Choosing Pay Per Click or Article Marketing

When you have worked hard to build your business and put together an advertising fund, it is extremely important that you get every benefit possible from your marketing dollars.  The whole point of advertising dollars is to draw as many potential clients and customers to your company as possible.  With the power of the Internet, you have probably considered a web marketing campaign, which gives you two general options.  You can choose pay per click ads, also known as PPC advertising, or you can use search engine optimization.  Many people consider SEO the organic, or natural, form or web advertising.  Over ten billion searches happen each month, so it's time to ask yourself which advertising plan is right for your business.

You will find it very difficult to get accurate statistics regarding the two marketing possibilities.  While there are plenty of studies to be found online, you will eventually see that these studies have been conducted with a vested interest in one of the two different forms of marketing.  If you are looking for real answers, you are not likely to find them by seeking out online studies.  Unfortunately, you will only end up with biased answers that favor the advertising type that the company prefers.

What this means for you is that you have your work cut out for you.  There are plenty of results that you could use to make your decision, but you will need to dig deeper to find them.  You can't just rely on the initial results, either.  You'll need to seek out the long-term results of each type of advertising.  We can give you a closer look at each option and help you find a starting point in your consideration.

Internet search engines are extremely popular.  When you type in your search terms, you will receive pay per click and SEO results.  The SEO results are the ones that are recognized as viable content and are listed below the search terms.  The pay per click advertisements often appear on sidebars or above the search results, depending on the search engine used.  The PPC ads must be considered quality to show up on the first page, but are often more about the amount of money that was paid to get that ad seen.  

Search engine optimization does not rely on the amount of money spent at all.  Essentially, you would like to see your website listed in the top ten after a web search.  These top ten are the most commonly clicked links for a phrase or keyword search.  To make this happen, you also need to provide valid content for potential customers to see each time they click on the links provided with their search.  If it's not important information to them, they won't stick around, and you won't move up in the rankings.  These search engines use an algorithm to determine the popularity of each site and where to place it.  Pay per click ads might use bold colors and catchy words, but article marketing really relies on the content to keep the customers informed.

It's not easy to choose between the two types of advertising, because both really can give results.  The important question you need to ask yourself is what kind of customer base you have.  If your clients and customers are looking for thought-provoking content that will answer questions before they make purchases, a pay per click campaign will not give them what they need.

What PPC Offers that SEO Can't

There are advantages to pay per click advertising, of course.  The biggest advantage would certainly be nearly instant results.  You just pay for your ad to appear, and then it does.  You might reach hundreds or even thousands of users within a very short period of time, which could boost your page views exponentially.  Of course, this all sounds absolutely wonderful, but you have to consider how many people will actually be clicking your links.  Nielsen.com maintains that only twenty-three percent of users click a pay per click link when searching, and only thirty-three percent will click a link when buying.  Pay per click links also have a twenty-five percent lower conversion rate than article marketing.

Most of the people who click a pay per click advertisement are visiting because they are not yet sure what they want.  Since you are paying for each click, you will find that your marketing dollars are not very well used.  Keep in mind, too, that these users that visit for a moment via a pay per click link will not be likely to remember your website address for future visits.  You will have to keep your PPC ads up indefinitely to keep a steady stream of visitors to your website.

What SEO Offers that PPC Can't

There are also pros and cons to article marketing, or SEO content, as well.  You should realize that search engine optimization can take a bit longer to produce results, which certainly is a drawback.  There are so many more benefits, however, that it's easy to ignore the one negative.  It could take a while for one article to generate a great deal of traffic to your site, which means you will have to wait for your site to show up in the top ten results on the search pages.  However, that wait is worth it when you realize that SEO articles have an estimated twenty-five percent conversion rate.  That kind of conversion from seeker to buyer is exactly what makes your advertising budget worth every cent.

Keep in mind that there are other benefits as well.  When you provide articles that can answer questions for your potential customers have, that's it.  You put it out there and let it start generating traffic.  You may need to pay for writer services to get great articles, but that's not a great deal of money when compared to PPC advertising.  You won't need to pay a monthly fee to keep your articles out there and online.  Once it's published, it is searchable for years, and will continue to lead customers to your company as long as people keep looking.  The more content you put out there, the more likely people will be to find your business.  Your articles will generate traffic and funnel it to your website for years, and for a fraction of the cost of pay per click ads.

Above all of this, you are providing a service to your clients.  With each article, you are giving them information that they may need.  Your expert opinions and answers will keep people coming back for more, and you can also inspire trust in your potential clients.  When your customers think you understand what is going on, they're more likely to turn to you.

Of course, you must consider cost when comparing the two.  Pay per click can look extremely attractive, especially since you know that someone has seen your website every time you have to pay that bill.  If you are appearing on top search engines, you could be paying a great deal of money for each click, however.  And when you keep in mind that the return on investment isn't that great, you might reconsider what a great deal PPC ads seem to be.  Even with the best possible averages, you will pay nearly one hundred fifty dollars per customer.  Nielsen.com says that forty percent of SEO campaigns result in a return on investment of five hundred percent, while only twenty-two percent of PPC campaigns can say the same.  With those numbers, it's easy to see which is the better option.

Choosing advertising campaigns can be difficult, especially when it is vitally important to get the most out of each dollar.  There are benefits and negatives to either marketing technique, but the simple fact is that SEO article marketing provides the best results with the lowest cost.  You will enjoy a higher number of conversions to sales, and you won't need to worry about paying for every single click.  Your articles can continue to be an asset for you for years to come, while PPC will stop working for you the moment you stop paying.  It's no question which is the better choice for your business.