When it comes to reach your ideal prospects on Google and stay there, you have two basic digital marketing strategies: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising.
Both are valuable to get you on the top of the search results for targeted terms and in front of the targeted audience, when it executed strategically. Each has its own respective benefits and costs.
Well, now let's we discuss both local SEO & PPC and dig more information to learn them & differentiate them for the right choice of the most powerful traffic generating approaches.
Search Engine Optimization means optimizing website and content to get higher rank in organic search results for specific keywords on the top search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing.
And, conversely PPC means paying for advertising space for specific keywords in the down right side of the search results as well as above the organic search results.
As you can glimpse brief explanation above, you might choose SEO as the winner, due to its plus point of driving higher quality traffic and more trusting leads to your website. We generally ignore paid results during browsing the web or Googling.
And ton of data suggests that Search Engine Optimization results outlast trends, give your brand the meaning and impact that search engines and customers - notice. Its organic search results usually attract more clicks which enhance conversions and revenue, and eventually a solid ROI.
But, don’t make yourself seem stupid by thinking that Search Engine Optimization is free of charge. Here, it's notable that while the PPC entails directly paying the search engine for clicks on ads receives, Search Engine Optimization does also come at a cost. It is worth spending an extensive period of time and budget to invest for hiring a knowledgeable team to work for you. Ultimately, it's in small paid niche.
PPC's strong point is its speed and expansiveness. When you come with a PPC campaign, you can be listed at the top of search results quickly for a multitude of targeted terms. On the contrary, Search Engine Optimization is a long-term investment, where you have to wait at least three to six months, and it possibly will take over a year in this tough competitive market. So, businesses should not avoid PPC, just because of it can cost anywhere from pennies to many dollars per click.
Another major advantage of PPC is, it will provide clear, measurable results. It means you can accurately measure your spent on clicks, leads and revenue you generated in return.
Even, it plays a significant symbiotic role in Search Engine Optimization process and strategy. But if pay-per-click campaign is not done correctly, it can be very expensive and resulted in a depleted budget.
This marketing strategy takes many personal experience and constant testing, that's why many small businesses hire digital marketing firm that can manage it full time. Whether you can afford to spend at least $50 to $ 100 a day on clicks, the PPC is just directed yield results. Don’t take any risk if you have a smaller budget.
Google AdWords, Yahoo! Search Marketing, Microsoft adCenter are key players in the pay-per-click arena.
While pay-per-click is quickest way that gives new energy to your businesses digital marketing efforts with instant traffic, it will also give you great statistics and data that will directly inform your Search Engine Optimization efforts.
That doesn't mean, you disregard Search Engine Optimization. It is highly important but, if done appropriately along with Google algorithm, it can bring a solid return in the long run. The long term Search Engine Optimization strategy will bring you the most well-informed and experienced traffic, that will certainly turn into qualified leads. Moreover, your Search Engine Optimization efforts like backlinking, titles, improving page content, meta descriptions, etc. will straightforwardly help your PPC results, too.
The fact is that, making an "either-or" choice is not always compulsory, but a 'combination' choice can be quite powerful.
In the bottom line, I suggest to use both PPC and SEO as part of your digital marketing campaign. Start with PPC campaign to generate faster results and test which keywords convert better; and then try with SEO to be on the top spot for those keywords. A combination works sounds good, in fact it comes down to your budget and goals.