The Pros & Cons of PPC vs SEO

If you’ve got a new business website or you’re after more traffic to your existing website then you’re probably faced with the question of whether you need to set up a PPC campaign or pay an SEO company for some Offsite SEO.

Hence the question PPC vs SEO ?

Before we get underway though, it’s important to qualify what we’re talking about here is “Offsite SEO”. Therefore, if you’re not completely sure what the different is between Onsite SEO and Offsite SEO then I would encourage you to first read this article entitled, What is SEO ?

So back to the question!

I would say that if you are after more Traffic, or more precisely, more Targeted Traffic, then I would definitely do both. But before I tell you why let’s make some assumptions first.

1. Your intent is to make both these activities pay for themselves and hence be profitable, plus
2. You’re in a position to handle plenty of new customers and clients and aren’t limited by hours in the day or not enough stock to sell.

So here’s why I would do both . . . .

There are two vital ingredients that are common to both running a PPC campaign and justifying spending the money, time and effort on Offsite SEO . . . .

So once you have both these vital ingredients set up then you’re in an ideal position to take advantage of both a PPC Campaign and Offsite SEO Services.

What are the two Vital Ingredients needed for running a successful PPC Campaign and making the cost of Offsite SEO worthwhile?

The first ingredient you need is a website that is highly optimised with quality, well researched Onsite SEO. Now this might seem like common sense to many but believe there are many, many Australian Business Websites that have inferior Onsite SEO that is not based on research or industry best practices.

So what you find happens is that if your website is not highly optimised and your Onsite SEO is substandard then you will pay more than you should per click. This means that you will then run a very strong risk that your campaign will not be profitable and not very long lived.

The next vital ingredient required to make both a PPC and Offsite SEO campaign viable are landing pages that are optimised to convert prospects into customers. In other words you need to have a “Call to Action” on your landing pages and it needs to be enticing enough to get the prospects you send there, to follow it.

In other words there is little point in getting your website onto page 1 of the search engines if your landing pages do not convert,

OR

Spending money on clicks if the prospects you send there are mostly clicking away and not following your “Call to Action”.

Therefore here’s what you need to consider . . . .

Before you run a PPC Campaign or Spend Money on Offsite SEO services you need to ask yourself how well you’ve set up your Onsite SEO and how well are your Landing Pages optimised to convert???????

Because if you are unsure, then there is a fair chance that your website is not ready to accept traffic from either source.

Therefore, if you are unsure you need to get an appraisal done on your website to see how it can be improved to ensure the money you spend on PPC and SEO is not wasted money.

But before you do, you need to consider this . . . .

Why you Should run a PPC Campaign in conjunction with Improving your Offsite SEO.

If you have a new website or have a website that doesn’t attract very much traffic from the search engines then the quickest way to send traffic to it is to run a PPC campaign. This will solve your immediate traffic problem and then hopefully send you enough clients to make it all worthwhile.

Spending money on Offsite SEO services though, will not reap instant results. Depending on the keywords you are targeting, you will however get some results sooner than others. So what you will find is that over time your results will slowly increase but they will not be immediate.

The next thing to consider is some people will tell you a PPC campaign is dead money in so far as once you stop paying you stop getting traffic. While when you invest in Offsite SEO the money you spend has a lot more longevity in so far as, once you stop paying you still maintain your position in the search results and still continue to get traffic.

Well, here’s the reality . . . .

The money you spend on a PPC campaign is only dead money if it isn’t making you a profit. So if it’s making you a profit, why would you want to turn it off? And if it’s not making you a profit you need to find out why. Either your Onsite SEO needs some work, your landing pages need some work, your PPC campaign needs some work or there is some other reason that might be a characteristic of your business that just doesn’t lend itself to a PPC campaign being viable.

Then, as far as spending money on an Offsite SEO campaign being more of an investment and suggesting that once you get to the top of the search engines you can then stop paying and stay there, goes?????

Well my answer to that suggestion is this. For you to get onto page 1 of any search engine, you only get there by replacing someone else . . . . who most likely got there by doing exactly what you did when you deposed him/her. Therefore logic dictates that you will only stay there until the same happens to you.

Therefore if you want to stay there, then there’s a very good chance you’ll need to continue paying for Offsite SEO services even if it’s at a reduced rate or less frequently. So don’t expect that once you’ve paid the money and the result is achieved that it will be permanent, especially if your keywords are competitive or have a high monetary value associated with them.

Finally, Here’s two really Important tips about PPC vs SEO

This point is valid for both PPC and Offsite SEO but probably more so for PPC, due to the potential to be competing with less websites for the positions available in the paid listing.

If you’re considering engaging the services of a PPC company to set up and run your campaign you need to ask them this question first and foremost . . . .

“Do you have other clients that are competing for the same keywords?”

If the answer is “Yes”, then you need to consider if this company is in the best position to offer you the best results? After all, every other web page that is listed on both the free and paid sections of the search engines is your competition and if the company you are paying money to represent you is compromised, then they are costing you money, either in the cost of clicks or in lost clicks that are going to your competition.

You see, the higher up you are in the results for both the free and paid sections, the more clicks you will get, which ultimately means more revenue. So it’s in your interest to have someone representing you that is 100% independent.

Therefore if you in anyway suspect that this might be the case, then the easiest solution is to pick a smaller company with a proven track record, as the likelihood of them having common clients will be greatly reduced.

The next tip you need to consider has to do with enlisting the services of an SEO company to improve your Offsite SEO. You need to choose your company wisely here. Trust and Credibility are essential here and the reason why is this. There are some companies that use unscrupulous methods (aka Black Hat) to distribute your links all over the internet.

If you get caught out by the search engines, you will get banned and your website will go from page 1 to nowhere in a matter of no time at all, but not only that, it will not return again. It’s as simple as that.

Therefore make sure you vet your company well and take all the precautions you feel you need to, to put your mind at ease.

So there you go, when it comes to PPC vs SEO I would definitely say consider doing both. But only after you have taken care of your websites Onsite SEO and have your Landing Pages highly optimised. Get both of those two things right and your website will then be well on it’s way to making you money.

Therefore, if you have anymore questions then why not get in contact so we can arrange a time to talk. We can help you with your . . . .

• Onsite SEO
• Setting Up your Landing Pages so they convert,
• Setting Up a PPC campaign so it costs you the least amount of money for the most amount of clicks, and
• We can refer you to a very reputable SEO Company, that is based here in Australia and has an excellent track record which is both transparent and verifiable.

Contact WebBiZsites™ today