SEO: The New Establishment in Online Marketing
I'll get the disclaimer out of the way: I think the Million Dollar Homepage was a brilliant and cunning concept, and like many, I rooted for founder Alex Tew as his little boxes filled up with garish, cryptic signs.
The brilliance lay in the site's ability to run the gamut from creation to supernova in only a few short months - and making Tew a millionaire in the process. The cunning lay in the inventor's keen method of creating a concept that simultaneously raids the bank vault and boobytraps it so others will never enjoy the same haul.
As many predicted, wannabes (here are two examples, although there are thousands) learned that "first-mover" status really does mean something.
But wait. Even for the first movers, what exactly did they get? Here's what they saw, and what they have to look forward to:
Do any of the pixel buyers expect that line to shoot up again? Maybe a new PR campaign - something like "Hey, we're still sold out!"? I'm sure that many of the sites that spent $100, $500, even $1000 could have eeked out enough conversions to make it worthwhile, but 25 businesses spent $3500 or more, and some spent as much as $10-15,000 - some even after the initial spike. Ouch.
As SEO celebrates its 10th birthday, it's worth noting that online marketing dollars can be spent to give you a chart more like the following:
In online marketing, old-school, organic SEO isn't the only game in town, but it's one of the surest. It's like a solid investment in a fund with a proven track record. Pixel advertising, and whatever other flavors of the month that follow, are like scratch-offs. A few will win big. The great majority will lose.