SEO Versus PPC Marketing

The Pros and Cons

No online business can flourish without a healthy dose of visitors to their website on a daily basis. As such, a ton of money is spent each year on marketing method designed to do just that. While many different methods exist, the fact is that the majority of visitors arrive at a website via the major search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, and the rest. It should come as no surprise then to hear that most businesses throw their marketing dollars at the search engines in order to get seen, with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) the most commonly used methods in online marketing.

Both techniques will work when done correctly, but many businesses labor over the decision of which way to go. There are a number of factors to take into account before making that decision, as each method comes with a list of pros and cons, which need to be paid attention to before spending a penny. Most businesses that choose to market online have a strict budget that need to be adhered to, which is where the first element comes into play with SEO and PPC.

An SEO campaign can essentially be up and running without investing a dime, whereas a PPC campaign needs to be set up with a specific budget in mind. The major difference here is that your PPC campaign can show almost immediate results, while the SEO campaign takes time to build and deliver. While that may sound like the decision is a no-brainer, you need to keep in mind just how much it can cost to go the pay per click route. If you are in a highly competitive niche, the cost of acquiring relevant keywords can quickly add up and take you over budget.

On the plus side, you will only end up paying for ads that are actually clicked on, which means that the person clicking through is most likely someone interested in what you have to offer. On the other hand, a big part of any SEO campaign is the creation of quality content that has those same keywords placed within. Great content is made to be shared, which means it can be delivered to all  the major social media sites. Again, anyone that clicks on the links created is also likely to be someone interested in your product or services, only these clicks did not cost you anything other than the time to create the content.

Summary

Both campaigns are difficult to set up and get right, which is why so many companies out there now offer professional SEO and PPC services. If you are looking for a quick burst of traffic that converts, PPC may be the way to go. If, on the other hand, you want to grow your audience organically over a period of time, SEO will help you do that. The decision that you make really depends on what it is you want for your business, with many now deciding that a little bit of both is a good idea.