Channeling Marketing and SEO Efforts for Maximum Impact

It is hard to know how to spend your advertising dollar when you receive so many conflicting messages.  Should you focus on SEO?  Perhaps a pay-per-click campaign?  What about social media?  It is easy to become confused when you hear so many different stories about what can work for your law firm or business.  However, it is possible to determine how advertising time and money is best spent if you look at the impact of all your marketing activities collectively.

Micro-Managing and the Big Picture

One mistake some clients, particularly law firms, make when they look at their marketing strategy is to focus too much on one metric such as conversion rate.  When only one factor is considered, it is easy to draw erroneous conclusions.  Just because conversion rate is low does not mean that a particular campaign or tactic is not working.  Rather, it may mean that the other channels or activities in which you are engaged are getting the “credit” for your efforts.

In a recent article, one SEO expert likened a successful web advertising campaign to creating a good soccer team.  No one would think of creating a team of 11 goalies, for example, yet many people take this very approach when creating a marketing strategy.

Shades of Gray

One thing to remember when assessing any marketing strategy is that channels or types of advertising are not “all or nothing” propositions.  Each type of advertising may yield varying results.  Not only do results vary by overall numbers but they can also change from one website visitor to another.

When someone comes to a website, he or she may visit from several points of entry.  In addition, each person’s website experience varies based on his or her particular needs and preferences.  This means that a good website by definition works on many levels to draw in as many potential customers or clients as possible.  For example, a law firm website should not only focus on blogging or social media interaction but should also provide non-interactive anchor articles to create authority and provide resources for visitors.

Building a “team” of competitive advertising strategies means diversifying and measuring on several metrics, not just conversion.  Focusing your advertising efforts on one channel to the exclusion of all others can be a marketing mistake that could cost your law firm or business significant website traffic.