Digital marketing is key to enhancing your reach and grow profits. This is true for all businesses, in many different industries.

If you’re trying to attract more business, you’re probably wondering which digital marketing tactic you should use. Both SEO and PPC have generated results for other businesses.

In terms of SEO, there are over 500 million blogs on the internet. And SEO can help increase the reach of these websites and blogs. What if you’re considering PPC? The average small business spends between $12,000 – $150,000 a year on PPC ads.

So, which is the best option?

Benefits of SEO

Let’s start with search engine optimization (often abbreviated as SEO). The goal of SEO is to increase your performance on search engine results, aiming to reach that top spot on Google search engine results.

SEO is not only easy but affordable, perfect as an introductory marketing tactic. There are also many other benefits of SEO.

ROI

53% of website traffic generates organically. Therefore, SEO is the best tactic if you want to make your ROI.

Let’s say your campaign centers around finding people looking for accounting software, and you want to attract them with a free trial offer. You can produce content that promotes the benefits of accounting software to increase website traffic and lead prospects to your landing page with the free trial offer.

Not only that, but SEO is very affordable. Your audience is smart enough to identify an ad, which is why they’re drawn to blogs. Most of the strategies you can do DIY if you have the time and training.

Affordability

We’ve been mentioning the low cost that comes with SEO, but it’s important to emphasize this fact. The average business spends less than $500/month on SEO. That’s because many of the services that come with SEO, such as keyword research and link building, are all affordable.

In addition, SEO can save you money in the long term. Blogs generate traffic over time rather than immediately. This means you’re not constantly investing in writing services and the blogs you have published can continue attracting new customers.

The key to SEO is to publish high-quality content rich with keywords and a clear CTA. Make all of your posts fall within your niche, such as advice on health supplements or explaining the benefits of accounting software – whatever is relevant to YOUR audience.

Options

Blogging is not your only SEO option. Video is becoming more popular and effective. Not only that, but video dominates the internet. In 2020, video made up 82% of the content online.

You can upload your videos to monoliths like YouTube and on various social media pages. Speaking of social media, you should also be using social media marketing. Over four billion people use social media, so you’re bound to attract some leads via your favorite social media platforms.

Reputation

When you produce high-quality content, you’ll gain a better reputation and your content will propel your status as a leader in your niche. This is especially important locally. If you’re working in your local market, you want people in your area grow to trust you.

If your brand will span across different cities and states, you’ll grow to be renowned online trusted source.

The Disadvantage of SEO: Time

There’s only one main drawback of SEO, and that’s the time to execute the strategies and see results.

If you’re handling SEO yourself, it takes a long time to write a blog, conduct keyword research, find brands for guest posting, and other tactics. Most businesses don’t have time to devote to these strategies.

In addition, it will take time for you to see results. This is different from a strategy like PPC, where you see results immediately.

Benefits of PPC

Don’t think SEO will work for you? Pay-per-click advertising (commonly abbreviated as PPC) may be a better strategy for you. Here are some of the benefits.

Instant Results

Unlike SEO, you see quick results with PPC. All you have to do is set up your campaign and invest money into your ads and targeted keywords.

Direct

While an SEO strategy can attract a direct audience, PPC tends to appeal more to your niche. That’s because Google ensures your ads are relevant to your target audience.

For example, if people are searching for the best accounting software, and you targeted those keywors inside your Google Ads account, your ads will appear – simple as that.

Not as Many Algorithm Updates

This is some technical SEO knowledge, so we’ll keep this at a minimum. Google tends to undergo various algorithm updates, which affect SEO. However, they don’t affect PPC as much.

With algorithm updates, Google crawlers look for individual factors on your page and whether or not they comply with their standards. Since PPC is about investing in advertising, your efforts are protected from algorithm updates.

ROI

You probably heard statistics like you earn $3 for every $1 you spend on PPC. Well, there’s a reason why. PPC not only has amazing ROI value but you can earn a lot of money by investing in very little if you do it correctly.

With PPC, Google displays your landing page front and center. Those who see your ad are likely looking for your specific services based on the keywords you are targeting with ads. This makes them more likely to click your link.

PPC Disadvantages

PPC does have some disadvantages though. These include the cost and the work that goes into PPC. You can cut some of the research needed by seeking PPC and advertising training. Also, they only run when you put money into them, so you need to have a set budget to keep the ads running. Not a bad thing, just a little different than SEO.

Get Marketing Training

PPC and SEO can improve your digital presence and boost your online marketing ROI. But at the end of the day, you won’t achieve results unless you know what you’re doing. Review our training programs to learn more about advanced Google PPC Ad Training.