• Hamlet Batista , Wednesday, July 30, 2008 3:15 PM

While SEO may seem like a "free" marketing tool when compared to its increasingly costly cousin paid search, Paul Burani notes that the time and effort it can take to optimize a site can end up being quite expensive--particularly for advertisers that are outsourcing the work. And in some cases, the costs may actually outweigh the benefits.

For example, Burani says that if you haven't gained any insights from running PPC campaigns (i.e. conversion-inducing keywords, strong traffic sources, etc.) then your ensuing SEO efforts may not be as cost-effective.

Burani suggests a number of ways to determine the cost/benefit ratio of your SEO investment, the first of which is to estimate the value of one hour of time for each of the key people involved (including copywriters, Webmasters, link builders, etc.) Then, determine the value of each conversion. Then, assess a few competitors on things like inbound links and keyword-rich copy, and determine how much it would cost to have your team produce that level of content.

"Once you've accomplished this, an objective view of ROI is your reward, and you're essentially left with one of two results," Burani says. Either your efforts are cost-effective, or they're not, and you'll need to reassess the impact of certain keywords and tactics.

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