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Having trouble finding your Minnesota business in the search engines?  The likely culprit is that your website isn’t search engine optimized. Ok, so you maybe have heard that before and don’t want to incur the high cost for search engine optimization or another website.  But perhaps part of your reluctance isn’t related to high rankings, but rather how much business you could garner from spending money on an unknown endeavor.  If you have ever pondered this question or are unsure whether search engine optimization is right for you, read on.

Local search…what’s the big deal anyways?
According to the Kelsey Group, total ad spending online in 2007 was about 7% of a $605 billion dollar ad industry.  That translates out to about $42 billion or so being spent on Internet related media.  However, that number is projected to grow to about 21% of a $707 billion dollar market in 2012.  That’s a factor of more than 3x in the next couple of years.

But what’s more exciting is that nearly a 3rd of that above 2012 is expected to come from local directional media, where the highest growth is expected to come from local search revenues.  And as they say, that is where the “rubber hits the road” for local Minnesota businesses looking to improve their rankings through search engine optimization.

I don’t get much from my website now, so why should I spend more money on it?
What seems like a logical question, could be viewed as flawed in many ways.  First, how do you know you don’t get business from your website?  Do you track all of your leads and sales?  The above scenario could also be viewed as a trap that can best interpreted as a self-fulfilling prophecy.  If you don’t spend money on marketing your business online, how do you expect to get a return from it?  Moreover, laying out the statistical facts above isn’t to say that “everyone’s doing it,” but more to get you thinking about why other businesses would be wrong in their global tendency to spend more money on Internet media versus others in the long term. Lastly, even if you track your leads and sales closely and note that your website is performing subpar, it could mean that your website is inadequate in converting the traffic that it does receive. In that case, it may be time to update your website as it’s no longer in keeping with its industry competitors.

What kind of return can I expect?
This is likely one of the hardest questions to answer because there are many variables that can influence return. However, I will give you some statistical guidance from readings I have encountered along with some personal experience.

First and foremost, search engine optimization is not about rankings…it’s about driving relevant traffic to your website. All the rankings in the world don’t mean a thing unless they drive “qualified visitors” that take action on your website. Results do vary industry to industry based on elements beyond control such as overall demand. Typically, the best products and services that perform well in search are commoditized   and well known given that the medium is “pull” by nature.

Take the keyword “lawyers minnesota” for example.  Using a free Google keyword tool, over 33,000 people searched for this keyword term alone in August. It has been estimated based on AOL data, that the #1 listing captures about 43% of the organic (non-paid) search volume for that term. Thus, in the above example, that would translate out to over 14,000 people clicking to your website. Taking an industry average of 2.5% action rate (I.E. – they either filled out a contact form or called you), this would mean that you would have at least 40 prospective clients that got in contact with your company. If you know your close rate, the rest as they say is history and you should know exactly how much you should be willing to spend to achieve the traffic required to reach your ROI objectives.

The Power of the Long Tail
As you probably know, consumers and businesses use more than one keyword to describe a product or service.  Generally speaking, the more generic a keyword is such as in the above example, the more search volume they exhibit.  However, there are likely other consumers searching for “minneapolis lawyer, minneapolis bankruptcy lawyers, etc” that also are potentially good keywords to target.  Fortunately, search engine optimization involves more than optimizing your website for a single keyword phrase.  However, keep in mind that your goal isn’t to achieve the most traffic, but get the most relevant visitors to your website that want to buy what you sell.

Do I need a new website?
Before you ditch your website in search of another one, you may be happy to hear that it may not be necessary to completely revamp your website to rank better in the search engines.  Many website’s can be updated with properly optimized html coding and copy without the high cost of a complete redesign.  But having a search engine optimized website is only half of the equation.  If you haven’t promoted your company online through any other means than just having a website, it’s likely that your website doesn’t have many external links (a critical component to increasing your rankings) pointing it.  Thus, your search engine optimization strategy may also require a focus to drive external links to your site through means of press releases, articles, social media, and directories just to name a few.

Where do I get started?
If your company doesn’t have a firm grasp on your website or search engine optimization, it would be best to contact an search engine optimization agency such as ours for a consultation. As every company’s website, ROI objectives, and search engine optimization needs vary, when consulting with any search engine optimization firm, you should be prepared to ask what kind of return your company should expect given your investment.  If your internal resources or search engine optimization company is unable to answer this question, I would recommend choosing another company.

As in all marketing practices, your website marketing initiatives should never go stagnant because your competition is likely on your heels and will take ground at your expense.  If your company hasn’t considered search engine optimization until now, it’s never too late to get started.