How Much Money Do I have To Spend?
Like all things in business, everything comes down to the dollar value and the ROI. The more you spend the more you expect bring in. It’s s9imple math and you need to do the sums before you plunge big dollars into Google or your SEO company.
Let’s have a look at PPC costs to start with. PPC requires that you spend money daily. For competitive keywords this cost per click can escalate; in some cases up to $100 per click – that’s exactly right. For this type of investment you would need to be constantly monitoring your PPC, to make sure that you are not over paying and you are getting the right type of traffic. Over time, PPC costs can mount up to quite a sizeable chunk of money, which can take up most of your marketing budget.
With PPC, you can set the amount you want to spend with your daily budget, but if you have used it up the temptation is always there to keep on increasing this. Before you know it, you have doubled your PPC budget.
SEO in terms of costs, we find, is more of an upfront investment, but over time this cost becomes more affordable than a PPC campaign. You should be expecting to outlay more money in say the first 6 months of a SEO campaign, but after roughly 8-12 months of continued SEO you will find that it brings in a MUCH higher return on your marketing dollar.
Businesses love being at the top of Google organically, this is their nirvana, so based on this fact you can be assured that SEO is a much better value proposition than PPC – by a long shot – we at hopping mad designs much prefer SEO to PPC.
SEO Takes Time, PPC is Immediate
If you have just launched a business or have a new product that you have created a dedicated website landing page for, then PPC is the way to go. It’s effect is immediate and you will see a spike and increase in traffic that day. The more you spend on PPC the more traffic you are likely to get. Just leave Google your credit card details and they will take care of the rest.
SEO alternatively, like all good things, take time. It needs to be nurtured, watched, loved and over a period on a year, will produce the desired benefits.
If you are after a quick and rather expensive short term solution, then think PPC. If you are in it for the long haul and are a serious about establishing your brand online, then SEO is the best and most attractive option.
Will it Work or Wont it.
Effective SEO processes take time and lots of effort. You have to be forever watching what’s going on and monitoring what Google does. This is why you have to pay a SEO company for this, that understands the algorithmic changes that Google implements. The upside with SEO, is that you can be on page 1 for hundreds of your main keywords, generating serious traffic. The downside is that Google can flick and algorithm and your rankings start to slide. This can get really disheartening and have an effect on your business. All the good work you have done, the money and time spent on attaining these rankings can disappear overnight. To avoid these mishaps and ranking fluctuations we suggest only using a SEO agency that can prove that they know all the nuances regarding SEO.
PPC is the exact opposite. As long as you keep dishing out the money you are going to be ranking. There is zero risk and you are guaranteed that you will have your advert online 24/7.
SEO Can Very Competitive
Before starting any SEO campaign, you have to look at the competitive nature of the industry you are trying to compete in. If the niche is jammed packed with existing, high profile businesses that have been there for years then it’s going to be extremely difficult for you to come in there and dislodge these guys from page 1. If you a dead set keen on SEO and are determined to rank, no matter the competition, then you better be prepared to stick it out for the long haul and be conditioned to spend some good dollars. This is going to be especially true if you have a new website that has little authority. Playing with the big boys online is going to take some real commitment and faith in the ability of your SEO provider.
PPC Puts You In the Drivers Seat
In you want real control and management of your online marketing, then PPC is the answer. You can change ads, control viewing times, areas it will display and where you want it to be sitting in the ad hierarchy. Essentially, you hold all the buttons that control the campaign. It’s immediate and happens in real time.
SEO unfortunately is completely in the hands of Google. If your SEO company has done a good job, then you should see specific landing pages ranking for keywords, but ultimately Google is judge and jury here. You can control certain pages and what is indexed, but ranking and the pages that are displayed are completely out of your control. Saying this I reckon that I have been able to rank pages that are keyword specific within a week – but that’s for another blog. For the purposes of this article all you need to know is that PPC gives you more control.
Take it anyway you want but for my money I would go SEO any day of the week. As a business owner I am in this for a long time so no matter what the reality is, I would much prefer to relinquish control to a certain extent and have my website ranking organically.
Whose Got More Clout
In my experience and I’m fairly certain I am covering the wider audience here, most people click on the websites that rank organically. I never really click on the ads on the side as I think they are just out there for dollars and are a tad untrustworthy. This is the big issue when it comes to PPC v SEO. People who click on PPC ads are generally price shopping, looking for the best deal and may not be the type of client you want.
Because your are ranking organically, SEO adds more authority to your brand and will attract the right type of person to your website. After all who wants tyre kickers, bargain hunters and time wasters. People will trust these type of websites much more than paid ads, so by the time they make the call, they are nearly committed to buying from you.
The Best Solution.
The Best solution for any business is to have a combination of the PPC and SEO. If you are starting out online, get Adwords going for a couple of months until your SEO kicks in. Once you are seeing organic, solid, natural rankings your can scale back on your PPC spend. It’s like scales, they will start of weighted towards PPC, but over time they will tilt towards SEO.