Why are so many companies shifting marketing resources online? Because very low-cost lead generation tactics, like search engine optimization (SEO), deliver high quality leads at virtually no cost.
Yes, SEO takes time and technical smarts but you’re not shelling out big bucks.
In this survey by MarketingSherpa.com, B2B marketers were asked to rate the quantity and quality of leads generated by search engine optimization (the free organic results that appear on the left-hand side of search engine results pages) versus paid search on Google and other search engines.
Conclusion: Only 17% of marketers found leads generated by search engine optimization (SEO) a disappointment. But the quality did vary enormously.
Only 13% said leads were high quantity and high quality, 24% said leads were high quantity but low quality, 17% said leads were high quality but low quantity, while another 17% said leads were low quality and low quantity. (The numbers didn’t add up because some marketers didn’t use SEO.)
But it is interesting to see that the results for paid search via Google weren’t all that much more inspiring.
That’s why spending money on SEO in tough times can be a good bet, especially if you have a good in-house SEO expert to make sure your Web site hits the right keywords.
