Striking A Balance Between SEO And PPC For Enhanced Exposure
Getting your name out there for others to follow is a really big deal for business owners. When you are starting out in business, getting new customers is a relatively arduous affair depending on how you approach the process. Most people will employ all the right tools like direct marketing, advertising and exhibitions at conferences and trade shows to inform people and try tap new markets. But when it comes to the online side of things, they perform dismally. When you search for their business online or the products they offer, all you get is a “did not match any documents” on the search engine results page.With so many businesses venturing online nowadays, you run the risk of getting left behind if you do not have strong Internet presence behind you. More and more businesses have websites with products for offer ready on their home pages and blogs to for audience engagement. You will find these businesses investing heavily on exposure online. Some even have departments dedicated to managing online presence for them or they just outsource their service. If you have not thought about venturing online, it is time to seriously think about it and venture into it.
The key things you will have to look at after having a website and social media page for your company is SEO and PPC. These are the tools that will put your name out there. This article explores what SEO and PPC are, their benefits and demerits, and how they can help you boost your business.
SEO Explored
SEO or Search Engine Optimization can sound like a pretty intimidating term if you are new to digital marketing. With such a technical sounding name, you could be thinking it is something as complex as learning advanced calculus or rocket science. However, it is not. In a nutshell, SEO is simply using keywords on a website to improve its visibility in search engines. It is a free marketing strategy that makes use of keywords in organic searches.So what is the hype about SEO? Why is it so important to get SEO right when you do it?
In order to answer these questions effectively, we have to look at search engine results every time we look for something online. A common thread you will notice is that the results at the top almost feel as though they can answer any query you have, thereby saving time to go through the rest of search engine pages which might not even have the answers you are looking for. In short, the results that come in the first page are relevant to your search.
To put this into perspective, think of what your ideal customer looks for in those search engines as related to your product or service. For you to be the link they click on first, you must be pretty relevant to what they are looking for. This is what SEO is all about. When you are engaging in it, you are ensuring that things your ideal customer is looking for is relevant to them and to the search engines.
When searches are made relating to your product, the search engine runs a software that goes through the site pages. They go through the content displayed on search pages and then assign your website a rank on their search engine results pages. If you already have website whose content you have not updated in ages, you run a very high risk of getting ranked poorly every time a query relating to your business or product is made. This oblivion can be very hard to get out of and you might spend years climbing up the ranks. In that time, any business you might have generated gets delayed meaning delayed profits_ very bad for your bottom line. As a business, your aim in SEO is to be the link that most people click on when they want a product or service you are offering. This will not happen if you are not keen on SEO.
By owning a website from which you are expecting to generate leads and make conversions from, you need to have relevant content and load it with the appropriate keywords. Those two parts are non-negotiable. In the end, you must strive to be very consistent in the quality of content you churn out in order to get the best ranking on search engine results pages. This means you must create a schedule to follow for maintaining and improving your site. Stick to it religiously and it will pay off later on as long as you are patient.
With SEO, you need to be very patient because results take time to come. They eventually come as you build a brand and good traffic continues to flow to your site.
PPC-The Quick Results Strategy
PPC advertising, or Pay-Per-Click advertising, is simply advertising that allows your ads to be seen on top of the search engine results pages and you have to pay every time a person clicks on the link going to your site. In a nutshell, most people will look at the first couple of links on search engines and click on them hoping to find what they want. As business, you need to capitalize on this urge in order to drive more traffic to your site.If there are a sizeable number of people clicking on your link, you will have to fork out a substantial amount for advertising. However, it is all worth it in the end because people will always click on your ad as long is on top. It can only be on top as long it is relevant.
To get started on PPC advertising, you need to get on the advertising platforms of the search engines you intend to get found on. Google AdWords is the most sought after platform and it will give various options to use to run your campaign.
Overall, people use PPC advertising because it is fast and gets to the specific people you are targeting. These two qualities are important for individuals who want quick but effective results.
Creating the right balance between SEO and PPC is guaranteed to give you results in both the long and short term. As long as you have goals and metrics to measure whether or not that goal has been met, you will be on course to tapping new markets. This will in turn translate to a big killing in the long run.