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Studies on ROI/Success Rate of SEO Website Business?

by Builder154
12 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I'm curious if anyone has done any studies on the outcomes of people who go into the business of building websites and using SEO to rank them and make money on affiliate offers, ads, etc?

I know I have seen such studies in other industries. For example, I've seen studies of how likely a new restaurant is to succeed, the factors involved, whether investing in a new restaurant business is wise, how it compares to other businesses, etc.

It seems like SEO and Website building of this sort is a very hyped business with all sorts of speculation and people claiming left and right to have the secrets. But in reality, I'm not sure very many people even break even at it. A lot of people make a huge deal about every tiny step toward that, which is nice motivationally, but I'm not sure if most, or even many, ever actually break even. I may be wrong but I don't know since I've never seen this actually studied.

And also yes I realize the success depends on factors like how hard one works, how many hours one puts in, etc. And of course any good study would account for these factors to remove bias in the study.

My main question really is how much this business (building sites to rank and make money, not talking about SEO consulting for others or training people or any of that) pays off, especially compared with other businesses (or compared to the hype you hear on forums). And I don't mean people's guesses or speculation. I'm looking for hard data. If there isn't any, there should be as this is a burgeoning business that I think those that analyze business should study objectively.
#business #rate #roi or success #seo #studies #website
  • Profile picture of the author Nicky Papers
    Originally Posted by Builder154 View Post

    My main question really is how much this business (building sites to rank and make money, not talking about SEO consulting for others or training people or any of that) pays off, especially compared with other businesses.

    I'm looking for hard data. If there isn't any, there should be as this is a burgeoning business that I think those that analyze business should study objectively.
    Most "other businesses" today realize they have to visible online today in order to stay competitive. Simply put, most real businesses don't think about the "SEO benefits" of promoting themselves online. They promote themselves to grow their businesses.

    Many people who "build sites to rank" don't treat their effort like running a real business. As soon as a patch of resistance is hit, they're looking for another profitable niche.

    As far as finding hard data, that's going to be tough. Marketers will be marketers and there's always an agenda behind creating a case study or presenting "hard data".
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    • Profile picture of the author Builder154
      Originally Posted by Nicky Papers View Post

      Most "other businesses" today realize they have to visible online today in order to stay competitive. Simply put, most real businesses don't think about the "SEO benefits" of promoting themselves online. They promote themselves to grow their businesses.

      Many people who "build sites to rank" don't treat their effort like running a real business. As soon as a patch of resistance is hit, they're looking for another profitable niche.

      As far as finding hard data, that's going to be tough. Marketers will be marketers and there's always an agenda behind creating a case study or presenting "hard data".
      I'm not talking about other businesses having online visibility. I'm talking about people building sites for the purpose of making money on ads, etc. and using SEO to rank them - kind of the bread and butter of this forum (microniche sites, authority sites, etc. created for ranking and revenue).

      I already addressed the part about whether people run it as a real business or not. I said things like that would of course be accounted for in the study. Any good study would of course measure things regarding that to see which factors matter and which don't.

      I don't know what you mean that it should be hard to find data due to marketers being marketers. I'm talking about academics. There are many people who study business, put out journals, do academic studies on these things. Therefore, we have lots of data about many many industries far more complex than this one.
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  • Profile picture of the author RogueOne
    Originally Posted by Builder154 View Post

    And I don't mean people's guesses or speculation. I'm looking for hard data. If there isn't any, there should be as this is a burgeoning business that I think those that analyze business should study objectively.
    That would be tough to compile as so many people never "register" their business in any way. All restaurants that start-up need permits, etc. so it's easy to keep track of the ones still in business after a certain period of time.

    Many people start, lose it all and quit very quickly without leaving any sign they were ever here.

    You would have to tap into personal information like Adsense earnings and the like, and I don't see that happening anytime soon.
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    • Profile picture of the author Builder154
      Originally Posted by RogueOne View Post

      That would be tough to compile as so many people never "register" their business in any way. All restaurants that start-up need permits, etc. so it's easy to keep track of the ones still in business after a certain period of time.

      Many people start, lose it all and quit very quickly without leaving any sign they were ever here.

      You would have to tap into personal information like Adsense earnings and the like, and I don't see that happening anytime soon.
      The study doesn't have to be secret. Presumably they would recruit people to participate in it. Studies are done on many industries, including even underground ones that definitely don't have people openly registering.
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      • Profile picture of the author RogueOne
        Originally Posted by Builder154 View Post

        Presumably they would recruit people to participate in it.
        But would that be a fair representation of the actual numbers?

        How would they demonstrate their success other than through payment/expense records?

        You might recruit 100 people that didn't have what it took due to the immeasurable intangible factors involved, or vice versa.

        It's just not structured enough to measure, in my opinion.
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        • Profile picture of the author Builder154
          Originally Posted by RogueOne View Post

          But would that be a fair representation of the actual numbers?

          How would they demonstrate their success other than through payment/expense records?

          You might recruit 100 people that didn't have what it took due to the immeasurable intangible factors involved, or vice versa.

          It's just not structured enough to measure, in my opinion.
          These are questions that academics deal with in research all the time. Not terribly difficult ones either comparatively. Like I said, they study much more difficult things to track than this. I think the methodology could be worked out. The interesting thing is just that it hasn't been looked into yet. But it should be as this is becoming a more and more common business with a lot of hype and speculation and people selling things and people taking risks in with a lot of potential upside and downsides.
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          • Profile picture of the author RogueOne
            Originally Posted by Builder154 View Post

            But it should be as this is becoming a more and more common business with a lot of hype and speculation and people selling things and people taking risks in with a lot of potential upside and downsides.
            What would you do with the data once collected?

            I guess I don't see the advantage.

            To give new comers a more realistic picture of what to expect?

            To debunk people who are making false or hyped claims?
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            • Profile picture of the author Builder154
              Originally Posted by RogueOne View Post

              What would you do with the data once collected?

              I guess I don't see the advantage.

              To give new comers a more realistic picture of what to expect?

              To debunk people who are making false or hyped claims?
              Yes to give people an idea of whether this is the right field to invest time and money into vs. others. And absolutely to give people better ideas of what claims are worth believing at not. You don't find that extremely valuable?
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              • Profile picture of the author RogueOne
                Originally Posted by Builder154 View Post

                Yes to give people an idea of whether this is the right field to invest time and money into vs. others. And absolutely to give people better ideas of what claims are worth believing at not. You don't find that extremely valuable?
                It may be for some people.

                I see your point now, I guess I just don't think in that way.

                It might be a good idea for an info. product like - "find out if IM is right for you - here are the facts."

                At any rate it's been interesting talking about it. I like when people open my mind to things I would never think of on my own.
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                • Profile picture of the author Builder154
                  Originally Posted by RogueOne View Post

                  It may be for some people.

                  I see your point now, I guess I just don't think in that way.

                  It might be a good idea for an info. product like - "find out if IM is right for you - here are the facts."

                  At any rate it's been interesting talking about it. I like when people open my mind to things I would never think of on my own.
                  No not an info product if by that you mean the usual WSO kind of thing. In fact, that's exactly what the studies would aim to put into perspective. I'm talking about research by legitimate academics who study business. Not a WSO by a private person trying to make money off of it by just giving their opinion.
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  • Profile picture of the author Builder154
    Originally Posted by Extreme DoFollow View Post

    This is an excellent question, and the answers in terms of SEO are, in most cases, a lot less romantic than you would originally think. The problem with a lot of newbies to SEO is that they get caught up in the 'competition' of ranking #1; they forget about the potential ROI of performing SEO on their site(s) and instead plow substantial amounts of money into arriving at this goal without considering whether they will ever make that initial investment back.

    People forget that whichever avenue you take in IM, it is a business first and foremost. Therefore, as in any business, ROI must be one of the first things you consider.

    Since it is often quite difficult to quantify the ROI of SEO due to the time delay in ranking, many people fail to keep track of their ROI and hence they are destined for failure. My number one piece of advice in SEO is in fact to always consider ROI first and foremost, as in any business.
    Thanks I agree. And I just feel like currently there isn't enough credible data to even make a good guess about ROI in so many cases in this business.
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