This guest post is by Brianne Walter
Websites need to mark their presence on the internet to get more traffic. This can be done using appropriate online marketing techniques that serve to promote a given website. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) are two such marketing techniques that are used to draw the attention of the end-user by ensuring that the website is displayed prominently on the result pages of popular search engines such as Bing, Yahoo and Google.
When placed high on the search engine result pages (SERP), the website is automatically bound to be noticed and explored by the visitors, thereby increasing the chances of improving traffic to your site.
Both SEO and PPC work well in getting a website to rank high on the SERP, but they are two totally different marketing approaches targeted however at the same result. The choice of the appropriate technique depends on several factors such as purpose of the website, purpose of the marketing campaign, and the budget allocated for the marketing exercise. Here’s how you can decide which of these techniques is best to increase visitor traffic to your website.
Purpose of the Website
Online marketing varies based on the purpose of the website. If your blog or personal website is simply a form of expression, a casual attempt to connect with the world at large and make friends with the like-minded, SEO is a better option. It is a natural, organic way of gradually reaching out to visitors over a long term through quality and relevant content, building goodwill and reputation in the process.This is also the preferred technique of veteran websites that look to consolidate and maintain their hard earned high rankings. However, it is difficult for new websites to capture high ranks on SERP instantly. A quick bout of advertising using PPC, a paid marketing service, allows them to figure high on the SERP for a short span, enough to announce their presence.
They can then get back to SEO to build their content for natural ranking, as PPC is quite expensive in the long run when compared to hiring professional support for SEO.
Scope of the Marketing Exercise and Budget
PPC expenses vary based on the exact position of your advertisement on the SERP as well as the trending keywords against which you want the advert to be displayed. This technique is usually used short-term to simply get the attention of the users to your website and is then supplemented with other natural SEO techniques such as content creation, link building, and social media optimization to yield results in the long run. PPC is especially useful for new websites, and those looking to promote seasonal or occasional offers, discounts, sales and other such events that are valid only for a limited time frame.Long-term PPC is advisable only if the returns outweigh PPC expenses, but you will have to note that you will be spending quite a bit on experimenting with the technique before you learn the ropes.
Conversion rates with systematic organic SEO are bound to be relatively higher than short-term PPC rates. Building trust, quality inbound links, and relevant, unique content right from the very launch of your website will make the site both user and search engine friendly in the long run, to give a high rank and increased traffic. Optimum use of PPC to quickly jog the user’s memory occasionally will help trigger a revisit and spike traffic short-term. Both these techniques go hand-in-hand to improve traffic, but website / marketing purpose and budget are the factors that you should consider while opting for either one of them.
