Small Business Marketing: Which Is Better – SEO or PPC?

It’s a question we hear often from clients: Which is better – SEO or PPC? We understand exactly why we get this question. SEO services can seem like a gamble sometimes, and it’s difficult to find an agency you can trust to get you the results you need. And pay-per click campaigns… Those cost money!

How do you know which choice is right for your business? We’re here to help by explaining the definitions, the strategies, and the goals of each service.

Benefits of Organic SEO

Organic SEO is the bare-bones minimum every website should be doing. And, though it is the most basic of all online marketing steps, there’s nothing uncomplicated or basic about it. Good-quality, effective organic SEO includes:

• A fast, conversion-centered website that’s mobile-friendly
• User experience-focused design
• Quality marketing copy on all website pages
• High-resolution photos
• An interesting, engaging, relevant blog that is frequently updated
• On-page and off-page technical optimization for a variety of keywords
• Development of industry- and location-specific citations in online directories
• A social media presence consistent with your brand

Within each of the above tasks is a network of sub-tasks – optimizing for low-ranking keywords, ensuring sitemaps are error free and sending to Google, schema markup, competitor research, keyword research – that must be done for overall SEO to have an impact. 

The great thing about organic SEO is that it’s for everyone. Every single website can benefit from a focused, aggressive organic SEO plan, no matter the industry or competition level. Even the websites sitting at the top spot in Google need consistent SEO strategies or they run the risk of slipping from the top spot and letting someone else take their traffic.

Make no mistake: Good-quality organic SEO is not easy, fast, or cheap. If you have an agency guaranteeing you specific, rankings-based results in a short amount of time, or that tells you they can get you ranking for a price that is way below market standard, beware. They aren’t likely using techniques that are on the up-and-up – what’s called Black Hat SEO in the industry – and these techniques can ultimately lead to your website being penalized by Google. Expect to pay, at minimum, $400 per month for comprehensive SEO by a reputable agency.

<6 Things SEO is NOT>

Seeing results with an organic SEO campaign also takes time. We tell our clients to not really expect to see marked results any sooner than 90 days after beginning a relationship with us. Many do see improved rankings and traffic earlier than that. Organic SEO campaigns are also long-term commitments: Your website must be monitored and updated on an ongoing basis, and stopping even one piece of the organic SEO machine means all the gains you’ve made come to a screeching halt. 

But the benefit of a laser-focused organic SEO campaign is that it will pay off in the end. As long as you tick all the boxes, are smart with changes that are made, and stay on top of shifts in the way people in your industry do business online, you will be rewarded with a steady stream of traffic.

Benefits of PPC

Pay-per-click advertising, usually through a platform such as Google AdWords, is another effective, common way to improve your website traffic. The major benefit of PPC is that its effects are immediate; as soon as you click “Enabled,” your ad begins to display in users’ search results.

PPC campaigns also allow you to get more targeted with the traffic you draw. You can craft ads to show to users searching for very specific keywords in very specific geographic areas. And you can filter out what are called “negative keywords,” or keywords that you don’t want triggering your ads. This allows you to hone in very closely on a particular user persona you want to attract, maximizing your chances of conversions.

One of the keys to a good PPC campaign is a focused, conversion-centered landing page. Many PPC ads point to generic landing pages on a company website – often the Homepage or a general Services page – which may or may not be related to the actual keywords the user searched.

With PPC campaigns, since each click costs you money, you want to make sure your ads point to individually designed landing pages that back up the text in your ad. Users are more likely to schedule a consultation or make a purchase if your landing page text matches what they saw in the ad they clicked on. 

PPC campaigns have the potential to bring in huge amounts of traffic. Because ads appear before any organic search results, they can be more likely to get clicked (If they’re well-written and engaging). Because of this, running a well-structured and optimized AdWords campaign can get you traffic you wouldn’t have otherwise gotten, especially if your site currently ranks below the first page of Google’s search results.

So, Which Is Better? SEO or PPC?

The answer is both.

The best way to get the maximum amount of traffic and the maximum potential customers is with a well-executed, carefully planned organic SEO strategy and a well-written, focused PPC campaign. PPC is a solid short term strategy and SEO is a solid long term strategy. You can do one without the other, but you won’t get the results that you would from the full-court press of both.

Experienced Organic SEO & PPC Services

The Digital Marketing team at 270net Technologies has years of experience working with businesses – large and small – to provide success with organic SEO services and PPC campaigns. We know what it takes to get you the traffic you want, and turn them into the customers your business needs. We get to know you and your business, and craft focused, individual strategic plans to drive your success. Contact us today to begin climbing rankings and gaining traffic!