It can be a little overwhelming for small business owners to find the perfect mix of digital marketing tactics. You have to meet your budget needs while getting the best ROI. You’ve probably heard murmurs (or shouts) about the power of SEO and PPC but are unsure which is better for you. The simple answer is, both. PPC helps you achieve immediate results while you work on improving your SEO plan.
Why You Need SEO
The proper search engine optimization (SEO) strategy will help raise your rankings when people search for your particular products or services online. Considering that 92% of searchers go for the links that appear on the first page of local search results, you can see why SEO is a basic need for any business. Simply put, local searches lead to purchases.
Although you might have a strong following on your social media pages, search beats social media by more than 300% as a traffic source. That is why SEO plays a pivotal role in your marketing plan.
Your Basic SEO Plan
There are many facets to SEO that work together to help improve your rankings. In a nutshell, your SEO efforts should include:
- A well-structured, mobile-friendly website that is quick and secure
- Well-researched keywords that are relevant to your products and services
- Meaningful content shared on your site through a blog as well as through your social media pages
These basics set the groundwork to improve your position for organic searches.
Why You Need PPC
Although SEO will help drive organic traffic to your website, it does tend to take time to yield results. That’s where pay per click (PPC) comes in. While SEO helps your organic efforts, PPC provides a boost by helping you reach a very specific audience quickly. Google AdWords provides the platform you need to help searchers find you by displaying your ads when your specific search terms are used.
If the word “ad” has set off your budget alarm, don’t be worried. The beauty of PPC is it offers an excellent ROI. You can set a budget for a locally driven ad campaign designed to hit the exact target most likely to react to your ads. The reason it is so affordable is you only pay if someone chooses to click on your ad. Even if they don’t click, you are still getting free exposure every time your ad pops up in a search.
While your SEO efforts will slowly help make your way up in the rankings, PPC gets results much faster. With the right strategy, you can make your way to the top as soon as you launch your campaign.
This two-pronged approach will allow you to build your organic search efforts while attracting a new audience immediately. As your organic rankings improve, so too will your customer base. You can then revisit your PPC campaigns and decide to adjust your budget, continue your campaign, or end it if business has improved as planned.
Whether you are ready to explore SEO, PPC or both, a Google-certified partner can help you achieve cost-effective results.