There was a time when promoting your business was as easy as placing an advertisement in a newspaper. Not anymore!
Online marketing offers a plethora of options – and one of the best is combining PPC and SEO.
Any online marketers in the room just got really excited! But if you’re a business owner with way too much on his mind to worry about digital trends, you might be groaning.
What, yet another online marketing trend? What’s wrong with good old fashioned marketing? Nothing, actually? What’s changed is HOW we do it.
What’s changed is HOW we do it.
Utilizing PPC and SEO
Powerful Marketing Strategy
Separately, both PPC (Pay-Per-Click) and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) are excellent digital marketing tools. Put them together, and you’ve got one of the most powerful marketing strategies around.
Think about it; this way you are covering all bases. While PPC gives you all the benefits of paid search, SEO gives you the other side of the coin – strong organic growth that builds trust and reputation.
Both methods will increase your visibility and promote your name – which means more customers and more sales. By combining these tools you can reach a far wider market, including the more skeptical!
Grow Your Market Share
When you start talking to marketing experts, you’ll find several different schools of thought. But more often than not, this is based on the client’s budget.
Those organizations trying to boost business on the cheap will be keen to stick with organic SEO.
That will achieve growth and help build a following, but will it score you enough new customers to grow your market share? Depends on the skills of your marketing team.
PPC – or paid search – comes with more guarantees. It’s really a way of buying visits to your site, and it’s certainly well worth doing when your business is new, or numbers are down. It’s also great for targeting specific products, services or demographics.
Pay For Location
There’s something else, too. You really, really need to appear on the first page of search results. That’s where
That’s where 90% of those searching will choose a business. And just like an ocean-side condo, you have to pay for location!
By combining PPC and SEO, you can better control the cost, the market and the results. But it is crucial to maintain consistency. And this is why it is generally much more productive to work with a search marketing agency.
Sadly, with so many marketing ‘experts’ out there, some businesses have been stung.
Whatever agency they chose took little notice of their budget or expectations, and basically over-promised and under-provided. This can leave a bad taste.
Combine With A Strong SM Presence
But don’t bail on hiring an agency based on a bad experience, as your organization will be the one missing out. Instead, look at their track record. Ask questions. Tell them your budget. And see what they come up with.
Chances are they will offer a marketing strategy based on both PPC and SEO. And this can be combined with a strong social media presence.
Local SEO is a key element in this strategy; 87% of people who search locally follow up with either a phone call or a store visit. And more than 60% of those will make a purchase.
Boosting Your CTR
Combining PPC and SEO will help you grow your CTR (Click-Through-Rates) AND your conversion rates, while dominating both organic and paid search.
Why would most digital marketers advise against just using PPC? Because the highest percentage of search clicks are still organic. Consumers will very often ignore paid results.
Why? Let’s say the potential customer is looking for a new laptop.
He wants unbiased information to help him choose a make and model. He doesn’t feel he’ll get that in a paid search.
Cost Efficient Marketing
However, once your business comes up in the organic search, your shopper is more likely to respond to your paid advertising.
Knowing how to combine both PPC and SEO is a skill that improves with experience. It’s a skill that the best digital marketers have.
If you are an SMB owner, working with just such an expert is far more cost efficient than hiring your own marketing team.
There’s something else, too. Whether you use PPC or SEO, or combine the two, the results are strongly influenced by whatever Google is up to at the time!
Google Algorithm Updates
Google uses algorithms to rank websites in its search engine results. It updates those algorithms regularly, and usually under the cover of darkness! Suddenly your website can go from #1 to #10 with no obvious explanation.
You see, Google’s focus is on the user, not your website. And online marketing is all about the User Experience or UX.
Google knows the customer wants an answer – not millions of web pages. So it uses algorithms to best match search terms with a business.
Because Google won’t tell us the exact changes it makes, it’s up to the experts to discover how the changes affect PPC and SEO. One thing we do know is that your business will fare better if you always use high quality content.
PPC Is A Hot Topic
Both your PPC and SEO will be negatively affected by algorithm updates if your pages – particularly your landing page – don’t meet Google’s quality and relevance benchmarks.
PPC was a hot topic throughout 2016 and will continue to be a major focus this year. Trends we are expecting to see include live data in paid adverts, and more video marketing. Remember, it’s all about the UX.
What is for sure is that digital marketing will continue to evolve in 2017 and businesses need to be on their toes. Around 93% of online experiences revolve around online search, so success will only be achieved using the best digital marketing practices and outstanding optimization.
Getting The Best ROI
Whether you run an SMB or a major corporation, you should focus on what you do best, and work with experts on everything else. But take the time to sit down and talk with them about your needs and your expectations.
For search engines like Google, it’s all about user experience; for businesses, it’s all about ROI. Solutions that meet both these criteria will be the winners.
