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One of the most common questions asked by people knew to the world of internet marketing is "what is better - SEO or PPC?" and this is the question that we shall discuss in this article. Before we go anywhere though, let's take a look at what each of these terms actually mean...
SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization and it involves organically optimizing a website to appear highly in search engine results (by organically I mean for free). The organic results make up the vast number of results displayed by Google and usually start about three down from the top of the listings.
PPC, on the other hand, is a method used to get to the top of search results by paying your way there. Basically, you select your keywords that you want to appear for, and then every time someone clicks on your advert you will be charged an amount. The amount depends on how competitive the keyword is - i.e. how many other people are bidding to advertise with this word as well.
So, now that we have a rough idea of what they are, then what is better?
Well, when it comes to price then there is only one winner, as SEO costs nothing, while PPC does cost a considerable amount every month. If you can write all of the articles themselves and build links without resorting to outsourcing the service, then you can save yourself a lot of money. It is possible to keep PPC costs down by targeting very uncompetitive keywords, but you have to ask whether this is really worth the effort in the first place. After all, there is probably a reason that others aren't paying it any attention.
Time is another massive factor for many people trying to gain popularity for their site, and to do a lot of SEO then time is something that you will definitely need. Let's say that you want to write and distribute 10 articles - this will take about an hour per article, then another couple of hours submitting them, meaning that you will have put in about 30 hours of work, on top of the other work that you have done. PPC, on the other hand, is completely instant and will begin working as soon as you hit the button to start the campaign.
When it comes to planning for a website's long term future, most people realize that PPC is not a sustainable way to keep their site going. SEO will work for years to come though, meaning that the work you do now will benefit you well into the future. PPC works to get traffic in the short term and quickly, while SEO builds up over time and will keep you afloat when the PPC budget runs out.
The final thing to discuss is that of the different search engines, as believe it or not there are others aside from Google still out there! With PPC your adverts will only appear with the Google searches made online, which obviously means that you miss a rather large proportion of the world internet users. SEO though will benefit you across all platforms, therefore meaning that you have the whole pool of internet users to choose from.
So, as can be seen the question of why use PPC over SEO is a tough one to answer. At the end of the day it is entirely up to you to decide which suits your business more, although personally I would use them both at the same time!
Jamie Wright is an expert on all things to do with "internet marketing strategy and helps people to understand questions such as "why use PPC?" and "what's the latest internet marketing news?" through his popular online blog.
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