It’s a classic marketer’s dilemma. You need to drive business to your Web site but need to justify your SEM cost by “proving” results before they happen.
Whether you are rushing to enter the Internet world, just plodding along, or building an Internet-based businesses from scratch, no one is really safe from the need to create some ROI scenario, nor should they shy away from it. Being able to estimate where you’ll be when you implement an SEO strategy only makes sense before you start investing precious time and money.
Unfortunately, there is not going to be a black and white calculation for your SEO return, as seen in this lengthy forum hosted by cre8asite. The sheer number of replies to someone wondering how to measure ROI will give you an idea of just how many ways there are to get to your rough estimate of where you think you’ll be.
Chris Boggs writes a more detailed ROI article for searchenginewatch.com . He calculates ROI by simply subtracting “conversion realized from organic listings” from Cost of SEO. But again, the generally iffy nature of how a company would get the “conversion” amount leads to more of an estimate, rather than a definite amount.
If you are interested in learning more about measuring your SEO ROI, Google offers helpful articles on their Conversion University website.
