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When Organic SEO Tastes Too Much Like Hard Work…
December 10th, 2007 | by Peter Cullen |Online Ad Spend vs Organic Search Marketing Spend:
I read an article last week, I think it was in Business Plus, it talked about the online ad market been worth $10 billion in Europe by the end of 2007. The article added that by 2010, this market will have doubled to $20 billion, with $8 billion of that market being based in the UK.
The question that popped into my head was – why have I never seen a break down on the amount of money spent on ‘organic’ SEO marketing. Organic marketing for those who are confused is using your website to target the natural or free or organic part of a search engine results page (SERP). This is the left hand side of a SERP.
OK, OK, so maybe its starting to happen. Finally there is a distinction been made between what a web designer/developer does and what a online marketing expert does. The latter of course specialises in search engine optimisation.
But, back to the question – why no breakdown between online ad spend and organic marketing spend. Why do companies take up using online ads more easily than using organic marketing?
One reason I believe is that ads are easy to track in terms of clicks and money spent. So, your average marketing manager in your average company spends X on online ads, and is able to track that they got X number of clicks and this resulted in X amount of extra money.
With the organic stuff its a bit harder to track and a lot harder to keep up. What do you need for the online ads – a good agency -easily outsource it. Create ads, simple landing pages and away you go. Organic requires a bit more grey matter to produce the results and its takes much longer. With the ads, you start paying – you start getting clicks.
The organic approach takes time and effort – not only of the online marketing expert, but also of the company. And here’s the bitch – it never ends. You don’t reach the top and sit back and consider your work done. There are always new players online, new countries to target, new products and services to target…
But once you hit the organic sweet spot, you’ll be targeting 75% of your target market, as opposed to just 25% with your ads.
So, go on – take a bit fat bite from the organic cake – its good for you!
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7 Responses to “When Organic SEO Tastes Too Much Like Hard Work…”
By mauco on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply
Peter, I like and agree with your thought on this issue. The ‘long wait for results’ that follows SEO is what makes most organizations shy away from it unlike PPC or other online ads where the results are almost instant. Thanks for the post.
By Paul on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply
Totally agree. What I also dont get is that PPC is becoming more and more cluttered and expensive, while at the same time being less and less effective.
I cant tell you the last time me or anyone I know has clicked a paid ad (other than to cost our competition .75 cents). Left side of the page results are worth 5x what a PPC ad is, yet people continue to think that SEO is a one time thing, or worse…that it can be ignored and they can simply buy their way onto the page.
Having a unified strategy for PPC AND Organic is the only way to really have an effective SEM campaign.
By Debbie on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply
I must admit my clients are still demanding SEO so I hope they don’t read too many articles convincing them otherwise
I agree with Paul, running PPC really helps my SEO strategy as the results are achieved much faster with PPC. I then use these results to find the best terms for optimization.
By Chris on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply
Peter,
Very good points. As a marketing manager I see much more value in organic SEO of one’s site and more often than not, it’s ROI is much higher than paid ads are.
While it’s a lot more time consuming, it’s well worth the endeavor, esp. since (in large part) the changes made on one’s site are going to improve the product offerings one has.
By Linda Sevier on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply
Peter,
Great points. I agree, organic is much more time consuming and it truly never ends. It is so worth it though.
You wrote:
With the ads, you start paying – you start getting clicks.
The problem with the model is stop paying and no more clicks. At least with organic SEO if you slack off for a while it is usually a more gradual fall.
Good article!
By Jeff on Sep 1, 2009 | Reply
Great article!
Has anyone tried a search to see if they can find items they posted on facebook through google?
I have noticed that results from facebook do not show up on any of the first three or four pages of google. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?
By Samantha Deakin on Nov 7, 2009 | Reply
I agree. Organic results all the way. It’s worth the hard work in the end. PPC’s great to run alongside, but SEO is where the long-term results are it.
Thanks for the post.