SE organic results and conversion?

[activeco]

So, I finally decided to go into partnership to become a jubilary billionth Website Design and SEO company on the net. But this one is reaaaally good ;).

Anyway, seeing oversaturated SE related results, I am keen to know what can we expect particulary from search engines.
Regardless of position, what would be average rate of conversions vs. number of SE referrers?
Or how many clients landing to our site from search engine queries will convert?

Let's say the site will be very decent looking, average prices, US/Canada/Europe based.

[brian.mark]

That'll depend a lot on industry. Some industries see as low as .25% conversion rate, so you'd need 400 visitors to make a sale. Others see 10%, so 10 visitors nets a sale. Average numbers usually state somewhere between 3% and 4%, so you probably need 20 - 30 visitors to see a sale for an "Average" website in an "Average" market.

Brian.

[activeco]

Originally Posted by brian.mark

That'll depend a lot on industry.

Thanks Brian.
I understand that. I thought I was clear it was about "Website Designing" and "SEO" business. :)

Hope to hear some experiences.
And let's assume every unknown variable is in the average range.

[brian.mark]

Originally Posted by activeco

Thanks Brian.
I understand that. I thought I was clear it was about "Website Designing" and "SEO" business. :)

Hope to hear some experiences.
And let's assume every unknown variable is in the average range.

Website Design and SEO can be very different industries, which is why noting the particular industry is necessary. SEO is usually best done by reputation and not by website, so website conversions are usually pretty low... perhaps even lower than the .25% figure. It's really reputation that sells SEO.

Website Design, on the other hand, can be sold based upon examples. That can be in the 3% - 5% range pretty easily, especially if it's fairly affordable.

If you're trying to only get the gigs where you do both in their entirety, then it could very easily be .0025% conversion rate.

Brian.

[activeco]

Originally Posted by brian.mark

Website Design, on the other hand, can be sold based upon examples. That can be in the 3% - 5% range pretty easily, especially if it's fairly affordable.

If you're trying to only get the gigs where you do both in their entirety, then it could very easily be .0025% conversion rate.

Actually my estimates come along with this rate; One in 750-1,000 SE visitors, but I am a bit surprised with 3%-5% for doing websites.

Does anyone else have similar stats?

[RegDCP]

It depends on a lot of things.
The presentation of your copy. Your "call to action" and where it is placed. The overall impression of your site, even the colors can have an effect on sales.

I have some pages that present information on (affiliate) products that have click through ratios in the 80% range. Someone coming to my page is interested enough in the product to click through to the affiliate's site. In some instances sending the affiliate qualified visitors results in a conversion factor of 1% or lower. I think the highest is somewhere around 3%.

On my webdesign site 1000 visitors account for about 1 sale but people come to the site for different things, some for free info, some to find out about a CMS, and some activly looking for design work.

Reg

[incrediblehelp]

Lets clarify further. Are we talking PPC or organic traffic? I assume it is PPC so you better be doing better than .25%!

[activeco]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

Lets clarify further. Are we talking PPC or organic traffic?

Look at the subject of the thread. :)
But maybe you're right; I should have put it into the body too.

[incrediblehelp]

ah ha!

Well organic is going much less than PPC, but as you know it is different for everyone. You should find a happy ground by testing with PPC.

I am going through this with a new client right now. Client has no idea what a good conversion rate is so we go in and test with various keyword groupings, ad copy, landing pages, etc until we find a happy ground. Now with Google checking relevancy of the landing page, CTR is even more important. This landing page must be selling the keyword targeted properly to get the click through and sales you want.

One of the issues is this client has a lot of shopping cart drop offs. This usually leads me to believe there are issues when buying. Examples: prices to high, shipping cost to high, usability sucks, to many clicks to finalize sale, etc. Anybody else have experiences with fixing shopping cart abandonment?

[Keimos]

Hi activeco,

Anyway, seeing oversaturated SE related results,

Just been to marketing school. 5% return is considered good. Does not matter how many customers/visitors.

10% above average

More, happy bank manager.

There are no absolutes as figures do not take into account what you are selling, the cost, your sites presentation. ??? We would love to see.

The other factors that come into it are your competition, your product etc.

Organic SEO requires good copyright, sales require hard cash as organic will get you about 3% turnover combined with presentation. Buyers must like what you sell. Word of mouth will pick that ratio up.

You ask such an impossible question. If I sell a car that has a profit of 2000, I only need to sell one a month, if I sell a toy car I need to sell 2000.

Thats the bottom line.

Keimos

[TrafficProducer]

average rate of conversions vs. number of SE referrers?

Your site has to be found first, (SEO used) before any conversions can have any chance of taken place, (Good TARGETED Copy)

Therefore SEO is a must :)

[activeco]

Would anyone like to share his/her rate?

[incrediblehelp]

Actually I would like to see websites rate of conversion broken down:

Organic
PPC
Text Links
Banner Links
Other

SHARE SHARE!!

[RegDCP]

incrediblehelp,
I dont think you can judge conversion rates by the type of link that brought the visitor to the site.

IMO conversion is due more to the site itself and the way it presents the product and the call to action system.

There *might* be a difference between PPC and organic.
(But I also would be interested in stats) < Grin >
Reg

[incrediblehelp]

Originally Posted by RegDCP

I dont think you can judge conversion rates by the type of link that brought the visitor to the site.

Well I have to. If I am buying PPC and it is not converting I am not going to buy it anymore. Of course this is assuming the website is doing everything possible to convert the visitor like you have suggested.

I will always judge the quality of the traffic on conversions. If you don't how will you know to buy it or not, LOL?

[RegDCP]

Kind of like comparing apples to oranges isn't it?

Your PPC and organic may be for different terms and appeal to different markets.

Sure you can track conversions for PPC as you have the stats for referrals and can see how they convert, and you can do the same for organic, but unless the organic is for exactly the same term and displays the same way in the SE results, the results are going to be skewed.

Reg

[brian.mark]

Originally Posted by RegDCP

Kind of like comparing apples to oranges isn't it?

Your PPC and organic may be for different terms and appeal to different markets.

Sure you can track conversions for PPC as you have the stats for referrals and can see how they convert, and you can do the same for organic, but unless the organic is for exactly the same term and displays the same way in the SE results, the results are going to be skewed.

Reg

This is exactly why each type of traffic needs to be tracked individually. Skewed or not, you've got to base your decisions on what's occurring, not what best case suggests should happen.

Brian.