Why can’t most search engine optimisation agencies promise you a return on investment?

You’re scared! No really, you are at least nervous! You can deny it to everyone around you but deep down you know the truth about your emotions; you’re at least worried. The future of the economy is uncertain, business confidence is lower than you have ever known it to be and even the mining sector is starting to slow down. Now, when your down in the trenches working as hard as you can to increase your businesses sales and profitability you have some pesky salesman on the phone telling you that you’re missing out on a whole lot of sales opportunities because you haven’t got your SEO right! That’s not that big of an issue until they start telling you that your competitors are ranking higher than you. No wonder the phones aren’t ringing like they used to!

Now they have got you cornered!  

So what is the salesman’s offering you? A position on the first page of Google? A yearlong contract that sounded cheap when you were focused on the monthly installment cost (and not the thousands of dollars it will cost you over the year)? Some strange marketing and web development jargon that sounds like a foreign language? You barely notice all of the important details of how this whole process actually works because the salesman is spending most of the time emphasizing how all of your competitors are ranking better than you; that means you’re missing out on sales right? The doom and gloom is so bad that you’re actually considering spending money on a service that you don’t even know anything about!

It’s time for you to fight back! 

We all like to believe that we make logical purchasing decisions. If you’ve ever read “Emotional Selling” by David Yule you’ll know that most purchasing decisions are motivated by two major emotions: fear and greed. I believe fear to be the number one motivator for purchasing SEO from agencies that can’t prove a return on investment for their customers. They’ll sell you on the position against your competitors but they won’t be able to tell you how many sales leads they can generate for you.

How do you get a return on investment from your website? 

It’s really simple! Your website must: 
1.  Capture traditional marketing sales leads

2. Generate traffic to your site through digital marketing strategies (mainly through Google searches, social media, email marketing or other websites) 

3. Effectively communicate your competitive advantage and 

4. Entice your customers to follow your calls to action and make contact with your sales team. 
The return on investment can be calculated through the number of sales leads generated and the cost of your website. A Google position is not enough to measure return on investment. (read more: Why do I have/ need a website?)

Don't get sucked in by SEO Marketers!