world of Search Engine Optimization, pointing each step you should take and clarifying all whys and hows so that a child could understand.

To top it all, keep in mind: whatever way to dig into SEO you choose, it’s your zeal that grows the fruits to reap. There is no one but you to knock in the knowledge into your head.

Jump-start your SEO education with a practical SEO book that will get you up to speed with basic and advanced SEO, help you shape your SEO strategy and choose the right SEO tools to achieve maximum efficiency.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is a term which is well taken by the online marketing fraternity but for others it’s a no man’s land. Even designers, developers and other employees in the companies are often unaware of this domain and undermine its importance which is a big mistake. This sometimes leads to conflicts between SEOs and designers/developers. But right now we are not going to talk about it; rather, we will see how to sell your SEO services to the people who have never heard about it. I call them SEO challenged (no offenses!) people and it’s a challenge for every SEO services providing company to get business from them.

Often, companies commit a big mistake of misinforming their prospects about SEO and projecting it in a wrong manner thereby misleading them about the process and its benefits. This is actually a wrong approach. Companies do so in order to quickly get the projects as they don’t think about the long-term benefits and in the end they degrade their reputation along with the client getting skeptical about SEO.

Let’s see in detail how to sell SEO to the SEO challenged person:

1. Educate, educate and educate – It is never easy for any business to generate new business unless it has a long proven successful track record. The biggest problem is ignorance of the target prospects. They know what they want to do but when it comes to how to do, they need a bit of education especially when there are quacks all around. Start not by telling what SEO is but first educate your prospects about the benefits of SEO and how they can witness their business grow by reaching to the online population all over the globe thereby making their business truly global. But make sure that the prospect you are chasing has a website for his business. If not, then you will have to first convince him about having one.

2. Explain how search engines work – Before you start off with an explanation about SEO, first explain them about the working of search engines. But be very cautious when you do so. Remember not get too technical with them or else they will not understand even a single thing and you will end up losing their interest and ultimately losing a business. When you start the conversation, don’t even think of using the terms such as search engine algorithms, robots, crawlers, indexing or any other such term.

3. Explain SEO stuff – After you have explained in detail how search engines work, next step is to reveal search engine optimization (SEO), the process and what benefits it offers. Explain this step in association with the first step thereby ensuring that the prospect gets a decent understanding of related aspects. Make them understand SEO in the simplest possible manner and make sure that the listener is following you. Don’t include SEO jargons in your talk and if possible give them an explanation supported by online presentation.

4. Burst the SEO myths – This is the best you can do to win the confidence of your prospect. Dispel wrong notions about the SEO being marketed by fakes who project themselves as professionals. Most of them market their SEO services under the banner of “sure shot increased sales”. Make sure that your prospect is not under this wrong impression or else you too will end up with a degraded reputation. The important thing is not just the education but the right education mixed with the marketing message.

5. Building blocks of SEO: Keywords – SEO Professionals are well aware of the importance of keywords, so why not sensitize our prospects too. Explain them about the importance of keywords – how they are used to search for the websites by the users and how search engines rank the websites on the basis of their usage. Also, clarify the importance of keyword research process and how it forms the backbone of optimization process.

6. Reveal the differences between SEO and Traditional Marketing – When you are trying to sell your services expect some unexpected questions. The person may ask you, why should we avail your SEO services when we have other traditional forms of marketing? This question is quite logical and must be carefully answered in order to keep the conversation on track. Two most distinguishing characteristics of SEO that separates it from traditional marketing are the amount of investment and period of effectiveness. The investment cost incurred in traditional marketing is usually too high and it remains effective only as long as the marketing campaign runs. On the contrary, investment in SEO is comparatively low and the effects are almost everlasting.

7. Develop an SEO primer – Create an elementary resource either in the form of eBooks, brochures, presentations, videos or any other medium that can be used to educate your prospects and provide them with the basic understanding and concepts of SEO. Using graphical representation instead of long pieces of text is any time a better option. Make sure to include:

• Simplified overview of SEO and its working process.
• What clients should expect if they avail your SEO services?
• Additional services you provide.

Educating and then getting an SEO project is definitely a tedious task but it can be made simple if you understand your target audience. Your prospects may not be aware of SEO but being in a business they are experts of their domain. Try to explain them in their language i.e. make your language more customer centric than being business centric and then you can very well accomplish your task.

I simply love the web! According to me, it’s the most happening and the best place to interact and gain knowledge. I work as an Internet Marketing Specialist at BatchMaster Software Pvt. Ltd, specializing in the development of ERP Solutions for process manufacturing industry namely – Food & Beverage, Coatings & Chemicals, Life Sciences, Nutraceutical and Cosmeceutical.

Writing is a hobby for me and I author articles and blogs on the subjects that interests me. To get in touch, please contact me at LinkedIn.

Everyone has their own way of doing SEO, and that’s the better way to do it. But, streamlining your SEO process will make your SEO process to run successfully. By streamlining your SEO process, you and your clients benefit when your SEO process is faster, and more efficient. Why to wait for some more time, here are five steps you can start doing right now to streamline your SEO process.

Defining your SEO Service
Define or create a complete list of SEO Services that you offer to your client. Think of what the major services that your clients want from you. Consider those services that relates to keyword research, content writing and optimization, link building, and site optimization, and categorize your services into these (or other) areas. Other Services that makes your clients interesting such as marketing, advertising, and website design may also be on your list. Rewrite your website content, marketing material, and advertising campaigns according to the list of service that you offer.

Prepare SEO Checklist
As an SEO Company you might be sure of SEO do’s and don’ts. It’s the time to make it materialize these SEO do’s and don’ts in to SEO Checklists. SEO Checklist will make a thorough review of each and every project to ensure that all your SEO Checklists points have been satisfied. The advantage of having SEO Checklists is that you will remember even the small points of SEO.

Split your SEO process in to different area of services (keywords, content, link building, etc.) and each area will have its own SEO Checklist of item to look for when doing a project review. Each of your services (from step 1) should be represented by at least one item in a checklist, and most services will have multiple items.

Items in a checklist can be in the form of questions, points to check for, or tasks to complete. As an example, here are a few items from two of my checklists:
Keyword Checklist
~ What are the landing pages that I need to target?
~ Does each keyword have its own respective landing page?
~ What keywords are your competitors using for pay-per-click ads?
~ Did your run keyword tools for your keyword research?

Content Checklist
~ Landing pages have main keyword in title, header, and body
~ Are the contents are unique from other landing pages?
~ Data or pages primarily behind search forms are accessible with text links

While starting any new projects, this checklist will serve you to achieve good results. By walking through your checklists for any new project, it will help to track those items that have been completed. Each item left unchecked then becomes a task on your to-do list.

Creating Set of SEO Reports
Approach your client with an SEO Report such as site analysis report, competitor analysis report etc. to increase your company’s reliability. These reports will benefit clients by telling them what you have found lagging and measure you are going to take to overcome that in hand. Building an attractive, informative and periodic reports throughout the project period will increase the trust and used to build a good relationship with your client. Having an automated report from your website may be a great way to catch the attention of potential clients.

Like you provide clients with some reports, it is also important to have certain internal reports to gauge your progress. Internal reports are more technical as they are meant for you. Internal reports will help in tracking the project progress and may point out ways in which you may be underperforming or excelling.

Build your Team of Specialists

The most complicated process in SEO is to build a team of SEO Specialists. As the SEO process is highly critical you want to find who likes a master of all things SEO. Find specialist for each service that you offer but do not do on your own. You might prefer using a specialist for link building or for writing unique content. As the days goes by these specialists will become your “SEO Team”, your set of specialists that you source to work with.

After establishing your team of specialists, it is highly important to set of standard rules and communication work flow within your team to maintain sustainability in this field. Develop an SEO Frame work that your team has to perform for each project, i.e. from start to finish. Agree beforehand with the provider on a cost and time frame for their services. Services that are based on factors that vary from project to project, try to work out a set cost and time frame for a range of possibilities.

As a SEO Analyst and Internet Marketer this is the time to get articles about various products and other ecommerce website with the best offers.

I would also like to provide some tips and techniques which i have used to get SEO results.

For more details about me, Visit my blog: Creative SEO Analysis

Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the most mind-blowing race in the history of mankind! Today we are going to witness the bloody battle between a supersonic fireball F1 ‘Ferrari’ and a stripped-engine horseless carriage ‘Ford T-model’.

Ready, set, go!
Oh, ‘Ferrari’ is shooting like a rocket, leaving in the dust ‘Ford T’ that can’t even get its engine started. Poor thing. Look at this red devil! It cleaves air streams like a dagger with roaring sound of its powerful engine. Breathtaking… What? Where is that old jalopy? Eh, hardly has it passed the first hundred meters as it’s already got its engine steaming. That’s a lost cause.

Time for pit stop. Wow, automated process of tire change and computerized engine check are amazing: just after a few seconds the Ferrari is on the track again! It flashes the first circuit, the second one, the third…

Yeah, ladies and gentlemen we’ve got the winner! Red Devil is on the top again! That was fantastic!
…and what about our old buddy ‘Ford’? Alas, but it died halfway on the first circuit…

Getting high ranking in search engines results is like a race. Who comes first snatches a bundle. That is why the choice of the right vehicle to drive your site to the top spot is so vitally important for running business on-line.

Basically there are two ways to hit top 10 of search engines results: optimizing your site manually or with the help of SEO tools. Consequently there are two clashing camps of folks, who support the former and the latter variants of website optimization.

There has always been a lot of debate around SEO software and its effectiveness. Some say that a good set of SEO tools is all you need to improve your search rankings and to get a guaranteed number one placement in search results. Others object to that, saying that SEO software is totally useless and manual optimization is the only way to go. Moreover they even put forward the arguments that SEO tools can get your website banned and that buying this software is just draining money down the pipe.

So where is the truth? It’s somewhere out there. Let’s dig it up.

There are some irrefutable advantages of SEO software over manual ways of optimization. Nowadays users can find a lot of really great SEO tools that make the complicated process of website optimization a lot easier. SEO software can make your site ride high and your on-line sales skyrocket without great pains and efforts.

First of all good SEO software is an indispensable assistant in the process of gathering and analyzing the data you need to plan and shape your SEO strategy and tactics. Doing that by hand is quite time-consuming and not always effective. SEO tools are irreplaceable when it comes to collecting and breaking up the data or monitoring the process of site optimization.

Another great advantage of SEO tools is that they automate wearying repetitive tasks such as link popularity monitoring, rank checking, backlink checking, reporting etc. Doing those monkey-job tasks by hand is like looking for a needle in a bundle of hay and you may end up being totally lost in that flow of data. And if you are doing SEO on a large scale, using purely manual methods of website optimization is no way possible.

SEO can help users fill their sites with search engine friendly content to look yummy in the eyes of search engines spiders and crawlers.

Besides advanced SEO tools streamline the process of SEO to a T. They can perform some tasks simultaneously and even run them on autopilot. These features make SEO software extremely user-friendly and contribute to overall effectiveness and success of an SEO process.

And after all one more convincing argument in favor of SEO software is that even inexperienced users will never run a risk of getting banned, because of black hat optimization. With search-engine-friendly SEO software you will never break the rules and regulations and avoid unethical presentation of content to search engine spiders and the internet users.

As you can see the process of website optimization is a complex thing, requiring complex approaches. SEO tools enable you to crack it easily. You don’t need any analytical skills or inside-out knowledge of SEO techniques. Smart SEO tools will help you find the best solutions and to pave your way to success.

So it’s up to you to decide whether to sweat over your site optimization, and spend sleepless nights on doing daunting monotonous tasks manually, or to take advantage of the latest SEO software and focus on your business.

Just remember: the only thing you gotta do is choose the right racing car which will give you a ride to the top.

One of the world’s leaders in SEO software is SEO Power Suite. To learn more about this and other SEO tools, check SEO Power Suite reviews and other SEO tools reviews.