The debate over whether PPC (Pay Per Click) is more effective as an Online Marketing tool or is it SEO (Search Engine Optimization), is almost as old as the evolution of the Search Engines.The role of Online Marketing assumes greater importance in the present context, with incredibly large number of websites, 110 million at last count and growing exponentially. With competition in each industry vertical increasing manifold, the endeavor to capture eyeballs in the most cost effective manner is a challenge forevery online business.Out of the various tools of Online Marketing, the two that conspicuously stand out are the Paid Campaign (Pay Per Click) and organic Search Engine promotions (Search Engine Optimization).In the following table, it is attempted to highlight the individual merits and shortcomings of each of these tools on five parameters.
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PPC |
SEO |
SEO & PPC combination |
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1. Turnaround Time |
It delivers prompt results. |
Has a longer gestation period
|
PPC gets prompt traffic before the efforts of the SEO begin to show up. |
|
2. Effectiveness Span
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The results stop as soon as the campaign stops. |
The results of the campaign are visible over a longer period of time. |
The results start as soon as the campaign begins and continue even after the campaign ends. |
|
3. Cost
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An expensive lead generating Medium. |
More economical lead generator with higher ROI. |
The high costs of the PPC are offset by the favorable economics of SEO. |
|
4. Operating Dynamics
|
Offers more options for more restricted visibility. |
Offers limited options for targeted marketing.
|
Derive combined benefits in the form of wider choice. |
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5. Supervision
|
Needs continuous Monitoring. |
Mandates periodic monitoring
|
Moderate monitoring is required. |
The ideal marketing plan is usually one that is a combination of both the PPC and SEO with the efforts of one complementing the other. The right blend of the two ensures optimal ROI for the marketing spend.To summarize, the decision to opt for PPC or SEO is determined by the specific marketing need of the individual business. It is further a function of the allocated marketing budget, and the respective industry vertical that the business operates in.The appropriate blend of the Online Marketing Tools is recommended to ensure that the website attracts the desired traffic in an effective manner. This becomes critical in view of the new forms of Search Engines that are quintessential of the Web version 2.0. The USP of these new age Search Engines is that these would be human edited and merely bidding for the desired keywords would not get you those elusive rankings.
[…] effective sales plan involves prudent selection of the marketing tools complemented with the appropriate Search Engine. While these would catalyze the arrival of the […]
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Link building techniques
Today, Link building plays a major role in determining a site’s Search Engine rankings. Search Engines give a lot of importance and weightage to quality links in a website. The more you have quality and relevant links pointing at your site, the higher it will be your page rank, and the higher will be its search engine rankings.
That is why, Link building techniques are vital for any efficient SEO campaign now a days. Webmasters adopt various Link Building techniques to increase their site’s link popularity, as it increases the flow of targeted traffic to their sites, eventually increasing their sales. Some of the commonly used techniques of Link Building are as follows:
Be Social
Being a webmaster, and creating sites on some particular themes, you must be affluent with some of the topics or subjects related to them. The best way is to share this knowledge in a way that it benefits your site. You can set up pages or write in columns or articles, positioning yourself as an expert, on sites like Article city and Squidoo. This lets you add your link at the end or even in the middle of your articles.
The major benefit of this method is that you draw relevant traffic to your site, readers who already have an idea about your site theme. Also, offering or marking your articles or summaries to websites like Digg gets your articles lot of traffic from the bloggers who are looking for the same content, hence visiting your site and linking to it too.