The world’s population is now over 7.7 billion, and about 53 percent or 4.1 billion of that are regular internet users. Like the world’s population, the internet user population is also growing at a staggering rate thanks to the increasing availability of connected devices. It’s only a matter of time before every individual becomes fully dependent on the World Wide Web for the majority of their day-to-day activities from shopping and retailing to employment and home security. It provides a welcome relief to business owners who want to strike gold and establish a lasting presence.
Still sceptical of the Internet’s market potential? Perhaps you already tried marketing your business online but to no avail so you decided to go back to using conventional approach. It’s also likely that you were talked out of it by someone who claims to be capable of boosting your presence through other channels. Whatever the reason you have for deciding not to take your ads online is taking a huge toll on your business. Many of your main competitors have already overtaken you and many up and comers are catching up. Now is the time to make up your mind.
Of course, internet marketing is no walk in the park. Maybe the reason you gave up so easily is that you thought it is. There’s more to it than just creating a website and waiting for visitors to pour in. Luckily, the Internet also offers a variety of channels and resources that can help you promote your website. One of the oldest and most extensively used channels is search engine. Some of the largest global brands you know started out as small businesses who took their ads to search engines, particularly Google. Two of the methods you can use to increase you ranking on search engines are search engine optimisation and pay-per-click marketing.
Difference between SEO and PPC
When you decide to advertise your website through a search engines, there are two methods you should look at—search engine optimisation (SEO) and pay-per-click marketing (PPC Marketing). Both methods have the same purpose: to increase you ranking on search engine. More specifically, you need them to make your website and its content appear on the first page of all search results that are relevant to your business.
What is the difference between SEO and PPC? The answer to this question lies on which part of the search results page your website will appear with either method. When you open Google, you’ll see two main sections—paid advertising and organic search results. Paid advertising is usually found on the upper portion of the page with no more than five results per run, while the organic search results are right below them. In fact, the rest of the search results tailing the paid ads are all organic.
Websites that appear on the paid ads section are advertised through PPC marketing, while those that appear on the organic search results section were advertised through SEO. When we say organic, we basically mean something achieved naturally. Meaning, you did not force your ads to potential customers and instead allow potential customers to decide for themselves whether to check out your ads or not, and that’s where you draw the line of difference between SEO and PPC marketing.
In SEO, you are trying to increase your ranking by ensuring that your website and off-site content and campaigns comply in strict accordance with Google’s algorithms. These are the set of rules that Google’s search bots, called crawlers or spiders, follow when they rank websites to be presented on the search results. All of these complex and interminable tasks are carried out by the website owner alone.
In PPC marketing, on the other hand, you get a bit of help from Google. The fact that it’s paid ads explains why it is so. Although there are also certain guidelines you have to follow to make the most out of your PPC campaigns, these guidelines are much simpler. The reason behind the guidelines being implemented in PPC is that there’s a limited space where ads can be displayed. Meaning, websites still have to compete with each other for space. So where does Google come in? Well, when you go PPC, Google will post your ads not just on its main page but on all of its properties scattered throughout the Web.
Do you really have to choose between SEO and PPC?
You’ve probably come across a lot of articles that attempt to answer the tough question “Which is better SEO or PPC?” and learned that both methods have their fair share of benefits and drawbacks, which makes choosing a tricky task. If you have to choose one or the other, you must learn how to weigh your options based on these aspects.
First, you have to know for sure what kind of work is needed to get SEO to work for your website and how long it will take to produce results. The quick answer is “a lot” and “a long time”. Google’s webmaster guidelines is not just difficult to follow but it is also built on algorithms that are constantly changing. Simply put, once you started using SEO, you should never stop, or else all the hard work you’ve put it from the start will go down the drain. You’ll have to constantly update your website to keep it visible to spiders.
On the bright side, if your SEO succeeds, you’ll experience a boost in your presence that have a higher guarantee of translating into conversions and actual sales. That’s because organic search results have a higher click through rate than paid ads, and it’s not difficult to understand why. Have you ever watched a YouTube video and waited for the ads to finish before viewing the actual video? I’m guessing not. That’s exactly the same behaviour most people have toward paid ads on Google. They want content that can provide them with relevant answers to their queries and not ads about products they aren’t planning to purchase. And that’s where PPC marketing becomes a less effective method.
Regardless of the disadvantages of SEO and PPC, the truth remains that both methods contribute to the increase of a website’s presence. They are solutions offered by Google to be used hand in hand. If one isn’t generating enough traffic, the other can lend a hand. There’s no reasons to choose between one and the other. Well, there is one—insufficient funds—because admit it or not running both methods may cost a fortune, but not as much as you need to spend for traditional marketing techniques, so you might have to choose the less expensive one. However, investing in both doesn’t hurt at all.
If you are a digital marketing company offering both SEO and PPC marketing but you lack the necessary resources to perform them productively and excellently, it’s time to seek the help of an expert in white label digital marketing services such as White Label Club. There are two obvious reasons why that is a smart choice. First, they are more skilled. The fact that they serve resellers means they know Google better than anyone else. Second, they have all the resources necessary to jumpstart your campaigns. Hitting your marketing goals is never a problem for them.