If you want your online business to thrive, you’ve probably spent time trying to decide whether to allocate your budget towards search engine optimization (SEO) or a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign.
This conundrum doesn’t have a clear winner, as it depends on multiple factors. Those include your goals, budget, industry, and current performance. Read on to find out which strategy might be best for you.
What is PPC and why do you need it?
PPC is used as a marketing strategy to see growth within your business and revolves around implementing any kind of paid website promotion used on search engines.
Every time something is searched for, a bidding war is triggered on keyboards. Since 80% of major purchases start with online research, it’s desirable to get your offerings to the top of the results page.
The benefits of an effective PPC campaign include prime position on the search engine, heightened brand awareness, and the possibility to target your consumers on a local or global level.
If you manage your campaign well, PPC will offer short-term gains: it’s a proven method to improve your visibility and win more sales.
You might prefer to use a performance-focussed approach put together by an experienced agency; otherwise, you’ll need to dedicate hours to a PPC campaign to see results.
What is SEO and why do you need it?
In a survey conducted by Databox, 70% of participants thought that SEO is better than PPC for generating sales.
SEO a more sustainable, long-term approach to developing a loyal audience, but it’s also about optimizing your site for a better user experience. One of the main selling points of SEO is the improvements you’ll see in your organic traffic.
Some of the key benefits of organic traffic from search engines include improved brand association, increased brand awareness and an ability to build customer credibility and trust – all consequential of the visibility achieved from an effective SEO strategy.
You might also use SEO strategies to create and optimize videos, images, and to discover local search trends and outreaching opportunities.
SEO or PPC?
For optimal results, and if your budget allows, it is recommended to conduct both.
SEO should be the foundation, but PPC is definitely a good way to gain traffic and to see almost instant results.
On both mobile and desktop searches, PPC advertisements will be the first thing a customer sees – so make sure it’s yours!