A survey of 2,500 small businesses by MerchantCircle/Reply.com, shows SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is THE ONE marketing channel they would pick if they could only choose one.
SearchEngineLand.com reported the survey, today, December 8, 2011.
The exact question asked of the respondents was “If you had to put all your marketing time and budget into only one channel, what would it be?”
The graphic below shows that SEO was by far the most common response to the question.
From an SEO practitioner’s point of view, this fortifies my faith in the rationality of small business owners (tongue in cheek). Now I’m a bit biased, but in all seriousness folks, SEO has all the benefits of the other marketing channels mentioned and fewer of their down falls.
With tools like Google Analytics, we can measure the return on investment to a high degree, unlike traditional media and social media. While paid search or (pay-per-click/ppc) is just as measurable as SEO, that traffic is turned off as soon as the campaign is stopped. SEO results tend to have considerable staying power, allowing new markets to be tapped as previous campaigns continue to pay dividends.
Also, SEO campaigns allow for incredible focus and efficiency compared to the other marketing channels mentioned. You can place your message/offer/web presence directly in front of a prospect searching for a solution.
As much as I am an advocate of SEO it is clear that the rise of social media in the next five years and beyond may change the dominance of SEO.
