Comparing SEO and PPC Advertising

There are different ways to enhance the online visibility of our website. Two common methods are pay per click advertising and search engine optimization. We should be able to use both, so the profile of our website can be maximized. Even if business owners are affected by budgetary constarints, it is not impossible for us to implement both. However, we should make sure that any of these methods can deliver maximum results, despite our limited budget. Regardless of what method we choose, it is important to make sure that it increases the propensity to click. This can be achieved if our website ranks high in search results or if it is shown in banners. We should also make sure that people will trust our website better, regardless on how people first see our website. Although paid advertising is seen as nuisance by some Internet users, newly launched websites with very important content should be promoted in an effective way. It would take too long for them to get good results with standard SEO methods.

Organic search result is usually seen as non-biased and this could make people think that our website is trustworthy. On the other hand, people with higher budget could spend more money in advertising campaigns. This is a strong distinction between unpaid results and paid advertising. If we have limited budget, it is easy to see that costs of pay per click advertising are rising. This is particularly true if we focus on highly competitive keywords, which can make our overall PPC budget becomes too high. Once our SEO effort is successful, we will get free traffic from search engines.

It means that when our budget runs out, we could be forced to stop the PPC advertising. In the meantime, we could still continue with SEO campaign, although at a reduced rate. In the end, SEO campaign could give us lasting results. In order to have a sustainable PPC advertising, we should have a proper plan. We will know whether we can maintain contact with potential buyers and loyal readers. One obvious thing about PPC advertising is that results can be quite immediate. On the other hand, for new websites, SEO delivers decent results only after three months or more, depending on our effort and the level of competition of the targeted keywords. It means that if the competition level is high, it is a good idea to have quick results for a relatively short amount of time. Many small businesses have very tight budgets, so SEO efforts can be seen as a more ideal solution. By focusing on specific keywords with good ratio between demand and competition, we should be able to get quick results with SEO.

 Admittedly, SEO requires more effort in the long run and the learning curve can be quite high. Also, because good results won’t happen overnight, many people may consider that it is better to spend more money and effort on PPC advertising. Regardless of what solution we use, we should get good results.