Often, business owners and marketing managers frame this is an either/or question, when the reality is that there might be a place for both. That's because, although they both seem to start out with the same purpose – bringing traffic to your website from Google, Yahoo, and Bing – search engine optimization and pay per click advertising are two distinctly different tools, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
Here is what you really need to know about each one:
SEO is great for long-term online business growth. Although too many companies and web designers focus on traffic over sales, the reality is that you really can't have one without the other. And when it comes to attracting visitors, very few things can come close to matching the power of a top three or four Google listing. And so, if your long-term goal is to keep growing traffic to your business website, and to do it in a cost-effective way, then search engine optimization is nearly always going to be your best choice.
PPC is faster, but more expensive in the short term. There are lots of times when you might prefer pay per click advertising to traditional SEO. For one thing, if you are in a hurry to jump start your business, and paid ads are a lot faster than organic search marketing is. Additionally, PPC ads allow you to test new keywords and phrases without waiting months for search engine spiders to find you. And finally, there are some online marketing experts who have shown that paid traffic can convert into online sales at a higher rate, so PPC may actually be more efficient, even with the advertising costs figured in.
So, the question for your company probably isn't whether you need search engine optimization or pay per click advertising, but in what proportion you should be using both. After all, isn't any strategy that helps you bring in more revenue than expenses worth a shot?
