Search engine optimisation is time consuming and costs a lot of money to get results. There’s no way around this. And there’s nothing more disheartening than spending all that time and money to get ranked at the top of Google for certain keywords… and then find you still don’t get a significant boost in enquiries, leads and sales.
I’ve seen this happen too many times. People are delighted to get their site ranked at the top of Google. But the real objective of SEO is not just to get a top ranking on Google. The real purpose is to get more traffic, which then converts into more sales.
I believe there is great long term value in doing SEO… as long as you are optimising for the right keywords i.e. the keywords that are actually going to generate more income for your business.
That’s why EVERY SEO campaign in any market that is competitive, should be first tested with Google Adwords.
By using Adwords, you can test a wide range of keywords and phrases… and find the ones that actually convert into sales. Then you can focus your SEO efforts on those high-converting keywords. Otherwise, you’re just guessing which keywords are going to convert best. And if you guess wrong… well you’ve just sunk a lot of money for nothing.
The other thing you can test more quickly with Adwords is whether your website is optimised to convert visitors into customers. You can test different landing pages, headlines etc.
Once you get proven results with Adwords over a period of at least 3 months, then… and only then… should you start a serious SEO campaign.
