|
|
|
To submit an article visit www.articleuniversity.com. There you can also try our article writing, submission and editing services. To get a free seo evaluation, purchase SEO services, listen to a podcast on SEO or read articles on SEO visit www.Mr-seo.com.
|
Surfers Prefer Organic SEO 5 to 1 over PPC Advertising
|
By Joe at mr-seo.com
It's a fact that surfers prefer organic search results, which are the result of
organic SEO methods, 5 to 1 over Paid Search engine advertising. I'm not
saying this because I'm a firm believer in the long term benefits of SEO over
SEM (even though I am), I'm saying it because it's true. PPC does have it's
place in online marketing, but before I get into that, let me expound on my
previous statement.
Why do people go to the organic listings before they go to the sponsor ads?
It's very simple. People know that organic listings are more likely to have
what they're looking for. Sites that are shown as a result of a search have
creditability over paid listing sites. This is important to keep in mind, in
addition to the fact that if your site ranks well organically, you will spend
substantially less money on PPC and overall online marketing. I have a few
clients that receive thousands of hits a day based solely on organic searches.
These results, along with the ever-increasing cost of PPC advertising, make me
wonder why more companies don't utilize organic SEO methods.
In regard to PPC, it's certainly an effective way to drive traffic to your site
quickly. PPC campaigns are an excellent option for those waiting for a higher
page rank or companies that sell high dollar items or have large profit
margins. If your average sale is 5 dollars, you can't really afford to be
paying much for an ad. If one average order can pay for an entire day's or
even week's PPC budget, it's probably well worth the money. Unfortunately, a
successful PPC campaign takes a lot more than money.
A successful PPC campaign is all about monitoring. Of the many subpar PPC
campaigns I have "inherited" from frustrated site owners, roughly 80% were
improperly monitored or tracked. Why is tracking so important? For one thing,
without any sort of tracking, how will you know how much you are spending for a
lead or a sale? Aside from not having tracking in place, many PPC managers bid
on bad keywords, allow poorly written ads and utilize improper landing pages.
Again, a successful PPC campaign takes a lot more than money.
Another thing many fail to realize when it comes to organic SEO and PPC is that
one can be used to the advantage of the other. PPC can be used to test whether
or not the keywords you are targeting are right for you. This works especially
well for a company that has a unique service or product. Sometimes, traditional
keywords or phrases are ineffective. PPC combined with tracking can help you
determine if the keywords you are bidding on are converting. If they are, you
can the create pages for the organic search which will hopefully alleviate your
need for future PPC spending or at least curtail it significantly. There are
also other ways to use PPC to "test" areas in which you could benefit from
organic SEO, though many SEM firms will not tell you this. Why? Because they
either don't know how to use PPC in this capacity or they want you to remain
dependent on PPC for the life of your business. Not all, but many SEM firms
view their clients much in the same way that high interest lenders view
borrowers with good credit. They want you to stay put and throw your money out
the window and will be more than happy to let you do so until you figure out
that you don't have to.
The idea behind SEM is to help your ROI. Since I lean more toward SEO than
SEM, I tend to use PPC as a way to test the market and to help new businesses
bring in traffic. Ideally, organic SEO will help minimize the cost of PPC.
It's my opinion that companies who focus solely on PPC are putting all their
eggs in one basket and will always be dependent on their marketing budget. As
PPC prices soar, so will your PPC expenses.
So, the next time you search for an SEM firm, ask how they can help you save
money and achieve better results over the long term by incorporating organic
SEO into your overall marketing strategy. If a 5 to 1 preference isn't a good
enough reason to engage in organic SEO, then I don't know what is.
|
|
|
|