There is no debate over the need to advertise your business online. As more and more consumers take to the web, those who refuse to follow them there risk going the way of the dinosaur. Those who have any doubts about this fact need only take a closer look at these numbers: since 2011, global online spending has increased steadily by at least 12% every year. Most market experts agree that by 2016, the money spent on online marketing in the U.S. alone will nearly equal that spent on TV advertising.
Simply jumping into the digital marketplace doesn’t guarantee you a foothold there. If anything, the competition to lure new customers only increases. The last thing that you want to happen is to have your company’s website lost in the virtual crowd. Fortunately, there are steps that you can take to make sure that when online customers search the web for your product or service, your site is among the first that they see.
Two methods exist to help to guarantee you good online search results: pay-per-click marketing (PPC) or search engine optimization (SEO). With PPC, you bid for the rights for certain high-volume keywords or phrases offered through a PPC network provider. Once you’ve secured those rights, your website is placed among the top results returned whenever a customer conducts a search on that provider’s search engine. SEO involves creating content on your site that’s geared toward meeting the specific parameters of a search engine algorithm. Your site’s ranking in organic web searches is determined by that algorithm.
The Tale of the Tape
Both SEO and PPC have their advantages. Which of those methods is right for you and your company will depend largely on the amount you have budgeted to spend on your marketing campaign, and how much time you’re willing to wait to see results.
PPC
- Offers you complete control over your search engine campaign, whereas SEO still depends upon the ranking assigned by the ranking algorithm.
- Provides immediate results compared to the two-three months required to see an SEO campaign really take hold.
- Requires less time and attention than an SEO campaign.
SEO
- Allows you to influence your website’s search engine ranking at no extra monetary cost to you.
- Typically provides much longer lasting results than a PPC campaign.
- Research often shows that organic search results tend to be more effective than paid results.
The choice between PPC and SEO may be a difficult one for you to make, but there is no need to worry; you needn’t be alone in making this decision. The online marketing experts at Webstract Marketing have years of collective experience in optimizing web campaigns using either method. You can put that experience to work for you in growing your company’s digital footprint. For more information, simply call 855-201-5800.