Pay Per Click (Paid) vs Organic Rankings (SEO)

Pay Per Click vs Organic

There always seems to be a debate among Internet Marketers on which is most effective. Ideally, it is the most advantageous scenario for an effectively marketed website is to show up in as many places as possible. A combination of Pay Per Click (PPC) and Organic Search Results on page 1 in search engine results will drive the most traffic. It is most effective when more commonly used search terms/keywords of your business are blended in with a compliment of niche area keywords. When I mention the Organic Search Results, I am referring to websites that are ranking high in the top 1 or 2 pages based upon the search engines algorithms that are not ranked based on paid advertising, but of their own merits of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The popularity of a site, age of the URL, incoming and outgoing links along with relevant content are just a few factors of a web page ranking.

Less than 20% of people who are searching online actually click on the paid internet ads or "Sponsored Listings" rather than the top ten Organic Results. Many people realize the Sponsored Listings are just advertising and don't hold as much merit as the Organic Results. However, there are some distinct advantages utilizing PPC/Sponsored Listings than in the Organic Search Results. One of them is showing up for more Keywords over a larger target audience, but if not careful it can be expensive with each click being charged to the advertiser. It is important to know that any PPC Campaigns must be properly managed either by yourself or the marketing company otherwise it can be very costly. Be aware that very competitive industry keywords can be ridiculously priced...for example I have seen some verticals have Keywords that were going for more than $20 per click...You can burn a hole through your budget if you aren't funded to handle that type of expense. Take the time to know what the cost per click is before you enter this type of campaign. However, the good news is a budget limit can be implemented for each month so the dollars allocated to the campaign is not exceeded. Another advantage to PPC is that you are guaranteed to be on page one and the position on the page will be based on how much an entity is willing to spend per click on the ad and quality score (which is will be another discussion in this blog later so stay tuned).

To show up organically takes more time & effort invested to achieve high ranking results, but once you achieve a high ranking on page 1 you will receive much at least 3 times higher conversion rate than PPC in most cases. However, an SEO company can speed up the process two fold if and individual or company is willing to pay for their efforts. If you are applying SEO techniques on your own, you will have to be patient for it will take a lot more time than working with an internet marketing company. Be aware in utilizing SEO techniques for ranking higher in the search results are that certain industries can be extremely competitive and if SEO efforts are not ongoing or aggressive enough long term, the competition will very likely pass over you in the rankings and possibly bump your website down several places or pages. So if you make the decision to invest time and or money in SEO for the Organic Search Results, it is a longer term strategy for it needs to be continuous. PPC can be a short term or long term strategy. PPC or Sponsored Listing strategy can start and stop whenever you like, but once you stop paying there is no further benefit. If it is decided to go with an SEO strategy and high rankings are achieved, if your SEO efforts are terminated, you will remain competitive for a little while until the competition catches up or the search engines find other pages more relevant.

It is extremely important think out the best strategy for your business to provide the best results. Let's face it, if a website or paid ad is not on the first couple of pages of the search engine results...no one is going to find your business! With no visibility, you will not attract any new business from the internet and essentially the website will just be a reference point for your current clientele base. Why not take advantage of the internet? If you have a website and are not marketing it via PPC Advertising or SEO techniques for search results, it is almost hopeless capture new business from the internet. If it is too expensive to do both, I highly recommend at least starting off with one strategy. If you aren't sure where to start, a marketing expert that is reputable in the industry should be consulted and or do some in depth research online. If is decided to market your website on your own without utilizing a marketing company, be prepared to spend some time in researching, implementing and maintaining either type of strategy. More businesses are hiring Internet Marketing staff in house, but it is not necessary to carry the overhead cost if you can reach out to a marketing company that can provide the results needed. There are pros and cons to each strategy, but if you have a combination of both SEO techniques to rank higher in the search engine results and a PPC campaign for paid advertising, more areas of the internet will blanketed to capture a larger audience. Therefore, the ability to convert those searches into new business for your company in increased dramatically! Best of luck in marketing your business and if you have any questions, please reach feel free to reach out.