Beginner’s Guide: Why Hire a PPC Management Company or an SEO Firm?
Chris Mulvaney is the CEO of CMDS. I make things... I’m the creative entrepreneur with passion for (re)making brands and inventing solutions to problems no one knows exist.
Learn the major differences between a PPC Management Company and an SEO Firm
If you are new to the world of Internet Marketing, then some of its concepts may be difficult to understand. Take for example PPC (pay-per-click) and SEO (search engine optimization). Most new business owners quickly catch on to the idea that they need to get good rankings in Google in order to drive more prospects to their websites. What most new business owners are slow to catch is that Google’s results are populated by paid listings and free listings.
When you observe Google’s search results, if there is a yellow background box at the top of the page, the listings in that box are paid listings, put into effect by a PPC management company. In most cases, you will also see a set of listings on the right hand side of Google’s search results page. Those listings to the right are also paid listings, done by a PPC management company. In all cases, you will also see listings on the left hand side of the page, under the yellow box – if there is a yellow box. Those listings on the left hand side of the page – not in the yellow box – are free listings.
To rank well in the yellow box with the paid listings at the top of the page and in the listings on the right side of the page, you must pay for those listings. The PPC management company bidding the most money for placement on specific keywords will get those top listings, based on an auction system. If you want to pay for listings in Google, you must use their interface at adwords.google.com to register, bid and pay for your clicks.
Yes, you are paying for clicks or individual visitors to your website. Yes, you are competing against other people bidding on the same keywords. Yes, PPC listings can get expensive, and sometimes they can be a money pit if not researched and implemented properly, but at other times they can be an excellent investment of your advertising budget.
If you want to get your website to rank well in Google’s free listings on the left hand side of the page, then you will usually need to invest in SEO (search engine optimization) to make that happen.
If you need immediate traffic and you need to measure your return-on-investment (ROI) for every dollar that you spend promoting your website, then you definitely need to be using a PPC management company. If on the other hand, you have the money to spend and the time to see your investment through to the end, then SEO will be the better route to go. Most companies that pursue SEO continue to utilize PPC until which time they are able to accomplish the highly-coveted top listing in Google’s free listings. With SEO, you could spend thousands of dollars per month to implement strategies and methodologies to push your website up in Google’s free listings. It may even take years (based on competition) to see measurable results for your target keywords. If your SEO-investment is placed with a proven SEO company, and you eventually reach the top of Google’s free listings, then you may not ever have to spend another cent for other advertising methods for as long as you remain in business.
When it comes to search, Google is the monster house, serving an estimated 80% of all traffic derived from search engines. And if your website is ranked #1 in Google for your target keywords, then there is a good chance that the traffic derived from that top listing will send so much traffic to your site that you will just have to focus on maintaining that #1 position.
A wise investor in a SEO company will look beyind the coveted #1 listing to figure out which keywords will deliver the most sales conversions for a top listing. Sometimes #2 will give you as much traffic as a #1 listing, but the important thing is to only spend your SEO dollars on keywords that will return targeted traffic, ready to buy what you are selling.
SEO is not a process you should want to undertake, without first understanding which keywords will drive sales to your website. Fortunately, most top-tier SEO companies will be willing and able to do your keyword research for you. Not only will they help you rank well for your targeted keywords, but they will also help you to understand which keywords will be worth getting ranked for.
In short, yes using a PPC management company can be expensive, but it is the only form of search engine advertising that can put potential prospects on your website TODAY – in only a few hours time. SEO can also be expensive, but it is the only form of online marketing that when done well may not require much additional expenditures down the road. If used unethically or incorrectly, both PPC and SEO could be a money pit. If used ethically and properly, both PPC and SEO could be the best investment that you ever made in your online enterprise.