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Why Undertake an SEO Campaign?
SEO isn't for everybody, although most every business can benefit from utilizing at least some of the recommendations provided here. Generally speaking, if any of the following applies to your situation then SEO may be for you.
Too few visitors to your web site?
- Is your web site a money pit?
- Are your competitors succeeding with attracting new customers through their web sites but you're not?
- Are customers telling you that they couldn't find your web site?
- Are you frustrated when you see your competitors listed in the search engines, but you're not listed or they're listed ahead of you?
An important rule to keep in mind is that customers can't buy what they can't find.
Even more important is to recognize that more and more of your customers have increasing expectations that they will find you and information about your products or services online.
Statistics show an ever-increasing number of consumers are using the internet to find goods and services - 83% have used the internet to research a product or service before buying it. [1]
Which means that search engines are replacing the role once played by Yellow Page directories. Moreover, there are increased expectations among consumers that they will find what they are looking for when they use the internet to research their purchase decisions. The following is taken from the Pew Internet Project and is based on data for American consumers, however Statistics Canada data shows the same or greater trends among Canadian consumers, particularly in British Columbia and Ontario.
Trend in Search Engine use:
"Search engines have become an indispensable utility for Internet users... In all, 85% of American Internet users have used an online search engine to find information on the Web and 29% of Internet users rely on a search engine on a typical day." [1]
Trend in consumer expectations:
"All of this adds up to high expectations about finding product information online. Fully 63% of all Americans say they expect to find information at a store's Web site about a product they may want to purchase or learn more about. This breaks down to 79% of Internet users saying this and 38% of non-Internet users saying they expect to find product information online. And success rates run high for online purchases; 85% of those who have ever bought products online say that they "always" or "most of the time" able to find and buy the products they seek. Three in ten (29%) of online buyers say they always find and buy the products they look for online." [2]
If you needed information about a product or wanted to buy a product from a store, would you expect to be able to do so on the store's Web site? |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
All |
InternetUsers |
Non-Internet Users |
|
Yes, would expect |
63% |
79% |
38% |
No, wouldn't expect |
32 |
18 |
53 |
Don't know |
5 |
3 |
10 |
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Survey, September 2002. Sample=2,092 adults, 1,318 Internet users. Margin of error is ±2% for full sample and ±3% for Internet users. |
|||
Trend in consumer behaviour related to online search results:
"With many people relying on the Internet for product information, it is not too surprising that having an online presence - even if a store's Web site is not transactions-enabled - helps bring people into merchants' doors."
We presented Americans the following scenario about merchants' online presence:
"If a store provided only product information online, but did not sell products on its Web site, would you be more likely, less likely, or would it make no difference to you? About half of Americans (46%) said a Web site - even one that did not permit online purchasing - would make it more likely that they would go to the physical store to but the product. Only 6% said that such a Web site would make it less likely that they visit the store, with 45% of Americans saying it would make no difference. These numbers are the same for Internet users and non-users alike. In other words, having a Web site helps a business even if the site does not enable transactions." [2]
If a store provides product information, but does not sell products online, are you more or less likely to go to the physical store to buy products there? |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
|
All |
InternetUsers |
Non-Internet Users |
|
More likely |
46% |
47% |
46% |
Less likely |
6 |
7 |
4 |
No difference |
45 |
44 |
47 |
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Survey, September 2002. Sample=2,092 adults, 1,318 Internet users. Margin of error is ±2% for full sample and ±3% for Internet users. |
|||
Trend in consumer confidence with online commerce:
"Even with so many dot-com companies going out of business in the past two years, online purchasing by consumers has followed a steadily upward path. In March 2000, 40 million Americans - or 48% of Internet users - had purchased a product online. That number grew to 72 million - or 62% of Internet users - by the beginning of October 2002. This growth has occurred at a time when the United States has suffered a mild recession and tepid subsequent economic growth, and as consumer confidence has sagged."[2]
"The main reason for the growth in the population of e-consumers is increasing comfort with online transactions for Internet users. Novice Internet users are hesitant to conduct transactions online, as they worry about the safety and security of sending a credit card number over the Internet. As they learn from friends and family that online transactions infrequently result in credit card theft - only 3% of Internet users have had a credit card number stolen online, according to our findings in 2000 - they make that first transaction. Once that barrier is crossed, logging on to buy something becomes routine for Internet users." [2]
"Consumer comfort with the online world breeds growing confidence in ecommerce, even in the face of general declines in consumer confidence. This explains the growth in consumer buying online; according to BizRate.com, online retail sales in the United States totaled $10 billion in the third quarter of this year, a 37% increase from a year earlier." [2]
Sources
- [1] Taken from the following report: "Search Engines: A Pew Internet Project Data Memo, July 3, 2002"
- [2] Taken from the following report: "Counting on the Internet: Most expect to find key information online, most find the information they seek, many now turn to the Internet first, December 29, 2002" Pew Internet and American Life Project - http://www.pewinternet.org
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