| Month | Sales total | page traffic |
| 2010 july | 3 | 236 views |
| august | 4 | 248 |
| sept | 4 | 244 |
| oct | 8 | 210 |
| nov | 7 | 176 |
| dec | 7 | 163 |
| 2011 jan | 7 | 266 |
| feb | 6 | 207 |
| march | 7 | 302 |
| apr | 6 | 364 |
| may | 3 | 349 |
| june | 8 | 328 |
| july (20 days) | 7 | 205 |
So, the conclusion is that the correlation betweeen number of sales and traffic to the page is not even obvious.
Traffic did increase to the page thanks to the SEO campaign I think.
The investment for that increase is $180 + focus and energy
july-dec 2010 - 33 sales
feb-july 2011 - 37 sales
= 4 sales increase - $72 profit
$180 investment over that 6 months period.
In other terms, $108 loss over that period of time.
-----------
These are very rough stats!
I would need way more data to have a final 100% solid number.
But I do believe that the estimation is valid.
In other terms, it’s not like there is a high profit and not either a high loss.
If I consider a 1 year period instead and hoping that traffic stays equal, that would give me an almost equal gain and spending.
Now, there is no guarantee that rankings and traffic to this page would be maintained long term as google cna shift their algorythm any time.
I do feel that it’s a long term effort that could eventually pay off but not sure.
Right now, it’s totally equal - I don’t lose money - I don’t gain any either.
-----------
If I compare these SEO efforts with the publishing of new books on kindle and nook, over the same period of time, the profits and impact are way higher.
Ebooks Kindle + Nook profit estimation: $400/month so far
Jealousy For men - SEO campaign: -$18/month so far
------------
I know, it's possible that if I was putting long term 5 years SEO effort, multiplying campaigns, maybe I would get higher results and see solid sales increase.
But there are no guarantees - it could even go the other way round
The other element is that even on one campaign, the monitoring work that goes into checking results and seeing if the SEO firm does their work takes time and they don't deliver according to the plans.
This means that they did not follow up on their promises and expectations.
In terms of rank increase, only 10% of targets have been reached which is really not much when they in fact promised they could deliver a positioning of 80% of the keywords in the top 10.
so far, only 6 keywords reached the top 10 on google.
traffic increase with that?
that's a150 page views/month extra.
if all 60 keywords were in the top 10, the estimation would be an extra 150x10=1500 page views/month.
right now,
july-dec 2010 = 1277 page views = 33 sales = 2,5% conversion rate
Feb-July 2011 = 1755 page views = 37 sales = 2.1% conversion rate
average = 2.3% conversion rate
that's potentially 34 sales/month = $627/month
---------------
Now, the problem with this equation is that it seems way more challenging to reach the top 10 then they want to admit.
If I spent $180 for 6 keywords to reach the top 10, that means $1800 for 60 keywords to reach top 10 invested over a 1 year period.
the possible profits during that period could be $7534
so, in theory, this could work even if results are delivered with same rate as they have been over the last 6 months.
the challenge?
It took 3 months and $180 for 6 keywords to reach top 10
it could potentially take 2 to 3 years of SEO efforts for the 60 keywords to reach top 10
in that period, google could potentially change their algorythm a few times as well.
so, no guarantees.
But in theory, with the situation as it is now and the conversion rates I have now, this could work and generate a potential yearly profit of $5734.
conclusion?
It is a valid marketing strategy.
No high expectations and no guarantees but with the situation as it is now, this marketing strategy is valid and works in the background.
All I need right now is to invest $180/3 months into it and let it run in the background.
------------
What's important as well to remember is that over these 6 months test, no measurable direct profit has been made.
the intangible benefits could be some extra exposure and credibility for the site, maybe some new clients as a result of this campaign or maybe some more overall traffic.
These are all possibilities which are impossible to measure considering the numbers...
------------
PS: after checking the score for July 19, I have now 2 keywords in the top 10 for google instead of 6 like I Had June 7th - which in fact lowers quite a bit the results...
I could put again the same type of effort as I did before.
I have no realistic ways of increasing these results at this stage.