Marketing Concept: Don’t Rent Your Marketing, OWN IT! Search Engine Results (Part 2)
We’ve already introduced the concept of “rent marketing” vs. “own marketing,” relating online marketing services and traditional advertising methods to the real estate market and the benefits each can have.
This concept can be extrapolated upon in relation to search engine optimization.
If you’ve noticed the results you see after searching for something on Google, there are three parts to each search results page that yield different information: sponsored links, Google Maps listings, and organic results.
Sponsored links and listings are marked as such—displayed with a yellow background on the first three results and also in white along the side bar. The next portion is the Maps portion of Google, you know, the map that pops up on top and showcases local businesses in a Google maps window, kind of like a directory listing. The third are organic listings that yield ten results per page.—in other words, the regular search results that appear based on what keywords you’ve searched.
Of those three divisions of results, one is falls into “rent marketing,” while the other two definitely classify as “own marketing.”
The advertised sponsored listings are exactly that—essentially businesses are paying to be listed on the top of the page based on certain keywords. You can put as much money as you want in pay per click or cost per click services, but as soon as you stop paying, you’re returns will also cease, just like once you stop paying rent, your apartment will also cease (at least for you!)
In essence, rent marketing is instant, short term, and of higher cost. While pay per click services can be costly, the benefit is immediacy—your listing will display as long as you’re paying for it to.
Own marketing, however, is more cost effective, and while it will take longer to see benefits and returns, you’ll also see them grow as long as you have your website—even years and years after you paid for web development services.
Organic search listings on the first page of Google search results gives you the benefit of numbers…say someone’s looking for a restaurant in Burbank, or a chiropractor in Burbank. If your website comes up on the first page, way more people will visit your site and likely purchase your services than if they have to sift through hundreds of listings to find it.
If you spend your money wisely and have a marketing firm that pays attention to legitimacy and the technical details of search engine optimization services, you will see higher returns on your investment.
In other words, sometimes pay per click is really great—much like renting a beach house in Costa Rica can be great for a summer vacation—you will immediately reap some noticeable rewards for your money. But it’s definitely nice to own a home you can come home to that adds to your lifetime security and wealth.
Once you’re in those organic listings and Google Map results, you’re likely there to stay, barring anything catastrophic, you’re probably not ever going to lose your house.
So search engine optimization services are some of the biggest ownership opportunities to go after, as long as you’re smart about the SEO company you choose (you wouldn’t take out a loan for a house without doing some research first, would you?)
The web’s not going anywhere—it’ll only get bigger and more integrated into our daily lives as time ticks on—when it does, it’ll be awfully nice being grandfathered in with a website that’s equity will only grow over time.