 |
General QuestionsWhat will Vision do for me?Vision can help determine if your SEO strategy is working or will work. It is a tool to validate if you’re receiving sufficient return on your SEO investments. Of course, we recommend SEO as a viable new customer acquisition strategy. There are a variety of factors that can make your investment worthwhile. We encourage you to look at the entire picture when formulating your SEO strategy. Who is Vision for?If you’re a legitimate search marketing professional or company, you can gauge the effectiveness of client SEO strategies. Or, if your company is performing SEO in-house or working with an SEO vendor, Vision is also a helpful predictive tool. Search marketing training organizations can also benefit from Vision. How can I use Vision?Predict theoretical scenarios of an SEO campaign before it runs. Or, learn how changing a few key factors can influence a positive or negative return on your SEO investment. What does Vision cost?
Vision’s Beta version is free – allowing you to enter up to 50 keywords. Vision will be available to search marketing professionals as a private label product. If you have further questions about cost, contact us. Can I use more than 50 keywords?
We kindly ask your patience during this Beta version. Future versions of Vision will allow for more keywords. For now, please enjoy and tell us what you think. Specific QuestionsWhat is a keyword?A keyword can be a single-word, a 2, 3, 4 or more word phrase. Example 7 keywords: (1) insurance, (2) auto insurance, (3) auto collision insurance, (4) auto collision insurance premium, (5) auto collision insurance premium new driver, (6) auto collision insurance premium new driver california, (7) auto collision insurance premium new driver california good student discount. Each keyword or keyword-phrase separated by a comma, represents one keyword or one- keyword-phrase. Each keyword unit has an activity level, that is, a number of searches performed per-day Web wide in the US. A keyword such as “insurance” will have many more searches per day and is a very broad term. In contrast, the keyword phrase “auto collision insurance premium new driver california good student discount” is a very focused term and will yield few, if any, searches per day. Your business goals should match your keywords. For example, if you are an auto insurance company, the word “insurance” may be too broad for you as there are several types of insurance – life insurance, term insurance, home protection insurance, disability insurance and so on. If you have any questions about keywords, please contact us. How do I enter my keywords into Vision?Insert up to 50 keywords and keyword phrases in the Vision keyword form field, making sure that each is separated by comma. Every keyword should be related to your business goals. Vision will estimate the total number of searches performed Web wide in the U.S. for your list of keywords and phrases. If you have further questions about keywords, contact us. What do you mean by “percentage of keywords” in top 10?If you have a total of 50 keywords and 5 of them are ranked in the top 10 in Google, Yahoo and MSN, you would have 5% of your keywords in the top10. As you proceed in creating multiple predictive model variations, you will be able to increase or decrease this percentage estimate. Most Web sites built with search engines in mind will acquire approximately 5% of their targeted keywords in top 10 search results naturally, without performing any specific technical or editorial SEO tasks. The percentage of keywords in top 10 search results is an estimated value based on a variety of factors. SEO tools exist in the marketplace to provide you with a more accurate estimate based on your specific keyword rankings within the major search engines. If you do not have access to SEO tools as described above, we recommend using a conservative percentage such as 5% to begin your predictive modeling process. In general, the goal of providing technical and editorial SEO modifications to a Web site is to increase the percentage of keywords in the top 10 search results. After looking at the results of thousands of SEO projects, we have discovered that it is rare to acquire more than 80% of keywords in top 10. We recommend using realistic statistics between 5% and 75% to perform realistic predictive ROI results with Vision. If you have further questions about keywords, contact us. What is the number of keywords optimized?The number of keywords optimized can be an estimated value or a real value. If you are currently not optimizing any keywords (no ongoing SEO) then you will insert a zero (0) as the number keywords optimized. If you are optimizing for a specific number of keywords (SEO for 50 keywords), enter 50 and so on. As you proceed in creating multiple predictive model variations, you will be able to increase or decrease this number value. As a side note: if you have an existing SEO project and cost related to the project, you will be able to adjust both the number of keywords optimized and the cost per keyword to match Vision’s estimate with your real SEO costs. If you have further questions about the number of keywords optimized, contact us. What is a conversion rate?The conversion rate can be an estimated value or a real value. You can purchase Web analytics software that can provide you with a more accurate estimation based on your specific conversions within the major search engines. If you do not have access to Web analytics software as described above, we recommend using a conservative percentage such as .5% (1/2%) to begin your predictive modeling process. As you proceed in creating multiple predictive model variations, you will be able to increase or decrease this percentage estimate. Most Web sites built with user experience (UX) in mind will acquire better conversion rates as opposed to Web sites with no UX planning. A major determinant in conversion rates is the category your products represent such as Fashion and Apparel vs. Electronics, Catalog, Specialty, Outdoor Sports or Software. Keyword conversion rates for Fashion & Apparel can be as low as 1.4% whereas keyword conversion for Software can be as high as 30%. Conversions can be measured in many ways. In order to be meaningful, every conversion rate should have an associated monetary value. Some examples are:
In general, it is always best to know your specific conversion rates. As a predictive modeler, Vision allows you to change this percentage according to real or goal-oriented values. If you have further questions about conversion rates, contact us. What is Lifetime Customer Value (LCV)?According to Wikipedia, LCV is “a marketing metric that projects the value of a customer over the entire history of that customer's relationship with a company.” The lifetime customer value can be an estimated value or a real value. Determining the lifetime value (LTV) of your average customer can provide you with a more accurate prediction of ROI. As search is a valuable marketing tool acquiring new customers, you may want to keep them, as well. As you proceed in creating multiple predictive model variations, you will be able to increase or decrease your LTV estimate. If you do not have access to an LTV process as described above, we recommend using a conservative dollar amount to begin your predictive modeling process. What does LTV mean? To turn a profit in the long run, you must not spend more than the LTV to acquire each customer minus per customer cost of goods sold minus per customer operating expenses. As a most simplified and fictitious example: a. Number of customers = 7,500 It is always best to determine your specific LTV. However, as a business predictive modeler, Vision allows you to change this dollar amount as needed. If you have further questions about LTV, contact us. What is cost per keyword?The cost per keyword optimized can be an estimated value or a real value. If you are currently not optimizing any keywords (no ongoing SEO), then you will insert a zero (0) as the cost per keyword optimized. If you are optimizing for a specific number of keywords (SEO for 50 keywords), and you know the cost of your SEO project is $1,000, simply divide $1,000 by the number of keywords to calculate your cost per keyword optimized. Vision will use the cost of keywords optimized to calculate the estimated cost of SEO to be considered in the predicted ROI calculation. As you proceed in creating multiple predictive model variations, you will be able to increase or decrease this number value. As a side note: if you have an existing SEO project and cost related to the project, you will be able to adjust both the number of keywords optimized and the cost per keyword to match Vision’s estimate with your real SEO costs. If you have further questions about the number of keywords optimized, contact us. How much does SEO usually cost?There are literally hundreds of variations in the deliverables and pricing methods used in calculating cost of SEO today (2006-2007). At an advanced level, there are two basic ways of accomplishing SEO: in-house or through a vendor. Each has its own set of related costs or investment. As a rule of thumb, Vision uses a dollar amount per keyword per month which appears to come close to figures used by SEO vendors in general. Vision allows you to manipulate Cost of SEO to match your existing investment and/or calculate an estimated Cost of SEO based on current market examples. If you have any questions about calculating cost of SEO, contact us. |
