Return on investment through online

[namesweb]

Bit of a hypothetical one here:

So I'm trying to pick between two suppliers to print my packaging for a product we're trying to launch.

The difference between the two printers comes to around £500.

Supplier 1 works with huge companies (some of whom started at the same size as us). We've seen quality samples from them and they've got the additional 'corporate' feel. £2k all in for first batch run. There could be the potential (at least we're hoping) that by using them, they may be able to get us in touch with some of their now huge clients, and perhaps we might be able to develop some sort of relationship with them to whom we can ask questions- it's always easier when you've got a name after all - it's the same category of products but a different niche, with no direct link nor tangible segue way into our product range)

Supplier 2 works with slightly different businesses, but would still deliver a perfectly good product for us, though more on a transactional basis than a relationship building one. £1.5k all in.

What I'm interested in finding out is, assuming we forgo the potential to build relationships by choosing supplier 1 and went with the cheaper supplier 2, what sort of return on our investment would £500 make if we invested it into SEO or some sort of online campaign?

Of course, highly subjective, but still interested to know what sort of return people have had to this sort of investment in SEO - I do understand that this is seen as a minimum monthly cost for good quality SEO, but if we considered this a one off spend, could that bring in any level of sales worth turning down, or is £500 better spent using a more relationship based supplier?

Late night musings I guess! Better than watching s**** on the telly I suppose...

 

[Michaeljonescsuk]

with the investment of £500, I can certainly point you in the direction of good business opportunities through an online marketing campaign. if you want to discuss this more, give me a call.... 02920 855175 (Michael Jones) and yes I agree it is much better than looking at the crap on tv!

 

[namesweb]

Thanks, but more trying to weigh up where we should spend our cash.

I suspect there's no real answer to this, and it depends entirely on gut feel; i.e which feels better.

Anyone got any advice on how to approach this decision?

Choices are (if first post was too long!):

1) Spend £500 more with packaging printer who might help us make some potentially useful connections who may be able to advise us on scaling, or just be a helpful person to turn to when needing advice (tenuous as to whether we'll get that, but worth the risk?)

2) Go with an out and out packaging printer who won't be able to do that, but costs £500 less, which could be put to SEO or some sort of marketing spend.

 

[Michaeljonescsuk]

Id go with option two personally, as even though your not getting the useful connections that you need you are still putting your name out there. With an SEO/ direct marketing campaign (whether email or cold call) where I would say is the best success rate, then your guaranteed some serious client base enquiries with SME's and work your way up from there. But again like you said, its all about your gut feeling and what you feel comfortable doing.

what sort of industry are you in?

hope this helps

 

[boring-friday]

Go with 2, highly unlikely supplier 1 will get you any clients. £500 on SEO, literally nothing if you use a agency/£100 a hour white hat freelancer. Better off putting it on amazon and giving out discount copies for reviews.
Depends on how hard the keyword you want to rank, basic guide to see, check the first page:
1-3/10 difficulty= no big sites on the frontpage, keyword not in the title
4-6= couple of big sites on first page, all small-medium sites targeting the keyword but not many links to the actual page.
7-8= few big sites on first page, all medium size sites have quite a few links to the page
9-10= lots of big sites with links going to the actual page (never ranking this)

 

[Steve Alphabet]

Here's another idea for your £500.

What's your conversion rate at the moment, eg how many of your website visitors go on to buy/contact you?

For argument's sake let's say you've got 1,000 website visitors a week. Twenty-five of them buy your product, giving you a 2.5% conversion rate.

You've got 2 ways to double your conversion rate:

1) Attract another 1,000 weekly visitors
This is the SEO option. It's hard, expensive, time-consuming, with no guarantee of success.

2) Double the number of conversions from 25 to 50
This is the CRO (conversion rate optimisation) option. This is about finding where your website is leaking visitors/money... and plugging the holes.

You can do it by looking at your analytics to see where and when people are exiting your site. You can test different versions of your landing pages/emails/homepage until you find the best performer. You might find conversion drops sometimes, but you can always revert back to your original version and try something else.

Maybe that's where you should invest your £500...

 

[iamchrisgreen]

£500 is a measly amount to spend on SEO as a one off hit.

But you could spend it on a decent camera and make some short videos about yourselves and your product.

 

[neils3]

SEO takes time and effort, £500 is not going to be enough and yes usually that's the monthly starting point for any good agency (if not higher).

You could also use the £500 for Paid Advertising but be careful (e.g.Google Ads, Facebook Ads) - It's immediate and you have control. Even if it's just a few hundred a month, at least you can start getting hits / feedback and who knows your experience may justify whether you need to spend more. If you have little experience I'd recommend getting an expert to help you.

 

[Andriusgr]

£500 is average mothly price for seo service in uk. Would say cheap. But what I would suggest is to find you a good seo consulant. If you are small business you are very likely to be able to manage seo for yor self but you just need a training for it. I do recomment you to read online and watch google webmaster videos. They are vital and free. If you got any more question just send me a PM

 

[Peter Durrant]

As said, it all comes down to return on investment, and this is what you should focus on above all else at the end of the day.