I often get asked the question: “Which is better Search Engine Optimization or Pay per Click Advertising?” The truth is that both are excellent online marketing strategies and it all really depends on your existing circumstances, goals and budget.
Pay per Click
If you need instantaneous traffic then PPC is definitely the way to go. Most new sites on the web need visitors immediately so that they can get cash flow rolling and decent presence on the web. For online start-ups it’s also a wise investment as business owners only pay per click and not per impression (the number of times the ad shows up).
The bidding system and structure of PPC Campaigns also allows for clever marketing and strategizing. You can start with one bid amount for a keyword phrase, wait a couple of weeks to see performance and then lower or increase your bid amount according to your performance and budget. Remember that it’s not always an ideal strategy to be #1 in Google ads and research shows that positions 3, 4, 5 and 6 also get good ROI.
PPC also gives you the opportunity to write different ad variations and define unique landing pages and this allows you to measure different marketing variations and enables you to maximize your conversion rates. With PPC you can constantly refine your campaign so that you are always improving on your ROI.
Search Engine Optimization
SEO is a natural process and it does take time for organic rankings to occur. Although patience is required, SEO is the most cost-effective online marketing strategy available to online businesses. The simple reason being that once you achieve top-10 rankings you own a piece of prime online ‘real estate’, you are able to market your site 24 hours a day and there is no direct cost. Your long-term marketing costs will decrease over time as your online presence expands and your SEO campaign costs remain constant.
Additionally, with a well-run SEO campaign your website can rank for hundreds if not thousands of relevant keyword phrases, the sum of which means phenomenal volumes of targeted traffic to your site. Also, ranking in the natural results is more credible; research shows that browsers click on natural results more than 60% of the time.
In Summary
If you need traffic this minute then PPC is a clever strategy to pursue it also allows you to refine your marketing strategies so that you continually improve your ROI. SEO on the other hand is a long-term strategy that is more cost-effective than running a PPC Campaign. SEO also delivers more traffic in the long run.
With 90% of all web traffic originating from the search engines, running a concurrent PPC and SEO campaign is the ultimate strategy. If you have the budget and want to maximize your online exposure then go for both marketing strategies.
