Today’s article is about two specific powerful areas of digital marketing: search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay per click (PPC). If you are a business owner who wants to grow your business, it’s quite likely that you’ve heard about the debate between SEO and PPC.
Both are very popular strategies that businesses use to drive more traffic and attract more leads to their website, which translates in an increase in sales and top revenue.
While both methods are very effective, there are some key differences between them and the one you pick may be based on your individual business needs, current strengths and limitations.
Below we have captured some of the key pros and cons for each method which hopefully enable you to make a more informed decision to determine which one might work best for you.
What is an SEO Strategy?
An SEO strategy will focus on driving organic traffic to your website, and it involves optimising your individual webpages to get your website ranking on the top of the search engines.
There are different strategies to obtain this, such as implementing targeted keywords, acquiring relevant backlinks, blogging, GMB and more. The higher you rank, the more traffic that you obtain back to your site.
The Pros of Using SEO
- It has a stronger return on investment than traditional marketing if implemented well
- It’s a cost-effective method with an affordable kick-off expense
- It’s a long-lasting strategy that enables you to maintain a top position in Google and continue to generate traffic to your site
- An SEO strategy is more stable than PPC and will typically hold if you want to pause the campaign
The Cons of Using SEO
- It takes time to see results (sometimes it can take some months)
- It’s an ongoing strategy that requires you to continuously optimise and update your site to keep the rankings and the authority
- It’s a very time-consuming method that required a lot of effort to set up and maintain
Is SEO The Right Strategy for Your Business?
SEO can be the right strategy if what you are after are consistent results and are willing to put the effort into actually seeing them. It’s also beneficial if you want to increase your brand awareness and build trust and credibility with your audience.
What is a PPC Strategy?
The PPC strategy is all about displaying ads on search engine results (SERP). It involves bidding or paying for specific keywords that relate to your products or services so that your website appears on the top search engine results. Each time someone clicks on your ad, you have to pay.
The Pros of Using PPC
- It’s the quickest and most effective way to increase traffic and drive more enquiries to your business
- You have more control and you can scale it. You will set up a budget at the beginning and can decide to stick to it
- You can reach a targeted audience on Google Search
The Cons of Using PPC
- It’s more costly than an SEO strategy. You could end up spending thousands of dollars quickly without increasing your ROI if not done properly. You need to pay each time a user clicks on your ad and the more money you pay the better results you’ll see. Competition for popular keywords is fierce and you may end up needing to pay more down the line to continue seeing results.
- It only works when your campaign is running, the moment you pause it or switch it off, you stop seeing results
- Competitors can increase your clicks by manually clicking your ads which can dramatically increase your costs
- It can become a very time-consuming strategy. You need to carefully select your keywords, monitor the performance and ROI and make tweaks accordingly
Is PPC The Right Strategy for Your Business?
PPC is the right strategy if you want to see some fast results, let’s say you want to promote an event or launch a product. It can also be the right strategy if you want to target a very tailored audience or if you want to rank for a specific keyword.
Need More Help Choosing?
At eWebsites we are experts on helping business owners choose the correct marketing strategy that will drive the best results to their business. We specialise in SEO and PPC and can help you craft a tailored strategy to boost your results.
Contact the digital marketing company Melbourne or call us today to discover how we can help
