We all know the tale about the race between the tortoise and the hare. While most of us might agree that slow and steady wins the race, how many of us would be willing to “bet on” the tortoise with our marketing investment?
My estimate is not many and that is a BIG mistake.
The Internet offers these two competitors for your online marketing spend. The Hare is Google pay per click and the tortoise is search engine optimization.
We own over 45 websites and we talk to hundreds of clients a year. Which has convinced us; that most people are chasing rabbits and not doing things to grow their business in a systematic and cumulative manner, like a good tortoise.
I understand the “rabbit psychology” and thought process. The economy stinks. You are desperate. As a result, you have no patience for a long term marketing plan. But the fact is, many people turn into “long term rabbits” for their entire careers… and are constantly running out of gas.
Marketing rabbits are looking for short profitable transactions (fixes) and not long journeys or solutions. I hear their battle cry everyday… “I will give you money only if you will give me my best customer, immediately!”
The problem is that when potential customers (just like you) search online, they are not initially looking for transactions. What they are looking for is; an education, an understanding and a logical way to make a comparison between potential products and service providers. The more “personal” their needs are, the more tailored your products must be. Boilerplate is universally ignored.
After an internet browser is satisfied with their research (just like you and me) they are happy to open their wallet and buy. But there has to be a compelling reason and not just an ad. Good web content and search engine optimization provides a real pathway to long term success.
There have been some very interesting studies about consumer buying behaviors online that nearly no one knows about, nor has talked about.
Studies that indicate that…
#1 The 10th ranked organic search position in Google search gets more click thru’s of real customers than the #1 paid search rank. (Big surprise, people avoid advertising and want an education).
#2 50% of online users have NEVER clicked on a SINGE banner ad. (There is a strong resistance to being SOLD).
#3 Some folks are eager to click on your pay per click ads… they are your COMPEITORS. Competitors will often click on your paid ads to: (a) see who is competing in their market or (b) burn a little bit of your marketing budget and lower your return on your marketing investment.
#4 The higher the price point, the more “research” is required to make a decision and the less effective a pay per click ad will be. If you are selling low cost commodity brand name widgets than maybe, pay per click is the way to go. But if you are after the big bucks your buyer is not an idiot and will not likely respond to idiot pay per click marketing offers.
#5 When your energizer bunny’s pay per click budget runs out your marketing campaign freezes up and can’t take you over the finish line.
#6 Investments in search engine optimization are cumulative and have a long life. On one of our websites we optimized for important keyword phrases years ago. Today, we are still getting steady free traffic. On certain phrases, the same traffic would have cost us tens of thousands of dollars in pay per click costs. But because we were a “patient turtle” we invested early in our long term success and our competitors didn’t.
In addition, after we optimized for less than a hundred major keyword phrases we “Hit the Jackpot” and Google gave us free traffic on nearly 4,000 other keyword phrases that were related to our niche business. Google gave our tortoise a marketing jetpack!
They will do the same for you if you aspire to be a tortoise too.
The question is: Are you short term greedy, like the hare?
Or long term greedy, like the tortoise (and me)?
It’s your race, your business, your money and your call.
Got Questions: Call Brian French 813 944-3190
