Pay-Per-Click Advertising versus Organic Search Listings

Starting out on the road to online promotion? Then you will no doubt be facing the same dilemma that every website owner faces: how best to achieve good results in the search engines. There are two main options: paid-for advertising campaigns and organic search engine optimisation. In this article we compare the pros and cons of both of them and make a suggestion on a strategic course of action.

Paying your Way to the Top with PPC

Paid-for online advertising - the listings you see under 'sponsored results' - is known as Pay-Per-Click (PPC). Using PPC, you can buy your way into a prominent position on the search engine pages that show results for the key phrases connected to what you are selling. Basically, you 'buy' words or phrases that you think your prospective customers will use to find your services, put some wording together to make an advert and then every time that advert appears and someone clicks through to your website, you pay a fee. You can set a ceiling for your weekly spend to ensure you keep within your advertising budget.

Whilst many companies enjoy good results from PPC advertising it should be remembered the ones that do have probably put a great deal of time and effort into their campaigns. PPC advertising is certainly not an overnight route to success; much has to go into making it work and it begins right at the start with keyword selection. Here are some tips for making the most of your PPC campaign:

Research and analyse your keywords - don't choose the most obvious ones! Good keywords are in high demand by web users but are not highly used by your competitors. Use a keyword selection tool such as the Google AdWords Keyword Tool which will suggest keywords and show you the frequency at which they are used and how many other websites are competing for them.
Use tailored adverts for each keyword - one advert doesn't fit all! To entice targeted traffic and increase your turnover rate, align each advert with the relevant search term and then send the visitors to the relevant page of your website - or even a tailor made landing page - that corresponds with that advert so that they don't have to spend time searching through your site to find what they were looking for. Make sure also that you include a strong 'call to action' on that page so that your customer can quickly and easily sign up or buy.
Track your results - measure your return on investment! Analyse which keywords are working and monitor your conversion rate through a statistics programme such as Google Analytics. Make changes if necessary according to your findings to help improve the success of your campaign.

Many business owners jump into PPC advertising campaigns because they are looking for quick sales and donÂ´t want to wait for the effects of an organic search engine optimisation programme to come to fruition. However, working on organic listings should never be overlooked; yes it takes time to start seeing results, but the benefits of organic SEO over PPC are quite substantial.

Taking the Natural Route to the Top with SEO

Natural search engine success - the stuff of high organic listings - is a slow burn project and so should be commenced immediately your website is launched. Don't for one minute sit back and think your website is going to find its way to the top of the search results by itself!

Because organic listings take time to become successful, this puts many website owners off even getting started and they often go down the paid-for route for a quick-fix. However, looking at the benefits of good natural listings, which are gained by search engine optimisation (SEO), it becomes instantly clear that this is a form of online promotion that simply cannot be overlooked. Here are some of the main benefits:

Benefit 1: Search Engine Optimisation provides long-term results

An investment in an SEO programme - whether that's a financial investment or one involving your own time - is a lasting investment. Once you have started getting a good stream of traffic, this will continue even if you reduce or stop your investment; obviously this is not the case with a PPC campaign where if you stop paying, you immediately stop getting leads.

Benefit 2: Natural listings offer better quality leads

You are more likely to convert visitors that have come through a natural listing than those who are shopping around and browsing through advertisements.

Benefit 3: Over 80% of click-throughs are via natural search listings

Prospective customers are more likely to click on organic listings than on sponsored listings; consider this statistic in reverse if you are running a PPC campaign only: less than 20% of people who see your advertisement will click through to your website.

In summary, whilst paid-for online advertising campaigns do of course bring results, it is far from a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket. By all means, if your budget allows, commence a PPC campaign; but don't neglect your organic listings which will come in time via a good organic SEO programme. Run them both and you will reap the benefits over time, and once your organic listings start to work, you will probably be able to stop your PPC campaign altogether!

Core Media Design is dedicated to improving a website's natural search engine ranking. For more information on our organic SEO service please contact us.

Published on: Sunday, 31st May 2009

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