SEO V’s Pay Per Click
Internet marketers and online entrepreneurs will always, at some point, face the issue of how to get traffic: traffic that’s targeted and highly interested in what they have to offer. When looking at traffic there are a multitude of different methods and strategies that could be followed, but all of them fall into two major categories: traffic you buy, and traffic you earn.
One of the most popular sources of paid traffic is Pay Per Click (PPC) traffic, while Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the most effective way of ‘earning’ traffic. The question is, which of these two strategies is better?
Well, that really depends upon your own company, your budget, your marketing strategy, your target audience, your products, and a host of other factors. When it comes down to it, those who want to get quick, targeted traffic, and don’t mind paying for it will want to look for ways of paying for that traffic. Free traffic forms generally take time to build. Keep in mind that you are also bidding against your competition as well, in other words the top payer gets the higher rankigs, but are those rankings better than the organic ones??
Lets have a look deeper into SEO …
SEO is a long term strategy, on the other hand. However, it is one that can prove to be the most lucrative in the long run, providing the best ROI and positioning your business or website and the ‘go-to’ authority in your niche market. When someone types in a keyword phrase into their search engine, and your website greets them at the top of the rankings, this will put you in a position of immediate authority in their eyes. When it comes to organic rankings people are MORE LIKEY to click on those results that are organic in nature rather than those paid ones …why? Because with organic SEO a web sites content MUST be relevant to those keywords that they are attempting to gain rankings for, therefore giving them trustworthyness.
Organically ranked websites in Google yield 70% of all click through rates.
PPC is hit and miss and can be expensive. Some competitive keywords will go for tens of dollars per click, meaning you’re going to have to have a hugely high conversion rate, or very high ticket products and services, to break even, or turn any sort of profit at all.
In the long term, however, SEO is a fool proof strategy that will allow you to get a huge amount of targeted and organic traffic for free. It will take time, and getting to know your “buyer persona” to understand what type of content they are looking for, and a lot of dedication to get there (especially with competitive keywords), but when you reach that top spot, all that effort will have been worth it.
