As far as digital marketing goes, selecting the right way to disseminate your adverts is a big one.
That is because, aside from a multitude of choices in platforms, you also have a multitude of choices in how you want those adverts to show, and what digital marketing strategy you want to use.
For instance, if you have a healthcare business and you would like to have some more leads in your system, you can go two ways about it:
You can either use PPC, which is a pay-per-click advertising method, or you could go for search engine optimization, also known as SEO.
But which one is the best for you?
Let’s take a look at our topic then: PPC vs SEO: which is right for your business?
Aside from this article, the thing to keep in mind here is that every business and every marketing goal requires a different approach;
A business that’s looking to grow over time might go for SEO, whereas a firm looking for some quick outreach might go for PPC adverts;
but here’s the kicker: both are essentially interchangeable, so again, a specific goal will dictate what to go with in any given situation.
But let’s start with differentiating the two, and understanding which indeed is the right choice for your business.
Making a Case for SEO
Search engine optimization is still king, regardless of what some new digital marketing experts might tell you.
A good majority of online searches start with a search on Google or Bing or any search engine, and people are more inclined to do two things: click on one of the top five results, and stick to the first SERP (search engine result page).
Therefore, an organic search will be dominated by these two factors, and you as an advertiser need to pay attention to it.
SEO will help your business site, advert or webpage appear at the top of these SERPs; that’s as simple as SEO gets.
And since getting and staying at the top is all that matters, you could make a good case for SEO as the right choice for your business.
As stated beforehand, SEO works great for permanent and long-term incremental gains in your digital footprint;
Your website is ranked much higher, and you have an objectively higher chance of seeing increased organic traffic on it, resulting in more business leads being converted on your website.
The Downside for SEO
However, SEO isn’t the last word in digital marketing, as this process also has a lot of issues that will frequent and become a cause for headaches.
Among the most annoying is the fact that SEO is governed by an algorithm that gets frequently updated to keep the unscrupulous elements at bay.
This could seriously mess up your current strategy, and it usually requires an SEO expert to get the ship going again.
More than that, you have to be patient with SEO, as it takes some time for the results to kick in and isn’t the most time-efficient process in the world.
But aside from that, SEO is still going strong as ever, as evidenced by how much Google has to edit its SEO policy as usage keeps on spiking.
Making a Case for PPC
On the other end of the spectrum, we have PPC, or pay-per-click advertising method.
It is better optimized as ‘quick bang for your buck’, and a good part of us differentiating PPC from SEO was the fact that latency is a big factor in both processes;
Whereas SEO requires time to kick in and starts showing results a little later down the line, PPC goes in with a bang and you start seeing results the very next day or in a couple of days, certainly more so than SEO.
So, we shine a light: is that a good thing?
PPC is still very widely used: businesses and firms looking for a quick online outreach bonanza and increasing their sales with a constant revenue flow into their marketing budget use PPC adverts to make sure that online sales funnels don’t dry up.
But there are advantages other than that: for starters, the time it takes for you to get your return on investment (RoI) with PPC is far better than with SEO.
While SEO takes time to kick in, PPC hits the ground running and starts pouring in business leads the minute your adverts go live.
More than that, PPC adverts also have the distinct advantage of being more calibrated, and are more quantifiable.
On the calibrated point, you can utilize incredible targeting options to tailor your adverts towards your audience.
Quantifiable, PPC adverts are measurable in the sense that you can easily monitor and rectify parts of your campaign and can easily see which parts are working, which are not, and which have been better in the RoI sector than others.
As far as feedback mechanism goes in marketing bids, PPC absolutely takes the cake here.
PPC adverts: shortcomings
One might imagine what might happen if a firm started paying out for every click:
Whereas SEO is considered cost-effective in the sense that the RoI on SEO is far better than others, with PPC, it’s abysmal.
Since it’s on a click/ impression basis, companies routinely end up shelling more in costs than what they earn from these PPC adverts.
Plus, another setback with PPC: the minute you stop the adverts, the minute your revenue ceases to exist. It’s like this: how fast PPC kicks in is also how fast PPC dies out once you pull the plug.
The Better Choice for Your Business
In conclusion, both PPC and SEO are effective digital marketing strategies that can help businesses reach their target audiences.
The best approach for a business will depend on a number of factors, including the nature of the business, the products and services offered, the budget, and the competition.
If you’re working with a low budget, consider taking advantage of affordable SEO services from Market Media Connect. They’re experts in the field and can help you get the most bang for your bucks.
