PPC vs SEO?

Alright everyone. Listen up! PPC Mom needs your attention for five short minutes, and then you are free to go back to whatever it was that you were doing.

Today we are going to discuss PPC vs SEO and why I believe these two methods go hand in hand for all successful affiliate marketers.

First, the definitions for anyone who does not know already:

Search Engine Optimization ‘SEO’ : the process you follow to improve your website’s position in the search engines. This process involves ‘keyword research’, ‘quality content on your website’, ‘external and internal link building’, ‘article marketing’ and of course ‘tracking’.

Pay Per Click ‘PPC’ : A form of advertising where we pay for every click on our advertisements. Usually we place our ads on the larger PPC engines such as Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing and MSN/Bing, Facebook, and MySpace.

So what are the differences between SEO and PPC?

* Costing methods : a click from a search engine listing will cost the website owner nothing whereas a click on a PPC ad will cost you something (anywhere between 0.03 and 5.00 per click or more!).

* Time to see a result : PPC ads can be live within an hour whereas a search engine optimized listing may take weeks or months to achieve

* Longevity : A PPC ad disappears as soon as your budget has been spent whereas a search engine optimized listing may remain for months or even years.

* Expertise : The two techniques require varying types of expertise and knowledge but everyone has to start at the beginning, right?

SEO and PPC are both valuable online marketing techniques. Both have the affect of increasing your website’s visibility. If your site, or links to your site, are more widely available on the web, then this will usually translate into an increase in traffic and hopefully sales. Many people make the mistake of only focusing on ONE method – PPC or SEO. However, massive power is generated when you COMBINE these two methods together into one powerful marketing force.

I have learned that if you combine these two methods you will build a strong, solid business online. When you build a landing page for your PPC campaign, be sure to use relevant keywords, and optimize the site for SEO. This way, while you are sending paid PPC traffic to your landing page, you are also increasing its perceived value in the search engines.

The golden rule in marketing is that you should constantly strive for maximum results and ROI for your budget. In other words, if your marketing is making you a profit – even if it’s a thin profit – it’s worth it. Knowing this, pay per click is certainly worth doing, and you can make a lot of money quickly. Overall, using pay per click alone will leave you with thinner margins. If you focus on search engine optimization for your landing pages, you will significantly increase your margins over the long term.

In short, PPC Mom says : PPC and SEO are both very valuable. Combine the two, and you become unstoppable!