In Part 1 and Part 2 of this 3 part series, I took a look at some of the individual benefits of SEO and PPC and how they compare to one another in terms of effectiveness. Today I’ll be taking a look at the outcome of this debate and drawing some conclusions from the benefits of each marketing method that we’ve identified in previous blog posts. Check it out…

So, who’s the winner?

Truth is there is no “winner” as such. SEO and PPC both have their individual benefits and are in essence two very different search marketing tools that can’t actually be compared to one another because they are just too dissimilar. The “winning” situation and strategy that all companies should really think about implementing is a balanced combination of the two strategies in order to take advantage of both of their individual strengths.

The Benefits of Using both SEO AND PPC in Order to Market your Website Online:

As mentioned above, the best strategy for an all round marketing plan is to use both SEO and PPC in a cleverly constructed combination of the two strategies. Some of the key benefits of a well designed combined strategy include the following:

1. Page 1 Domination

Probably the greatest benefit of combing SEO with PPC is that you get to dominate Page 1 of Google when relevant search terms are entered. If you’re ranking organically in the top 3 positions and being listed in the paid search section of the SERPS, you have good brand presence within the available real estate above the fold on Page 1. This means that regardless of what type of user you’re dealing with (those who use organic results and those who prefer paid advertisements), you stand a much better chance of gaining a click through to your website.

2. Achieve Success both Short and Long Term

Whereas PPC is a great way of gaining immediate traffic volumes to a brand new website, it is important that one also immediately starts investing in SEO in order to improve the overall worth of a website and eventually reach a point of sustained incoming traffic that is free. This means that while you are investing in receiving immediate traffic volumes to your website via PPC advertising, you can also expect to build up the authority score of your website organically in order to receive free organic traffic in the long term. Focusing on just one of these marketing methods limits your traffic potential, short and long term.

3. Dominate both Locally and Internationally

By combining an extremely targeted PPC campaign in terms of location and a well constructed SEO campaign internationally, you are able to ensure that you receive visits from both local and international web users. If for example you have an online store as well as a physical store for local users, you can use a combination of SEO and PPC to ensure optimal results. PPC can be refined to display only to visitors that are in driving distance of your shop and SEO strategies can be targeted nationwide or internationally to ensure that the success of your online store flourishes at the same time. This is extremely useful in this sort of situation and is yet another benefit of cleverly combining SEO and PPC marketing strategies for your website.

The Bottom Line

When it comes down to it, SEO and PPC are two very different marketing tools that each have their own benefits. Neither one is better than the other and if budget allows for it, investment should be made in both forms of online marketing. It’s all about catering to different audiences, be it local vs. international or people who prefer using paid search results instead of organic search results. Yes, there are situations when one form of marketing is more suitable than the other, but in general a well constructed online marketing plan should make use of both SEO and PPC marketing.

Related posts:

1. SEO vs. PPC – Part 1 of 3
2. Search Usability
3. SEO vs. PPC – Part 2 of 3

SEO vs. PPC – Part 3 of 3

The Benefits of PPC – Pay Per Click – Paid Search Marketing:

PPC, an acronym for Pay Per Click, literally refers to advertising on search engines via display advertising that you only pay for once somebody actually clicks on one of your displayed ads. The cost of the click is determined by a bidding system whereby relevance to a search term combined with the amount bid on an advertisement determine when and where your ad will be displayed. I could go into much more detail regarding the calculation of the actual cost per click, but that’s for another blog post on another day.

Due to the nature of PPC and the way campaigns are run, there are numerous benefits to this type of marketing over organic search marketing (SEO) and in general. Let’s not waste any more time and take a look at the advantages of PPC advertising.

1. PPC is Instant

Due to the nature of PPC, one doesn’t need to wait years, months or even days before being able to gain valuable traffic to your website. Unlike organic SEO which takes a while to build up an authoritive website that ranks for relevant keywords, PPC is instant and as soon as you start paying for different ad campaigns, your ads WILL start appearing in the SERPs and your website will start achieving increased traffic volumes. This is especially true if your campaigns are well constructed and implemented by a qualified PPC manager. PPC is particularly beneficial to new websites, however; older websites that are looking to invest more in their existing website traffic volumes can also benefit from PPC when fast results and greater ROI are required.

2. Reach only your Target Audience

Whereas organic search, especially when carried out incorrectly, has the potential to attract a certain percentage of irrelevant traffic to your website; PPC enables you to thoroughly refine your search campaigns to only display to an extremely niche audience that is highly likely to convert into paying customers. Google AdWords and other paid search tools such as Yahoo Advertising and Facebook, give one the ability to refine target audiences by near exact location, languages, categories and what devices people are using to search. Some social media PPC platforms enable you to go as far as targeting age, gender, race, income bracket and marital status. So whether you’re a large retailer in the middle of London, or a tiny boutique store that sells antique coins in a little village like Bridgenorth in the Midlands, you can define exactly how broad or focused you want your search to be. Speaking of large retailers, this brings us to our next point…

3. Get a Second Chance with Remarketing

What is remarketing I hear you ask? Remarketing is a feature in Google AdWords that enables one to target visitors who have previously visited your site, left and visited any other site that makes use of the Google display network. By placing a piece of code on relevant pages of your website, you can tag a user that has, for example, visited the LED television page of your website and left. When these users then visit another related page on another website that makes use of the Google display network, Google will then show the user your advertisement for LED Televisions, or cross selling categories such as DVD players for example. Basically, what it comes down to is that once a user has visited your site and visits any other sites, they will continue to be bombarded with ads for your business which could result in a sale on the second or third time round.

4. Who Needs Rich Snippets when we have Ad Extensions?

Rich snippets are in essence the extra markup displayed in organic search results, such as reviews, ratings or prices and more. We’ve all seen them at some point, but what we don’t see is the amount of blood sweat and tears that goes into getting these very limited snippets of information to actually work. Once we have them working, it’s really up to Google to decide if it’s actually going to bother displaying the snippets. This whole process is eliminated in PPC advertising where you have the ability to use what we call Ad extensions. Ad extensions enable one to display site links, products from the merchant feed, a telephone number, maps for location etc. All can be added and can be seen immediately in most instances resulting in an eye catching ad and improving clickthrough rate for ads. As I said before, who needs rich snippets when we have Ad Extensions?

5. PPC the Leveler

With organic search, it takes a lot of time and investment to be able to compete with and out-rank big, well established websites. As a new website for your small online shop starting out as a delivery service of groceries to your local village, it is near impossible to immediately, or even over a long term, compete with bigger retailers such as Tescos or Sainsburys online for keywords such as “online shopping” or “buy groceries online”. However, with PPC, one is able to bid on keywords and compete against the biggest brands out there. The overall authority of your website has very little to do with how well you compete against tough competitors and larger brands.

6. Short Term Marketing

For e-commerce stores in particular, PPC is an extremely useful tool for the marketing of short term promotions or competitions. PPC Ad text can be changed instantly to reflect special offers and prices that one doesn’t normally have the ability to list via organic search marketing. Carrying out a search for “LED Television London” can provide one with many general LED Television results, but the one that’s going to catch your eye is the sponsored ad advertising an exact special offer for the LED telly that you require. Once the promotion is complete, no sweat, simply stop the ad and move on to the next promotion or seasonal trend.

7. Dominate the SERPS

Whilst organic search results do generally have a slightly higher clickthrough rate from SERPs, paid advertising does still occupy a significant portion of real estate on results pages. If you are currently ranking well for organic search results in a particular category or industry, one can strive for page 1 domination by showing up for related keywords in the sponsored results of the SERPs as well. This results in 2 of your results showing up above the fold in SERPs which is great for your brand and will result not only in more traffic, but also increased brand awareness as your name continuously pops up in a particular industry for related keywords.

There you have it, some of the key benefits of running an effective PPC campaign. Whether you’re a new business looking to get some immediate traffic and increase your brand awareness amongst the SERPs, or a much more established site looking for ways to further increase traffic to your site by dominating page one of the search engines and social media pages; PPC is an extremely useful tool for any kind of business and should be considered an essential part of any all round online marketing campaign that has the required budget.

That’s it for part 2 of my three part series of blog posts dedicated to the benefits of SEO vs. PPC. My final part of the series will take a look at the key benefits of both PPC and SEO and see how we can effectively combine them together to form a flawless online marketing campaign that will guarantee not just increased traffic volumes and brand awareness, but also result in a great ROI overall for your website or business. Until then…

Related posts:

1. SEO vs. PPC – Part 1 of 3
2. Google’s new search-based keyword tool is a welcome aid for advertisers
3. Online Video SEO for SMBs

SEO vs. PPC – Part 2 of 3

I have decided to do a 3 part blog focusing on the Benefits of SEO, the Benefits of PPC and the Benefit of using both in cahoots with one another in order to form a well balanced, all-round online marketing strategy.

Today’s post takes a look at the benefits of SEO when compared to PPC. Next week we will take a look at PPC and conclude the week after that. I hope you’ll find it as interesting to read as I have found it interesting to write.

The Benefits of SEO – Search Engine Optimization – Organic Search:

Organic search refers to traffic that has entered your site via free organic search results in search engines, whereby a search result appears because of its relevance to the search terms that were entered by the user and in no way affected by sponsored or paid advertising. This type of traffic is free and is based on the relevant search engine’s impression of your website and its available content.

As mentioned above, organic search clicks through to your website are technically free, but believe me, getting your website to a point where you are ranking on page one of all major SERPs and thereby achieving significant traffic volumes, is no easy task and requires a lot of skill and time. Skilled time = money.

So… if SEO costs money and takes so much time, skill and effort to get to page one of the SERPS before you can start experiencing any significant traffic volumes, then why do people bother with SEO? Let’s take a look…

1. SEO is long term

Probably the greatest benefit of an effective and ethical SEO company strategy is that it results in long term benefits. Unlike PPC campaigns that literally stop driving traffic to your site the moment you cease a campaign, SEO continues to deliver results as long as a site maintains a good level of relevance and authority which, if an SEO campaign is delivered effectively, almost takes care of itself after certain amount of time.

2. Larger Audience

Research has shown that the majority of search engine users view and click organic search results rather than paid search results down the right hand side of the page. The general perception amongst industry professionals is that a standard search engine results page (one that excludes images, map listings, videos etc.) will attract a 70% to 30% split between organic search clicks and paid search clicks.  This means you have a significantly larger audience that is likely to click through to you website, especially if you are ranking towards the top of the SERPs for the searched keyword.

3. An even LARGER audience

In addition to the point above, another factor that allows you to reach a much larger audience via an effective SEO strategy is that generally your site will perform well across all search engines rather than just those on which you are paying to advertise your services. With the rise in popularity of bing and the sustained popularity of Yahoo and similar search engines, this can add up to a fairly large number clicks through to your website each month.

4. Increase the value of your website

SEO is effectively an investment of sorts; one that if it is carefully managed, can result in a website of increased value due to increased traffic volumes and therefore increased revenue. A website that is already achieving a good bottom line is very much like any other business that is doing well – it is a sought after asset and can be sold to the highest bidder. Because of the long term effectiveness of a well SEO’d site, it is a lot easier to sell a website that is achieving excellent rankings and traffic from constant organic sources, rather than one that is relying on paid advertising.

All in all, SEO is an essential and integral part of any worthy online business’ marketing strategy. Whereas a new company might want to focus a large amount of budget on PPC for immediate results, one would be silly not to start with an effective SEO campaign as soon as possible. And in this regard, read my earlier blog post which discusses the importance of a hiring an SEO company to do your work for you, as opposed to doing it yourself.

There you have it – 4 key benefits that SEO has over PPC. It doesn’t stop here though. Check back in next week to see how an effectively managed PPC campaign can help your online business and start earning ROI in no time at all.

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1. HR SEO a new weapon in reducing cost per hire
2. The Power in Words
3. Social marketing versus organic

SEO vs. PPC – Part 1 of 3

In the past if you ranked at number 1, it was said that you would receive a CTR of 30% or more purely by outranking your competitors. Now however, we have so many other factors that come into play such as Google’s social search results, videos, shopping results and map listings that simply ranking at number 1 no longer guarantees the CTR that you might have been used to in the past.

A useful example of ranking at number 1 and having more “attractive” listings than your plain listing would be as shown below when doing a search for “Xbox 360”. I’ve highlighted all the different areas that catch a user’s eye:

Whereas the official Xbox 360 website is outranking its competitors and sellers, there is no way you can tell me that over a third of the people faced with this page will be clicking on the number one ranking (1). If you were looking to buy an Xbox, the shopping results (2) with prices would immediately catch your eye and you might click there. If you’re one those users that looks at PPC results, you will be drawn to the right of the page where you see a 5 star result with John Lewis (4) that offers free delivery, or even the next result that promises an Xbox with a mobile phone contract. Perhaps you’re the real techie type and you see the Google News (3) results further down because of the nice image that is neatly placed there and you decide to get sidetracked on your mission to buy an Xbox by clicking and reading recent news about the Xbox 360. Either way, there is very little drawing you to the Xbox website at position number one.

The above results don’t even take into account Google social search results with the new personalization that is taking place in search results. Take a look at the heatmap image below from Feng-GUI that illustrates the amount of people that consider social search results and end up following recommendations from their network of friends instead of following position one in Google:

Image Courtesy of Fen-GUI

Essentially what it comes down to is that one needs to ensure that you carefully analyze the current state of your industry’s page one results and see what type of results are appearing and figure out which results are dominating CTR. You will also need to look and social media more actively in terms of personalization, instead of just focusing on Facebook fan pages and “spammy” twitter feeds.

These factors are also important to consider when doing your monthly reports. Any fluctuations in traffic can be due to the fact that a shop listing has been introduced to related searches in your industry or perhaps a very popular post from an authority figure in your industry has been shared by half of Europe. Either of these factors could cause a sharp decline in traffic to what was an excellent performing number one ranking in Google.

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1. Staying on top of local search: ranking and tracking made easy.
2. What 2010 holds for Brand Reputation Management
3. The Rise of Mobile Marketing in 2010

Simply Ranking Number 1 is so 2010

The Question that we always need to ask ourselves is “How many new sales must the client make to cover the cost of this SEO work”. This is of course especially applicable for clients that are selling goods or services and where the primary goal is not brand promotion or reputation management.

My prospective client has spoken with several SEO’s and agencies over the years and knows his way around. I really had his attention when I started asking a couple of core questions such as “What is the lifetime value of your average customer?” and “What is your current cost of acquisition of a customer”? The bottom line was really “How many new clients does he need to sign up every month to cover the costs of the proposed SEO”? It sounds like Business 101 but it was clearly an approach that none of the other SEO’s had taken with him. They were all trying to sell him rankings and technical jumble.

So we worked out he needed an additional 60 signups any given month. So let’s do some basic conversion maths. Let’s say 4% of his site traffic (qualified non-branded search traffic) apply for a demo account and of those 25% become a signed up customer. We now know that to get those 60 sign ups we need 6,000 additional visits a month. This sets a clear target.

The next question of course “Is this traffic available, and how competitive is it”? A quick look at search volumes soon answers this question and from here we outline a strategy of how to achieve this goal in the short term. The traffic gain won’t be instantaneous so we need to sketch out lead times and payback periods. Like planting a tree, it will take some time for the work to bear fruitbut then the returns will outweigh the initial investment. The plain and simple ROI calculation that needs to be considered for any business activity! And this discussion really secures the confidence of the prospective client.

Surprisingly none of the other SEO’s had laid it out so plainly. This is the thought process that any client will need to follow to evaluate the viability of your proposal. Why not go through it with them and make it clear up front. This shows your understanding of the requirements at the highest level. At the end of the day it is about trust and returns.

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1. Why aren’t site owners obsessive about conversion metrics?
2. A house divided cannot stand
3. b2b SEO resolutions for 2008

Set yourself apart from the other SEO’s

• Set Goals

By having a clearly defined set of goals for your team of bloggers and developers to follow, it will become difficult for your project to come off the rails. With goals set, the theme of your site must be stuck to in order to create a coherent project which expands organically with user-generated content.

• Handpick your team

Pick an expert team of writers and train them well in the process of SEO content creation and stick with them throughout the length of your blogs lifespan. Your hand chosen writers should also be in love with the concept of social media, as this will help your project to no end.

• Avoid PR Clichés

It goes without saying that a corporate blog is designed to turn a profit either passively or aggressively. Bear in mind that clients will be instantly turned off by your blog if it is filled with adverts, poor design and an abundance of marketing which clutters their experience. You need to actively engage your readers, turning the blog into more than a repository of information – it needs to become a conversation of sorts, a flowing knowledgebase which assists the reader in expanding their own personal understanding of a world which they wish to actively engage.

• Odds and ends

Allow your readership to send in comments; both negative and positive comments will help your blog tremendously. Promote your blog however you can, especially in the social networks such as Twitter, Digg and Facebook. Keep track of every single click with analytic tools and discover an unexplored side to your website. For further information regarding the effective planning of a corporate blog, it may be best to explore your options with an SEO agency; corporate blogging is not an impossibility and reeling in expert help will allow you to concentrate on growing your business one digital brick at a time.

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1. Is your corporate blog on a downward slide?
2. Corporate blogging and the controversy that it could create
3. The merits of having a company blog

The Corporate Blog: What you need to know

Instant updates, without a messy interface and the opportunity to appear on almost any social media platform, Twitter is a quick and powerful way of spreading your company’s message. Five years ago, did anyone believe that Twitter would have been valued at almost ten billion dollars? Twitter is the first to announce global events – such as when the recent disaster in Japan occurred, Twitter was one of the first social media platforms to spread the news to the rest of the world. In Egypt, in Libya and in countries which want to be heard, Twitter has become the people’s platform.

What are the most popular Twitter clients that the world is using? A short list follows below:

1. Web – Simply put, this is Twitter.com
2. TweetDeck – The world’s most accessible Twitter application, available on many platforms
3. Twitter for iPhone – A global hit on a world-renowned phone is the ideal match
4. Foursquare – integration with this location-based application was a wise move
5. Twitterfeed –this is integration with your blog, your social network and more into your twitter feed

What is the future of Twitter then? What do the next five or ten years hold for this platform which has fiercely changed its appearance, much to the chagrin of its endless fan base? The CEO of Twitter can only offer a few predictions, such as the base of users will expand to one billion and over. Other have said that twitter is an essential utility, and this has been proven time and time again when it is used in conjunction with search marketing solutions. Sign up with a Twitter client of your own and enjoy the endless possibilities of a platform which reaches a global audience and is constantly growing to accommodate the needs of a very fussy audience. Remember, we always predicted that Twitter would become the success that it is today.

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1. Twitter Tales: Tell the Story of your Life
2. Does Twitter have a real SEO purpose?
3. South Africa all a-Twitter

The Twitter Client Turns Five!

“So this SEO expert walks into a bar, grill, pub, public house, Irish pub, bartender, drinks, beer, wine, liquor…”

Doubtless you’ve seen this joke and others like it doing the rounds in the past months. Sure it’s cute, but the fact that strategic White Hat SEO is still being confused with keyword stuffing and spammy copy is no laughing matter. Tell a group of new acquaintances that you work for an SEO agency and it’s not uncommon for them to react as if you just announced that you rob banks for a living. This is due to a fundamental misunderstanding of what SEO involves; ethical or “White Hat” SEO techniques are all too often lumped together with dishonest or “Black Hat” tactics employed by agencies that give the rest of the industry a bad name.

There are a few fundamental differences between legitimate SEO strategies and deceitful tactics:

Content

White Hat: Employs skilled SEO copywriters to create unique, well-written blog posts and press releases. These writers know that while their copy needs to be keyword optimised search engine friendly, they are ultimately writing for human Internet users and need to create engaging content.

Black Hat: Creates content that is typically crammed with keywords and links, destroying readability and abandoning any pretence at user friendliness. Another popular Black Hat SEO tactic is sneaking unrelated phrases and links onto a page, either hidden in the HTML code or disguised by using very small text the same colour as the background. It goes without saying that techniques like this are frowned upon by search engines.

Links

White Hat: Uses relevant inbound links within pieces of quality content. A good SEO agency will recognise the importance of building lasting relationships and exchanging links that will benefit all parties involved.

Black Hat: Creates “link farms”, sites where links are traded for the sole purpose of increasing search rank – and fooling search engines into thinking a site is more popular than it actually is.

Results

White Hat: Focuses on organic results that will lead to long-term benefits for your site and business. White Hat SEO services will also involve regular analysis and reporting to help you maintain these results as marketing trends change.

Black Hat: Promises fast results, but these are ultimately unsustainable. A site using unethical techniques to boost rankings may be penalised, banned or de-indexed by search engines.

Of course, it’s never as simple as it seems at first glance; there are many instances where the lines between White Hat and Black Hat tactics become blurred, and the ever-expanding “grey area” is the subject of much debate in the industry. Hopefully though, taking a minute to briefly explain some crucial differences between Black Hat and White Hat SEO will be useful the next time someone quips “How many SEO experts does it take to change a lightbulb, light bulb, bulb, lamp, light, bulbs, fluorescent lights…”

IMAGE CREDIT: MAD Magazine, Antonio Prohías

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In Defence of White Hat SEO

Know your Niche
Successful SEO marketing services always start with careful analysis of the client. Before you rush ahead and start reading up on SEO copywriting tips, do your homework thoroughly. Get to know and understand the client, as well as the product or service they are offering their target audience. Think about who your client will be competing with in the market and what sets them apart from their competitors.

Most sources offering SEO tips will also advise you to know the strengths and weaknesses of your client, as well as their level of establishment online, thereby helping you to strategically promote them in the appropriate niche.

Smart Searching
When doing key phrase research, one of the most useful SEO tips you can follow is this: put yourself in the place of a searcher. This will help you think more accurately about the intention behind the search phrases. Searchers either know what they’re looking for, or are researching online to find what they might need. Which type of user is your client attracting?

Be Patient
This is one of the top SEO tips which is forgotten all too often. Take your time to perform a thorough keyword search, and understand that the best SEO marketing is an organic process; it cannot be forced. Search engine page rankings can be unpredictable, and while the right SEO tips can help you stay on top of your game, any successful SEO consultant knows that patience is indeed a virtue when achieving long-term benefits for their clients.

Network
Looking for more SEO tips? Communicating with other professionals in your field can be greatly beneficial. Joining forums like Webmaster World or following blogs like SEO Dojo can give you opportunities to pick up comprehensive SEO tips and discuss industry-related topics. Reading lists on social networking platforms like Twitter can also be highly useful. Bear in mind that the SEO tips you find helpful will vary according to your level of experience.

Applying these principles won’t make you an SEO expert overnight, but they can guide you to a better understanding of the process. Are you new to SEO? Do you have any free SEO tips you would like to share with fellow newcomers? Let us know which guidelines have helped you with your SEO process!

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Four SEO Tips for Newcomers

The fact is, when a Joomla website is used correctly, it is just as effective SEO-wise as any other CMS or regular website. Yes, in its most simple state it is not very effective, but this can be overcome by simply installing the Joomla sh404sef which effectively deals with clean URL’s and URL re-writing. It is extremely important though that you correctly use the SEF module from day 1 as this Joomla module does not re-write existing links to a web page that has recently changed its URL.

I found this article at easysiteguide that brilliantly explains how to install and configure the Joomla sh404sef module for optimum search engine results in Joomla. I also recently found out that there is a new Joomla module being released soon which promises to be even more effective than the current SEF module. Find out more information here.

Once you have undertaken the simple task of setting up your Joomla installation for SEO compliance then there really isn’t much difference between the search engine effectiveness of Joomla websites compared to WordPress. I personally prefer using Joomla for setting up actual websites as I find most Joomla templates to be more “website-looking” and less “bloggy-looking” than WordPress sites. Obviously, if you’re a PHP expert you can tweak these templates to look the way you’d like them to look, but for someone like me who has limited coding and design experience, I find Joomla to be a bit more flexible and easier to customize than WordPress. For simpler blogs however, I do still enjoy using WordPress as it’s just a little more mainstream and many bloggers who will be using the system are already familiar with the CMS.

It really is up to you though whether you decide to utilize a Joomla website or WordPress, or any other CMS out there. Just be assured that you do not need to believe all the rumours you hear about Joomla’s SEO effectiveness as it is really is to optimize.

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Is Joomla SEO Friendly?