Search Engine Marketing
Does improving the number of hits on a site actually relate to an
increase in sales?
from The Advisor Jill Whalen
This is a great question! I can see why it's a
tricky one for many to answer, since there are so many factors involved.
I can't just give you a yes or no answer.
For instance, if your site is *improperly* optimized, i.e., it's
optimized for keywords which nobody is searching for (the way many
unprofessional SEO companies optimize) it certainly won't help your
sales. Of course, it won't help your traffic either.
Or how about this scenario: let's say you do increase your traffic, but
it's for words that are really general. Like, say you sell real estate
in Boston, and you get a number-one ranking for the general keyword
"homes." (It's probably not gonna happen, but just bear with me for
illustration purposes!) You may certainly get lots of traffic from that
"great" ranking. But how many of the people who type "homes" into the
search engines are actually searching for homes in Boston? Chances are,
probably not too many. Casting the widest net in this manner is not
usually the best way to approach things.
However, what if you optimize the same site for "Boston Real Estate" or
"New Homes Boston" and other highly specific keyword phrases that relate
to the business and exactly what the site offers. Traffic should go up
compared to a site that is not optimized for those phrases. Plus, most
of the traffic should come from a very targeted segment of the
population, i.e., those looking for information on Boston real estate.
Assuming you have a great site that is professionally written, and you
also have great salespeople who give terrific customer service, the end
result should be more sales. But again, there are too many external
factors to make this a "gimme." What if you have a really crappy site?
Perhaps it looks like your neighbor's nephew designed it; or maybe
there's no "About Us" info to help build trust and credibility. Or maybe
the site is riddled with typos and poor grammar. You may get a huge
increase in traffic from your search engine optimization efforts, but no
additional sales because your site visitors surfed away in dismay.
So let's say you work real hard on your site to make it the best it can
be. If the people that answer the phones are rude or ignorant -- again
-- no sales increase. Or perhaps you don't have enough phone operators
to handle the influx of business that your high rankings suddenly bring
you. (I've had this happen with one client.) Then your SEO work is
simply a waste of time and money.
So, I really can't answer your question other than to say that if you do
everything right, you bet your behind that a good SEO campaign will
bring more sales. Absolutely, positively no question about it. But if
you miss any of the important factors that go into creating a good Web
site and a good business in general, you may not see an increase in
sales. This is why I've been spending so much time talking about site
usability issues lately. High rankings are only as good as the usability
and overall effectiveness of your site, your employees, and your
business in general.
You may be interested in
my article
from a few years ago on this subject. It talks about some of my client
successes, and how they were able to realize huge increases in sales due
to their search engine optimization efforts.
Hope this helps!
Jill
This answer came from
Jill Whalen, who has one of the sharpest minds in the search
engine industry. Her weekly newsletter,
the Advisor, is required reading for me and
anyone else that wants to stay on top of the search engine world.
