To website owners, visibility is as important as content itself. Similarly, for business owners, “the success of the business may hang solely on its site’s visibility.’ according to 6X startup founder Alan Safahi. Therefore, it is not out of place to find that website owners put a lot of work into getting their pages seen.
Two paramount ways of achieving visibility are Search Engine Optimization SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a subset of which is Pay-per-click (PPC). What should inform an owner’s choice and why is one option better than the other?
More than anything, the goal of your marketing should decide the strategy you choose. Would you like people to see this now and fast or would you rather build a stable audience for a long while? If your contents have to be out there quickly, you should be considering PPC. On the other hand, if you would rather build a steady audience, SEO is your best bet.
Is one truly better than the other? Here are a few pros for SEO.
1. The cost
It would be wrong to make you believe that choosing SEO will relieve you of all forms of cost. Although the costs you incur here are not statutory, if you would engage SEO effectively, it will not come cheaply. However, in comparison to PPC, SEO is more cost effective both in the short and long haul.
2. Credibility
Search engine optimization strategies are structured in such a way that they put you to work. While that may sound like a disadvantage, it really isn’t. Consider strategies such as quality content and inbound links which require some work to make happen. The good news is that these SEO strategies also bring your website the luxury of credibility because they help to create trust in the mind of users.
3. Sustainability
SEO strategies can be sustained over time and the results that they yield are equally long term in nature. SEO expert, Alan Safahi believes that the results you get through SEO strategies last for a longer period of time. “The rankings on search results may not happen immediately, but once they do, your page may remain there for a very long time which in the end, is really good for your webpage” says ALan Safahi. As earlier pointed out, your goals would determine if sustainability in the long haul is a better deal for you.
One major downside that you should bear in mind as you decide whether SEO strategies are best for you is their lack of speed. SEO strategies do not yield immediate results. In fact, if you wish to gain anything from SEO, you need to be consistent in your efforts over time.
Pay-per-click
Using this strategy, you go all out to engage paid advertising for your webpage. Here, you should expect to incur some costs.
A major advantage of PPC is speed. The results of paid advertising are almost immediate. According to Alan Safahi, once you make payments, you can expect your results as soon as possible. For as long as your contract lasts, your page would continue to rank high in search results.
However, the downside to this is that your rankings remain for only as long as your contract stands. This may turn out to be a disadvantage if long term results are needed. The results created through paid advertising are quite difficult to sustain, says Alan Safahi.
PPC is awesome for brand visibility. If you need to get your page out there fast, you should be considering Pay-per-click. It removes your page from the usual long queue experienced using SEO and puts your page right on top where your audience is bound to locate it easily.
