Have companies become too dependent on search engines for their traffic? The consistent rise in search marketing budgets and the money pouring in to Google and Yahoo! coffers for paid ads suggest that the answer is a resounding yes. This Alertbox article offers good data about PPC, resulting traffic, conversion rates and how usablity can increase your ROI. Nielsen does mention organic listings, almost in passing, and says they cannot be relied on as they could change at any time. This answers one question I have had for years - why do companies pay so much money for PPC when organic search gives better results? 
I had suspected that companies feel they can't control organic search results, so they see it as too much of a gamble. I have to disagree. Sure, search engines do updates and change algorithms. But this should not frighten you off going for organic listings. When your site is really optimized according to the search engines guidelines, and you provide content users find valuable, you get good rankings. And they can be stable. Nielsen points out that getting the traffic to your site is only half the battle - when you do usablity studies and fix obvious user issues, your conversion rate can go from one percent to two percent, making your internet marketing strategy profitable. I did like his suggestions for alternative ways to drive traffic to a site. A good online newsletter is a must, particularly if you have a BtoB audience. The business to business marketing study published last year found that BtoB buyers find almost twenty percent of their pre purchase info in email newletters. I am looking forward to Nielsn'e usability study on RSS. We have found the addition of RSS Feeds to be one of the most successful ways to increase the effectiveness of your internet marketing strategy. | 
