Laverne

It is estimated that 80% of all online traffic starts at search engines(i). And with over 1 billion unique web searches per day, most online marketing managers will agree that having a strong SEO campaign is a great long-term strategy for maximizing your internet visibility.

However, you may be surprised to learn that according to a January 2006 poll(ii); paid search ads ranked as the #1 performing online marketing tactic - ahead of SEO. It is projected that over 58% of the total online adspend goes to paid-for search.(iii)

Several reasons exist for the popularity of paid search ads. Firstly, PPC saves you time. Unlike the risky game of organic SEO that can take several months or years (if ever) to get optimized for high positions; PPC results can get you top rankings on the search engines immediately.

Secondly, PPC is a great way to test new keyword campaigns before you optimize them for SEO. It is wise to first experiment with keywords to measure conversions as well as visitor demographics before you take the long and risky route of search engine optimization.

PPC also enables you to engage in A/B testing for landing pages. It is a quick way to gauge conversion rates to help you determine the content or graphics that yield the best results.

Further benefits lie in the fact that paid search is considered a lower risk method of advertising because you only pay for the visitors you receive. And by being able to set the price you are willing to spend for each key term, you can easily manage your budget and return on investment. Of course, you must be mindful of potential click fraud, so it is important to investigate the precautions taken by your chosen advertising method (search engine) to protect advertisers.

It is widely considered that SEO, when performed properly, can give you the best long term ROI. If you are able to get high rankings with some strong keywords, you can assure yourself of ongoing traffic for months or even years after your stop paying for optimization. However, with so much competition for top placements and the complexities of optimization, there is no guarantee your SEO will ever get the desired results.

Furthermore, SEO is often a difficult proposition requiring outsourcing to a professional firm. Whereas, good PPC strategies are easier to learn and can often by implemented by someone in-house. The costs for SEO should be considered a long term investment as opposed to the immediate expense of paid search ads. SEO results can reap long term rewards but as soon as you stop paying for your search ads, any new traffic will cease.

While there are conflicting opinions on conversion rates, most believe that SEO listings garner the highest response rates as they are not perceived as ads and are considered most relevant. However, these issues can be somewhat alleviated on search engines that manually review their advertiser's paid listings. This practice ensures that both the ad and the content on the website associated with it match the searchers needs for relevancy.

In conclusion, deciding between SEO and PPC is dependent on a variety of factors including budget and time frame. If funds are very limited and an immediate return is needed, one would best be suited buying some PPC ads. A positive ROI would warrant reinvestment into further PPC until adequate funds are available to complement your marketing with some optimization. By then you would have a good indication of your top performing keywords that you should target for SEO.

The ultimate strategy would be to balance both methods. Getting your website exposure via SEO while simultaneously running a strategic PPC campaign will allow you to capitalize on the Internet's two best methods of finding targeted traffic. Once any of your PPC keywords garner top placements via SEO, it is time to start allocating those funds to other high converting words thereby, expanding your reach potential on the web.

_____________________________________________________________

i-Harris Interactive, 2006.

ii-MarketingSherpa.com, January 2006.

iii-IAB Online Adspend Study in partnership with Pricewaterhouse Cooper.

John Buttedahl sits on the board of directors for Intelimax Media Inc. - http://www.Intelimax.com - a company that develops industry-specific, niche search engines. Their flagship brand is http://www.Gamboozle.com The Gambling Search Engine.