Can Effective Search Engine Optimisation Be Unpaletable?

As with most things Internet based there is as much data around the need to optimise a website as is possible to disseminate, understand and act upon, but, is it possible that there are some organisations and websites that need to carefully weigh up the fallout of a successful Online Marketing campaign.

Current Internet wisdom would lead you to believe that the only way to do any trade on the web is to be listed highly enough through successful Search Engine Placement that your site appears on page 1 of Google. Any and all businesses are persuaded to get optimisation services via a decent SEO Company and carry out a process of ensuring that their website is discernable to the virtual market. However an effective Online Marketing promotion may well open the site and the business to much greater numbers of possible clients than can be dealt with using the existing business processes, resources and structure.

Unlike traditional retailing, where, to some degree, business hours and the availability of the goods or service can be controlled, the fully optimised website is open for business 24 hours day, across several time zones and with a possible market of millions. If the optimization process has been adopted instead of pay per click, it cannot be switched off. Even if the work is stopped, it will take weeks, maybe a number of months before the business drops off page 1.

The initial results of a thriving Search Engine Placement plan will be a massive increase in hits on the website and almost certainly a massive increase in the qualification and follow up of larger numbers of leads. The question lots businesses will have to ask is whether they are able to handle larger numbers of enquiries and demands for information, many of which will not result in a sale.

If the Search Engine Optimization Company has done a good job then increased visitors should, (assuming all other areas of the plan are in place), lead to massive increase in the volume of sales. Sounds reasonable, but the question is can the organisation support this increased activity, I would suggest there is nothing that is more frustrating for both sellers and buyers than to have a queue of people ready to buy and the Company being unable to meet demand. In most cases this will lead to clients deserting the Company in question and going to where they can get the service or product, even if they have to pay a higher price.

The problem of course is that there is not a lot a organisation can do about the volume of visitors once it hits page 1, the question the marketers need to ask themselves in these companies is whether they must on page 1 at all.

The often quoted statistic of over 90% of all purchases being made from page 1 is only appropriate if a part of the remaining 10% is all you need to meet your business objectives. Analysis of the market may show that sitting on page four, five or six may be all that is needed. More is not necessarily better.