While most of the U.S. braces itself for a bumpy economic ride in the months (can’t bring myself to say “years”) to come, those who rely on advertising dollars and sponsor support for their livelihood are arguably the most nervous. I wouldn’t want to be an employee at Countrywide either.
Search engine optimization pros (SEOs) don’t seem too concerned though.
Those who oversaw online marketing budgets from 2001-04 (the worst of times) remember how important search traffic was to staying afloat. During this time, I, for one, was able to drastically cut expenditures, while increasing traffic and helping drive revenue, due in significant part to search traffic and exposure. Pay-per-click advertising, for instance, with its 5-cent per visitor costs, were a Godsend.
When businesses are confronted with a marketing expenditure in tough times, the most cost-effective options usually win, putting luxuries on the backburner. Exhibit at a tradeshow or better optimize our Web site? Drop bucks on a six-month commitment to a billboard or better optimize our Web site? Buy a display print ad or better optimize our Web site? You get the idea.
In addition to expensive offline options, PPC is even getting prohibitive for many advertisers. It’s not uncommon for an advertiser to outspend their SEO budget by a 10-to-1 margin versus PPC, while obtaining more traffic organically. In tough times, I’m betting growing percentage of funds will come out of PPC and put into SEO. More and more marketers will ask themselves, “What if we put $10K into obtaining longterm, free, organic traffic this month instead of sending it to Google over and over?”
Don’t get me wrong, many industries will thrive. (Healthcare saved a lot of us, remember?) Offline marketing will continue. New online initiatives and PPC strategies will live on. Many will dive into affiliate programs, application development and widget-making for relief.
In an ever-tightening economy, however, many SEOs are rejoicing.
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