They say that 74.5% of all statistics are made up on the spot*. At the very least, there is a tendency for people to focus on the stats that prove their point, even if they are not pertinent to the higher level aims of a project.
I was reminded of this reading a case study for a web design company recently, citing stats about visitor numbers on a client site up 20% and page views up by a similar amount compared to ‘the same time last year’. Two points:
- A 20% increase is not very good in a year, unless you have a very mature website which is already performing well.
- Web visitors and page view increases do not necessarily equal a successful website. How about sales enquiries?
Google Analytics allows us all to measure so much about our websites, much of which we can’t make head nor tail of. There is also a lot it doesn’t tell you, but it shows enough to get feedback about what to do next when it comes to developing your website.
Me, I am more concerned about tangible feedback from web analytics, such as sales leads. They are the ones that lead to the holy grail of new customers.
Where my websites sit in Google (and for which specific key phrases); or how many visitors and page views I am getting; is a means to an end. It’s not success in itself.
It’s like a football manager telling an interviewer after a match how well his team played, even though they lost.
As a business owner, sales manager, or marketing manager, you should know if your website is performing. Forget the spin on the stats – are you getting return on investment?
Return On Investment
An SEO consultant can offer you value. They’ll cost money but they should be able to back it up with value. But beware… there are a lot of people who say they can do it… who can’t. Or, they may just offer you non-tangible results.
Ask how many realistic enquiries they think they can deliver. It’s a guessing game at such an early stage and they should ‘er on side of caution rather than promise you the earth. For many small businesses, for instance, the cost of the consultant versus the enquiries they will ultimately deliver is a fine line in terms of getting your money back in new business.
Example SEO Project for SME
I’ve just taken on a small business client on a retainer. Basically, the project needs to fit his budget, otherwise the project won’t last long and I’m not cheap so we compromised so I can prove a point.
This guy is a man and a van business, with an average sale price on his service of £40-50 working across Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey.
- He can currently do 4-5 visits a day – that’s 25 a week.
- If I can get him 5 leads a week, that’s 25% of his workload. That’s a 1000% revenue generation to cost ratio.
- If I focus his SEO to more specific (and closer) geographical regions, he can add in at least 2 more appointments per day by cutting down travelling – that’s an additional £500 per week.
- His business model is ripe for repeat business and up-selling. By intelligently collecting data, he could be saving time and effort looking for new business.
Now, doesn’t that sound more interesting that I can get you 20% more website visitors? You know where I am if you want to talk.
* Gotcha!
