The two most popular online marketing techniques by far is Search Engine Optimization and pay Per Click Marketing. There are proper ways to do both but I will be handing down in detail which technique works for a website.
TYPICAL USERS. Typical users of SEO are new and small businesses with a bit of a tight-budget. SEO can be pretty cheap as compared to PPC so it works well for smaller websites who just want to get listed. On the other hand other mid-level companies employ PPC as their main online marketing tool. It’s a faster way to reach consumers. It does have a price so only those who are willing enough to shell out cash for the ad space are willing to do this. It can also be noted that generally, the fact that a company uses PPC ads adds a vote of confidence on their part. People perceive that those on paid advertising arena can afford the space because their products are well established. If you have enough cash you can do both SEO and PPC of course, or you can consult an SEO agency do the job for you.
TIME. When we talk internet, we connote it to speed and instant results. But the effects of SEO and Pay Per Click vary. SEO usually means natural ranking. Letting the website speaks for itself. A couple of word-with-links here and there and there would still be a time to wait for search engines to pick of your site's popularity and index it on their site. Visibility in search engines through SEO could take weeks even months.
Pay per Click Marketing works a lot faster than SEO. Pay per Click or PPC is an online advertising means whereby you contract search engines to place and ad for your company whenever a keyword of your choosing will be searched on their site. Placing an ad in this case is as fast as 10 minutes or even less! The visibility of the ad, however, depends on how much you’re willing to pay.
COST. PPC can be pretty costly or cheap depending on the keywords you use and the amount you are willing to bid on to get them placed. The amount of your bid determines the position of the ad. This is one powerful way of beating your YSM or Adwords competitors. The higher - the better the placement.
SEO on the other hand does not have to be too costly. If you are a small business just trying to get the word out on your business, and you’re doing SEO-it-yourself, optimizing your site is pretty easy. Choose a few keywords to work with, write a good copy for your site and a few linkbuilding techniques and you are on your way. Some online directories will require you to pay a price to have your site listed in their sites but if you're on a tight budget, I suggest opting free reciprocal linking with quality directories instead. Remember, I’m talking about DIY SEO. Paying for the service via expert SEO agencies is another matter.
COMPETITORS. Now this is pretty complicated. Competitors vying to get the same top spot just like you means, well, just about everybody! Imagine the internet as gigantic ocean with all sorts of marine animals. If you're just a clownfish looking for your son, then what an adventure that would be, right? But online marketing is no kid's movie. So it’s imperative that you narrow down the competition to reach your target market efficiently. Thank heavens for keywords!
When we're taking about SEO keywords, the number of your competitors depends on the keywords you are focusing on. Focus on ones that describe your business in a specific manner. That way you would be narrowing down your competition and targeting consumers with a specific product/ service in mind. You can use various keyword tools for this. KeywordSpy is what I’m using right now. You can look at organic searches and mine related keywords if you run out of ideas.
The same goes for Pay per Click keywords. The competition is highly dependent on the number of advertisers bidding on the same keywords as you. If you plan on taking on keywords being used by the "sharks" in the industry, I’m talking about those big companies with online history and a big spending limit, better be prepared to get eaten up. So the same principle applies, if you go with specific keywords, you have a better chance of surviving fighting off the same fish instead of the entire ocean.
SPACE. With PPC, the amount of opportunity to showcase your business comes in two or three small lines per ad space. That’s your title, URL, and description. Your ad has to catch the consumer's attention, connect with them and attract them enough to click on your ad. Of course, the more ads the better. You'll have a better opportunity selling your business in different ways.
SEO also has great opportunities for promotion. The number of ways you can influence ranking by creating relevant content is enormous. You can have your entire website as your canvass. You can also promote via linkbuilding, forum and blog participation and more to get your message out there.
So there you have it, a simple breakdown on SEO and PPC advertising. It’s all in a manner of choosing which fits your business. The last tip I could probably provide is of course, when it comes down to it. Your product or service has to be worth all that. I say this all the time. Visibility is one thing, getting the consumers as customers, is all on you.
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