How to choose Better SEO consultant?

Many companies develop different websites for lead generation and corporate. Not far behind from e-commerce website with regards to the simplicity of ROI calculations are websites developed to generate leads. If the value of the generated lead is known then the ROI can be easily determined. If the lead value is not directly linked to a dollar value, a dollar value will need to be determined. Let’s assume a website generates 25 leads per month pre-optimization, and each lead is valued at 50. The website was generating 1,250 per month before the search engine optimization campaign launched. Now, the website increases its leads generated to 100 per month post-optimization launch. We can then see that the search engine optimization campaign is responsible for an additional 3,750 in leads per month. If the optimization campaign cost 25,000, we can then estimate the ROI to be seen within 7 months.

Now let’s see how we calculate ROI for the corporate or information sites. These are sites essentially created for information and not for generating leads or sale. Hence the conversion parameters for these sites have to be defined. Here we consider value of a customer not the money he is going to spend on our product/service.

Let’s assume the website had unique 2,500 visitor sessions per month before the search engine optimization campaign was launched, and the website was converting 4% of its users. Before the SEO campaign was launched, the website was converting 100 users per month. After the campaign is launched, the website experienced increased visitor sessions up to 15,000 per month, with conversion rates increasing to 6% as a result of more targeted visitors (a very conservative increase). We can then determine that the search engine optimization campaign is directly responsible for converting an additional 800 users per month.

If we were able to determine a dollar value for each converted user, we could easily determine the campaign ROI. Let’s assume that we have determined that each converted user is worth approximately $10. Using this as a base, we see that the website was generating $1,000 per month before optimization, and $9,000 post-optimization launch. The search engine optimization campaign is responsible for generating an additional $8,000 per month through converting website users. If the SEO campaign cost $25,000 for the year, we estimate that a ROI will be seen within 4 months.

There are many tracking tools available to track the performance of the campaign. If a site owner was determined to track all traffic and measure ROI, the solution would be quite costly. First of all, you’re looking at a high end web analytics program such as Hitbox Enterprise or Webtrends Live. These typically cost anywhere from a few thousand to several thousand dollars a month.

Keywords and Landing Pages:

Which keywords are directing the visitors to which pages? Try to figure out which pages are attracting more traffic and why. Include more content if it’s saturated and create different pages for different products and services. This will again attract targeted traffic. Then keyword research should be planned according to pages.

Whether the call to action was followed for conversion:

Marketer expects certain activities to be done by visitors on the web site. These can be downloading stuff, registration, writing views or asking more information about the product. As an SEO consultant we must know whether the visitors are performing that activity or not. If not then try to find out the reasons behind it. There might be wrong selection of keywords or content might be not up to the mark. If we can figure out what making consumers going away from the site, we can work on that.

Qualified Traffic:

Qualified traffic means targeted traffic. You must know the demographics and psychographics of the traffic you are getting for the client. The conversion rate will be high only if you attract qualified traffic. There are several ways to get qualified traffic such as more precise and targeted keywords, well defined keywords etc.

You must be able to find out which keywords are getting qualified visitors and which are getting general visitors. The more the qualified visitors it is more beneficial for your site.

Converted traffic:

Conversion in terms of sales is undoubtedly the final aim of a marketer. So you must track how many sales you are generating for the client. Even if you are getting huge traffic but no conversions then it’s no use to the client. So track the actual sales and find out the way they are making sales.

Calculate the percentage of traffic converting into actual sales. As an SEO consultant our aim must be to increase the conversion rate for our clients and help him hit the optimal ROI mark via his search engine marketing efforts. Create value for the customer in terms of traffic, leads or customers.